According to the state of Pennsylvania, the Hazleton Area High School is a low performing school.
One day its staff may be fired and the school may be closed and replaced by privately managed charter schools, or who knows, its students may be sent to register for online homeschooling.
But a Pennsylvania reader says that a member of the Mars rover team is a graduate of this high school. What gives?
| PSSA testing in Pennsylvania
Dr. Jill Tombasco Seubert is a 2001 graduate from Hazleton Area High School, a school just designated by Pennsylvania as a low performing school. She was part of the team that just landed the Mars Curiosity rover. Can such a “bad” school (according to the test) produce such a brilliant scientist? Here’s a quote from the article:
“The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has the world’s best track record in deep space exploration, but everything about this landing event was more difficult and had never been demonstrated in spaceflight before. No matter how confident we were that the mission would succeed, we still partook in the traditional ‘good luck peanuts,'” the 2001 Hazleton Area High School graduate wrote in an email to the Standard-Speaker.
Here is the link:
http://citizensvoice.com/news/area-native-played-role-in-mars-landing-1.1357757 |
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is one great graduate evidence about the quality of a school? Is one terrible graduate evidence about the quality of a school?
Test scores are not evidence about the quality of a school, nor are the grades or report cards created by the state. They are indications of the poverty level of the students in the school, not its “quality.”
After removing economically disadvantaged students from Hazleton Area High School’s test scores, only 62% of their Grade 11 students are proficient or advanced in math.
Click to access RC11S118403302000007348.PDF
(Data derived from pg. 3 of their Accountability Report).
So, almost 40% of Hazleton’s children NOT in poverty are NOT proficient in math. Is this evidence of a failing school? Maybe. Maybe not.
I don’t believe test scores should ever be the full measure of the quality of a school. But this data points to big problems somewhere.
Possibly Pennsylvania’s state test is incredibly challenging and Hazleton’s non-economically-disadvantaged children do just as poorly as similar children in the rest of the state. Maybe the definition of “economically disadvantaged” is very flawed. Maybe this particular school has some issues it needs to fix.
One thing good about test scores is that it allows the questions I pose above (and others) to be asked, investigated, and hopefully answered. We don’t have to throw up our hands and say “it’s poverty.”
I don’t believe in using AYP or test scores themselves as automatic levers to close down a school or fire staff. I do believe in using test scores to diagnose problems, drive at least some of the right discussions that need to happen, and help drive improvement.
Ed,
Again, let me reiterate, when one starts with a falsehood, i.e., standardized test scores, to make a statement about public education, one inevitably ends up with a false conclusion (except for the occasional chance correct conclusion-blind and asonomic squirrel finding an acorn).
I invite you to follow my blog “Promoting Just Education for All” at revivingwilson.org in order to better understand the inherent errors that render all standardized testing results invalid. I will be summarizing and commenting on two chapters a month. I’ve already started with an introduction, a course schedule and the abstract of the study and comments.
I would be very interested in your comments and thoughts since you and I have different perspectives on the usage and value of standards, standardized tests and grades.
Thanks,
Duane
Duane, we will just have to agree to disagree.
I’ll look at the work you are doing but I think Wilson is a bad place to start.
Ed, can you explain how you arrived at those numbers from the data on page 3 in terms of what mathematical processes you used to derive the data without economically advantaged students. (I am apparently not proficient enough in math, myself.) 😛
If anyone is interested in a report on Hazleton’s demographics in terms of income and crime rate, you will see that the crime rate has risen in the past year, while the household income level is still abysmal. There can be more factors than just economic disadvantaged at work here:
http://www.idcide.com/citydata/pa/hazleton.htm
Hazleton has had an influx of what many in the public call “illegal” immigration. Many citizens are up in arms citing that the local government is looking the other way. The city is in incredible social turmoil.
Hi LG,
I’ve included how the numbers were arrived at. See below.
I’m glad you brought up some of the happenings in Hazleton. It makes the point that these tests scores are only one measure of learning and should be used with other information to try to figure out what is going on and how to address it.
That test scores only measure poverty (or the extent of special needs children) at a school is incorrect. I also think it’s insulting to the teachers, students, and parents who successfully rise above this “poverty is destiny” idea every day.
Most states, districts, and schools now have the ability to look at their data a variety of ways and can include or exclude children in poverty from their results.
========================
There are quite a few steps to it. It’s best done using a spreadsheet. Calculated numbers are +/- 1 due to rounding.
744 students took the test.
425 students are listed as Economically Disadvantaged. That means the rest of the students (319) are not economically disadvantaged.
Using the percentages given on that page for All 744 students:
260 are Below Basic (744 students x 35% shown as Below Basic)
164 are Basic
201 are Proficient
119 are Advanced.
Using the percentages on that page for Economically Disadvantanged students:
200 are Below Basic (425 students x 47% shows as Below Basic)
102 are Basic
94 are Proficient
30 are Advanced.
The data for NON-Economically Disadvantaged students is the difference:
61 are Below Basic (260 total students minus the 200 Economically Disadvantaged)
62 are Basic
107 are Proficient
89 are Advanced.
Then solve for the percentages for NON-Economically Disadvantaged in this last group of data.
19% are Below Basic (61 out of 319)
19% are Basic
34% are Proficient
28% are Advanced.
So 38% of NON-Economically Disadvantaged Students are below Proficient.
Not a good outcome.
I am confused. Why the reference to test scores? I said nothing about test scores.
Hello. Schools are being closed down in district after district because of their test scores. Test scores are the basis for school grades, which are treated as a measure of school “quality.” I’m sorry you didn’t know this before.
I said nothing about test scores, closing schools, school grades, how quality might be measures or how schools should be evaluated.
My post, stating that the outcome for a single student should join the very long list of things that do not indicate school quality IS NOT a statement about what other things should be on that list.
A relevant response to my post would be an argument that the outcome for a single student DOES tell us about the quality of a school.
What am I missing here?
Now I’m confused. Are you suggesting the outcome for a single student (BOTH favorable and not) should determine the quality of the school?
For instance, if one student has a poor outcome, the school should be deemed as “poor quality”?
@ Pamela
Let me quote the post, with capital letters emphasizing the important words: “…outcome for a single student should JOIN the very long list of things that DO NOT indicate school quality.”
So the short answer to you question is no. In fact, I stated the opposite position.
Really? I’m not trying to be rude, but where have you been? Those who are running our schools are using ONLY test scores to determine the quality of a school. I think the response was appropriate. When those who make decisions about schools stop putting such an emphasis on testing, your confusion will be warranted.
@ Nancy
Let me try again.
I said the success of a single student is not evidence of school quality.
Dr. Ravitch said the score on a test is not evidence of school quality.
The two statements are independent of each other. Both can be true, both can be false, one can be true and the other false, but you cannot say that A is false because B is true.
TE,
I agree with you that one example of a success does not necessarily show that supposed success. I don’t think that the argument that Diane puts forward here is a good solid logical argument.
Be that as it may, let me offer to you what I offered to Ed:
I invite you to follow my blog “Promoting Just Education for All” at revivingwilson.org in order to better understand the inherent errors that render all standardized testing results invalid. I will be summarizing and commenting on two chapters a month. I’ve already started with an introduction, a course schedule and the abstract of the study and comments.
I would be very interested in your comments and thoughts since you and I have different perspectives on the usage and value of standards, standardized tests and grades.
Thanks,
Duane
Duane
I look forward to reading your blog and hopefully we can refine our thinking about these issues through our discussion.
I look forward to your commenting and thanks beforehand. Please bear with me as this is the first time I’ve attempted something like this and I’m not sure exactly how it all works. But I’ll get through the “bugs” on my end eventually and hopefully the project will go smooth enough.
I do not see this as one of those arguments where if A does not equal B, then C does not equal D.
No, one cannot tell the “quality” of a school from the accomplishments or failures of one graduate, but if the school was so bad, how could someone like Dr. Seubert have thrived in its environs?
The point of this post obviously is that the failing “grade” says nothing of the quality or lack thereof of a school–it is merely a number that is placed on an institution that has meaning only to the people who control what that number will mean.
Clearly, if this school was truly failing its students, would it not have failed a student of the caliber of Dr. Seubert?
The argument that so many make against public schools is: “The school is so mediocre that it’s holding my genius child back. I want something better!”
Clearly, Hazleton Area was not only good enough for Dr. Seubert, but she went on to accomplish what many students do not. Otherwise, the “mediocre school” argument is hogwash.
So which is it? The school was so bad that it was holding her back (obviously not true) or despite the school being horrible, she was able to thrive anyway like a super-germ in a slurry of antibiotics?
I don’t know which is the answer for Dr. Seubert, but neither do you. My wife, though, would say that her accomplishments have all occurred despite her rural public high school experience.
You never commented on my post about religion being routinely taught in many districts and the NYT article. What did you think?
“I don’t know which is the answer for Dr. Seubert, but neither do you.” I may be able to find out. My parents live about 20 minutes from Hazleton, and who knows if there will be a follow-up article about Dr. Seubert in the local newspaper.
“My wife, though, would say that her accomplishments have all occurred despite her rural public high school experience.”
Hazleton isn’t rural by any means, but I do understand what you’re saying.
“You never commented on my post about religion being routinely taught in many districts and the NYT article. What did you think?”
Teaching about religion is not the same thing as indoctrination. One of my high school English teachers taught a class on religious literature. This is a common course among the liberal arts.
In music, students study sacred music alongside of secular music. There is a rich culture of sacred music that is worthy of study. Students are presented the material from a pedagogical and historical perspective in order to aid in performance practice.
So you’ve provided one article as an example that religion is being routinely taught? If you mean from an historical and cultural perspective, I’d be inclined to agree with you.
I commented on the NYT article in the other post thread.
In that particular school district, I know that the Lords Prayer was recited every morning over the public school loudspeaker in the mid 70’s and the article talks about religion being taught in the middle 2000’s. I think these practices simply reflected local community values.
Cite your source–if that is the case with this school, the ACLU would be right on it.
Religion only belongs in public schools from an academic standpoint because populations can be diverse despite what the majority of people in the community believes.
Little children often cannot make the distinction between studying something from a clinical standpoint and living it, so elementary schools often do not get involved in the controversy of even discussing religion. LIttle children innocently do bring up “god” in the classroom all the time–there are respectful ways to handle it without insulting anyone or devaluing their beliefs.
The source is my wife who would quote supreme court decisions when she was sent to the principal’s office for not standing and reciting the prayer.
Test scores determined the designation of low performing by the state.
The landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars is an incredible scientific and technological achievement, especially from a country with supposedly so many failing traditional public schools. I can’t prove it but I bet that most of the scientists, technicians and craftsmen/women who were part of this mission were educated in US public schools, those supposedly horrible failing US schools. How does a country become the most powerful economic powerhouse in the world with all those failing schools and terrible teachers. And the NAEP scores have been improving over the decades for all ethnic and racial groups. Just dumb luck, just a fluke? In any case, the “our failing schools” bumper sticker is propaganda that has been repeated over and over ad nauseam that it has become one word, “ourfailingschools,” it has become accepted wisdom that few in the media challenge or question. I do not accept that our schools are failing, some schools are struggling and need actual help ——smaller class size and more special services for the kids who are at risk for failure. Instead school budgets are being slashed, teachers are being fired, enrichment programs are being eliminated and class sizes are increasing. Insane.
Just as a side note, I don’t ever remember anyone in the media talking about our failing charter schools or the failing charter school status quo? Oh wait, that’s not part of the script which is charter schools good, traditional public schools bad or failing. Reload, repeat ourfailingschools, no need to think or question the anti-public school dogma.
Why does starting a used car lot on Mars show that we have good schools? I think that’s a trivializing, post Sputnik, “Why Ivan Can Read And Johnny Can’t” throwback meme that doesn’t show me an education that helps over the broader culture.
I didn’t say that the amazing achievement of the Curiosity Rover proved that our schools were good. I said that since we are constatntly told that our schools are failing (ourfailingschools meme), how would we even be able to accomplish such a great scientific/technological feat which JDM pretty much discounts as a used car lot. The used car lot is gathering scientific information and data as we speak. All this precious information will certainly increase our knowledge of Mars and the solar system and how it was formed. The images coming back from the Curiosity rover are truly spectacular, I guess that means nothing to JDM who is dismissive of the whole program. Is JDM anti-science?
teachingeconomist made an absolutely legitimate point that having one successful student does not mean that the school isn’t failing (just as having one failing student does not mean that the school is failing).
Diane, by turning the conversation to test scores (again), you are doing exactly what you accuse your “edu-reformer enemies” of doing- making it all about the numbers.
Let’s just say congratulations to Dr. Seubert on her work, and encourage her to speak with young women about careers in math and science- maybe even at her alma mater.
Diane was totally justified in bringing up test scores because in too many cases, test scores are used as evidence as to the quality of the school. One super successful graduate doesn’t necessarily prove the school is great or bad. Standardized test scores are rating schools as bad or good, that’s the problem, our reliance on standardized test scores, even at a school that produced a world class scientist (or as JDM might say, a scientist who participated in creating a used car lot on Mars, ho hum, next?). The Hazleton Area High School was designated as low performing because of these cockamamie standardized tests so Diane was not being obtuse by bringing up test scores.
I often find myself saying things aloud to test my logic. Can I ask you to repeat the following sentence:
The experience of a single student is evidence of school quality because tests scores are not evidence of student quality.
Does that sound right?
I agree, teachingeconomist, a single student is not necessarily proof of school quality one way or another. This is pure speculation on my part but it is entirely possible that Dr. Jill Tombasco Seubert was inspired by one or more of her teachers at Hazleton Area High School. Of course her parents and extended family would be the primary influences on her abilities and interests. I have no idea if you are pro charter schools, school vouchers, NCLB, RTTT and the heavy reliance on standardized testing.
I am glad you agree with my original posting. I hope you also agree that the issue of testing and school quality is not relevant to that
original post.
I also agree with you that it is entirely possible that she was inspired by her experience at Hazleton Area High School. It is also possible that she would say she succeeded despite her experience there. We will never know unless we ask her. Her answer, however, will not tell us very much about school quality over a decade later.
This is a useless discussion, premised on the idea that it’s a good idea to close a school if it has low test scores. I oppose closing any public school unless it is under enrolled. The measures of “quality” are measures of socioeconomic status of the students. No school closings! Period.
Diane
I certainly agree that the existence of a successful alum tells us nothing about the quality af a school. That was, of course, the point of my initial post.
Though once again, my point is not premised on any view of how quality is measured. It is only a statement about how quality is not measured.
I regret to say that the whole issue of measuring “school quality” is a means of advancing consumerism as opposed to community building.
There are no meaningful measure of school quality.
Diane,
I have to agree and disagree with you on this. First the disagree. I don’t think it is a useless discussion because from what I’m reading is that what TE and JDM are attempting to point out is that the original premise of your post is that one example of a good result of a school is not necessarily a logical argument to show the school’s effectiveness, just the same as one example of a student “failure” is a not good reason to close down said school. For me the disagreement appears to hinge on that argument and a “challenge” to that argument seems appropriate.
“I oppose closing any public school unless it is under enrolled.” Thoroughly agree and let’s add to that statement by saying “. . . and let’s properly fund it in order to give the school the proper resources to enable it to do its stated mission.”
Duane
Dr. RavItch we are in agreement that the success or failure of a single student is not a meaningful measure of school quality.
I agree. Do you agree that giving a school–a complex institution–a single letter grade of A or B or C or D or F is ridiculous? Matthew DiCarlo has analyzed these “measures” of school quality and demonstrated that they measure the extent of poverty and special needs children in a school.
That sounds like the subject of of another post. I look forward to reading it.
I agree that test scores mostly measure socioeconomic status. These school and teacher assessment systems never seem to include parents. The active parents at a school know who the great teachers are and they know who the lemon teachers are.
Carol,
You say the active parents know who the strong teachers are and who the weak teachers are. Do you think the teachers in the building also know? Could merit raises be awarded using a peer evaluation process?
No one wants merit raises
Diane Ravitch
How should raises be determined?
If true, that explains a lot about public education.
I totally agree that the staff at a school know which teachers are great and which ones are lemons. Friends of mine that are teachers refused to join the local union because they perceived that the union shielded the irresponsible staff that made work harder for the responsible staff.
I’m not saying that you agree with your friends’ perception, but I am asking you exactly how do unions “shield the irresponsible staff?”
Unions support “due process” rights for teachers brought up on tenure charges. It is up to the school districts to make such charges and successfully prove them. If the school districts cannot prove these claims, then it is the fault of the districts for shielding irresponsible staff, not the unions.
Unions don’t “shield” staff members from anything in this case but unfair firing practices. If the district has a case, the district should prove it and the teacher will be removed from service with the union’s blessing. Since union members represent their membership, nobody wants someone unfit for teaching in their union. It’s counterproductive to the union’s professional contributions to the schools.
Please do share this with your friends. It amazes me how many people in this profession actually misrepresent unions because of their own ignorance regarding what unions do. It’s astounding, actually.
I’ll ask one of my friends I was referring to if the staff she was referring to ever went throughthe process of termination. There are many reasons why lemons remain, but the code of silence of surrounding staff is probably one factor.
One must be very careful in speaking up about one’s colleagues. It is unprofessional to do so unless there is evidence that the colleague’s actions are bringing immediate harm to students.
To simply have opinions on a teacher’s style of teaching, management, etc. is one thing, but when you are actually calling someone a “lemon,” there must be real evidence of unprofessional (read, harmful) behavior.
Due process protects professionals from “little things” that are part of a social experience. Not every person will like every teacher or teacher’s style of teaching, but not every complaint is worthy of termination. I don’t agree with how every one of my colleagues runs his or her classroom, but it is not my place to judge whether someone’s teaching style is effective or not. That is up to the administration.
A family friend once referred to her daughter’s teacher as a bad one because she did not post the daily homework on the web like most other teachers did. In effect, this parent blamed the teacher for her daughter failing the mid-term because her daughter did not complete her homework, so she was “lost.” I asked her how much responsibility for writing down (and doing) the assignments her daughter should have had, and she admitted that the kid should have written them down herself so she could “remember” to do them. In a world without due process, this parent’s complaint coupled with a few other nitpicks from other parents could get this person fired. So you see, due process protects professionals from nonsense such as this.
My original point was not about termination at all, but about a way to allocate raises among the teaching staff.
It is unprofessional to say that someone is not a good teacher? Is it also unprofessional to say that someone is a good teacher? If the people who know best will not speak, your employers of teachers (the community) will end up trying to guess who is better and who is worse. I think you agree that the guessing currently going on is not working well.
See, this “better or worse” thing is a sticky wicket. It speaks to “subjectivity” and not necessarily to “validity” in the evaluation process.
Peer evaluation is never a good thing, especially when someone’s job is at stake. Peer observation is only a good thing when the observing peer seeks to help–not “score” an eval upon which a person’s career is based.
Administrators are trained to look for specific qualities and skills of which a fellow teacher may or may not be aware, even those teachers who are considered “excellent” at their craft. Some do not analyze it well enough. Some might have emotional bias one way or another based on their personal relationships with co-workers. It’s just not a good practice.
This isn’t a university where an assistant professor looking to make full professor is brought in front of an academic review team which might include teaching cohorts.
LG
I want to make sure I understand your point here, It is clear that you do not believe in peer evaluation. From the following paragraph I might conclude that you believe in evaluation by administrators except that in the last sentence you say “It is just not a good practice.” I think you mean peer evaluation is not a good practice, but because it is in the paragraph about evaluation by administrators, I am worried that you mean to say that evaluation by administrators is not a good practice. Am I correct in thinking that you advocate administrator evaluation for teachers?
Sorry for the confusion, TE. I personally do not believe in peer evaluation that is tied to one’s job. I do believe that informal peer observation is great for providing useful feedback in order to aid in personal improvement.
One of my teammates and I are always observing each other and discussing strategies to improve our teaching. We problem-solve for each other, and whenever one of us takes a class, we share what we’ve learned.
There is little merit in “evaluating” a peer, but there is great merit in observing others and discussing ways to approach a lesson.
The distinction is in the purpose. To evaluate in this case means you assess someone on record with the intent of making a judgment as to how well they taught a lesson. There is no “do-over” and no chance to grow in the teacher thinking process. The evaluation goes on record as if the lesson taught was a performance test. It’s as if the teacher being evaluated is the performer and the evaluator is the audience.
Observing can be informal and done with the intention that you are a collaborative partner in the teacher thinking process. Although you may not be interacting during the lesson as an observer, you are not there with the intention of catching someone doing something wrong necessarily–you are there to strategize along with the person teaching. Very different.
LG
Do you believe that administrators should be the ones evaluating teachers?
Yes, and they already are. I also feel that the minimum required years of teaching experience for administrators in many states is far too low, but the bottom line is, they are the ones who are trained to evaluate.
LG
I am very interested in your statement that “One must be very careful in speaking up about one’s colleagues. It is unprofessional to do so unless there is evidence that the colleague’s actions are bringing immediate harm to students.”
I might think that it is unprofessional not to speak up about a colleague is is acting unprofessionally, one who is not doing a minimally adequate job of teaching our children. Certainly that sort of teacher is not going to immediately harm the student, but the student will be harmed.
Take, for example, the teacher who taught that the answers to science questions could all be found in the bible. A teacher who testified in the case that she had to constantly reteach evolution to his students. Would it have been unprofessional for her to report this to the school district?
Here is the link to the article if anyone else is interested: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20teacher.html
Yes, and I will tell you why. You are making an assumption that a colleague knows the context with which these actions occur. Unless that colleague is present in the classroom during these alleged “mis-steps,” there is no place for judgment on the part of the peer educator. These are administrative concerns.
By harm, I mean irreversible harm. You are using philosophies of thought as examples of educational harm. If there is an indication of a philosophical mis-judgment on the part of a colleague, it can be rectified, but physical or emotional harm tends to “leave marks.”
Philosophical misjudgments can be countered throughout the educational process of the individual. One example of this occurs when the pre-adolescent child learns the truth about Santa Claus. Did the former belief in Santa cause “harm” to this child?
The concern I have for your argument goes far beyond this tacit “super-hero teacher, protector if all injustices” mindset. One must be very careful of adopting a god-complex when judging a colleague. As well, the perception of reality differs from the point-of-view of each individual student. Trained administrators are employed to make these judgment calls, not peer educators.
My thought was that the professional teacher might report observations of poor or incorrect teaching to an administrator, not that the teacher do the judgement. Do you think that reporting the teaching of creationism to an administrator would be unprofessional?
I do agree that poor or incorrect teaching can be remediated, but I would rather do the best we can to prevent it from being done in the first place.
“My thought was that the professional teacher might report observations of poor or incorrect teaching to an administrator, not that the teacher do the judgement. Do you think that reporting the teaching of creationism to an administrator would be unprofessional?”
I believe I have already answered your question. Do you think that asking people questions about hypothetical situations using issues you have “found” here and there in our current culture is actually the same as having an in-depth discussion on any particular topic where you present something useful to the discussion or do you think that hypothetical examples are really only going to speak to pieces of the big picture?
My post is not hypothetical at all, but personal. My wife and her siblings were educated in the public schools of Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Teachers in that district testified that they knew Mr Freshwater, a science teacher in the junior high, was teaching the bible as a source of scientific knowledge. I thought it unprofessional of those teachers not to speak up about it. You apparently disagree, saying that professional ethics required them to remain silent because there was no imminent harm from being taught that the biblical account of creation is science.
If I asked the question twice, it was because I found the answer so startling.
When one staff person shows up late for work, but has a fellow staff person punch them in as arriving on time, this doesn’t sound like nitpicking.
So how late does this staff member stay after? What other things does this person do to contribute to the school that goes beyond expectations?
There are ways to stop your co-worker from using you.
No matter what this is still an admin issue and not really indicative of a “lemon” teacher.
LG
It feels like you think I am attacking teachers. I am not. I think that the NCLB/RTTT world of high stakes testing has been horrible for both students and teachers. I think that students do best when teachers are given the flexibility to be good teachers. The world of high stakes testing takes flexibility away from teachers.
There isn’t a profession in the world that doesn’t have a small percentage of lemons or rotten apples. Just because the current high stakes testing system is destructive doesn’t mean that there aren’t some teachers that shouldn’t be teachers. Unfortunately, some people judge all of a group by the worst of the group. Responsible employees get tarnished when the irresponsible/bad ones remain.
My teacher friends were not referring to small things. The system doesn’t always work as well as it should.
http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2002-06-26/news/act-of-omission/ This school staff member ended up in the penitentiary.
I don’t think you are attacking teachers at all. I do agree that there are what you call “lemons” in every profession. I do not agree that peers are always adequate judges. Asking a co-worker to sign you in because you are late doesn’t mean you are a terrible teacher. It means you are not a prompt employee.
Let me tell you a story about perceptions. Ten years ago, I began teaching with a colleague for whom I quickly lost respect when I learned that there was a deficiency in his training. I was appalled that my skills in certain areas were heads and tails above his so I thought. Through the years, I realized that he actually was a phenomenal teacher who not only related to the kids well, but he had a way of explaining things with a thoughtful approach that I was too blind to see, at first. So I thought that I knew everything about teaching until he inadvertently taught me just how much I didn’t know. He was one of those teachers who would come in late or ask you to help him with some if his paperwork, but those things do not matter to his level if teaching expertise. It is never wise for anyone to judge peers without first looking at one’s self.