Heidi Nance, a teacher in El Paso, Texas, tells the story here of a decision that changed her life. She decided to stop pretending that policy and politics had nothing to do with her. She would stop passively supporting policies that she knew were wrong. She made a decision to become an active advocate for her children and her profession. She made a decision to take an active role in shaping events and being a leader. Learn how she reached this turning point in her professional and personal life.
I AM A TEACHER!
Today, there is a war against education. Men in offices are actively making decisions that will affect the way we teach. Today, there is a war against children. Men in offices are actively making decisions that will affect the way children learn. Today, we are their foot soldiers. Every day we march into our classrooms and do the work of these men in offices. These men know nothing of children, or teaching, or education. These men believe they have found the answer: accountability.
I am so blessed. I have an amazing administration that allows me to do what is best for my students. The great Sir Ken Robinson gave an interview and in that interview he explained that for the children we teach, we are their educational system. The children know nothing of policy or politics; all they know is what we do in our classrooms. I took great solace in that, and I decided to make sure that I always did right by the children in my class. But recently I started thinking of all the children in other schools, other cities, and other states. What about those children? And I realized it is not enough. I cannot say I hate what is happening in education and continue to passively support bad policies every day in my classroom.
In March I went to the Network for Public Education National Conference. I met educators, parents, activists, and journalist from all over the country. We all shared a common goal – to take back public education. Public education is paid for by the people and belongs to the people. It belongs to us. And I had forgotten that. I lost my voice, but there, in Austin I found it. It is loud, and it is great. It is my teaching voice. You know the voice I am talking about. The other day my daughter came into my classroom while I was teaching. Later she told me “Mama, you sound weird when you teach.” I joked and told her that when you are a teacher you can have no fear. Children can smell fear. So today, I am using my teaching voice.
I am not afraid.
When I was at the conference, I felt so empowered. My mind raced with ideas. My body vibrated with excitement. I returned from the conference, and all the joy and energy drained from my body, and I thought “now what?” How do I take all my ideas and turn them into action? So that is what I am doing today. I do believe in accountability for teachers, and today I am holding myself accountable. I am accountable to the children I teach.
On Monday, I will walk into my classroom and remember that every child is different. Just like every child walks when he is ready, every child learns he is ready. I will not shame children for not following the time table set forth by politicians. Instead, I will cheer and encourage because I know that every child starts at a different point and that as long as they are moving forward, all the great teachers at my school will help each child to reach his or her full potential.
I will make sure that I only have the highest of expectations for my students. But I will remind myself that the burden of high expectations falls on me. It is my job to make sure that everything I ask of my students is developmentally appropriate, and I will speak up when it is not. It is up to me to support and scaffold the learning of my students. I will make sure everything I say and do in my classroom is supported by research. I will realize that high expectations, without the research to back it up, is the mantra of politicians who support high stakes testing.
I will set individual goals for each of my students. I will realize that by setting inappropriate goals, I will only discourage my children who need encouragement the most. I will demand that every day my students smile, laugh, play, and learn.
I am accountable to myself. I will continue to educate myself. I will read books by great educators and historians like John Kuhn, Alfie Kohn, and Diane Ravitch. I will scrutinize the policy decisions of our state legislators and our Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. I will be outraged when he bullies our state into tying teacher evaluations to test scores. I will support organizations like Network for Public Education, Fair Test, Defending the Early Years, and Texas Children Can’t Wait. I will spend my weekends writing letters to the editor, letters to my congressman, and letters to the president.
I am accountable to the public. I will speak up when people make false statements about public schools and education. I will explain to them that the dialogue about public schools has been hijacked by people who intend to dismantle and profit off of it. I will tell them that our schools are not failing. Instead, movies like Waiting for Superman are propaganda used to promote an agenda that will only hurt our minority and special needs students.
I will speak out when people reference our schools’ international ranking. I will inform them that when we account for children living in poverty, our students are ranked among the highest in the world. I will point out that 23% percent of children in the United States live in poverty. The second highest of any industrialized nation. Our schools are not failing; our society is failing.
I will educate people about the failures of high stakes tests, merit pay, VAM, and retention. I will explain to them why charters and vouchers are not the answer. Every child deserves a high quality, neighborhood school. No child should have to put his hopes and dreams into a lottery. I will inform them that researchers already have the answers to help low performing schools. They include preschool for all children living in poverty. The earlier, the better. Prenatal care for mothers. Safe homes and safe neighborhoods. Wrap around services like school libraries, school nurses and school councilors, smaller classes, and a well rounded curriculum rich in the humanities and the arts. I will remind people that our country has only been successful because we are a country of innovators and that standardized tests stand to crush every ounce of creativity our children have. I quote Robert Schaffer who said, “Believing we can improve schooling with more tests is like believing you can make yourself grow taller by measuring your height.”
I am accountable to my fellow teachers. We must allow our teachers to collaborate, not compete. It does not benefit children to have teachers competing for bonuses or the highest test scores. We cannot set up a system where teachers are afraid to work with the neediest students for fear of losing their jobs. High risk students should not equal high risk employment.
I am accountable to my students’ parents. I will support and educate the parents who are unable to help their children. I will provide them with materials and compassion because they are not the enemy. Inequality and inequity in schools is the enemy. Segregation is the enemy. Years of bad bilingual education policy is the enemy.
I will even have compassion for the so called helicopter parent. I will realize that my silence has allowed for them to lose all faith in public education. The media has fed them a steady diet of failing schools, failing children, and failing teachers. With our unstable economy and a shrinking middle class, it is not surprising that parents are fighting tooth and nail to help their children succeed. Every time we are silent we allow for the continued distrust of educators and for the deprofessionalization of teachers.
I am accountable. I am accountable to myself, the public, my colleagues, my parents, and my students. But even more I am accountable to all the students in classrooms across this vast and diverse country. But I am not afraid. I am a teacher.
I stand before children every day and I teach them. I teach them things they need to know and things they never dreamed of knowing. I teach them to believe in themselves and each other. I teach them to question, and push, and explore. I teach children with no parents and no home, and children with 4 parents and 2 homes. I teach children that they are the difference this world needs. They are amazing and creative and on the verge of excellence, all while being only a small piece of the puzzle that is humanity. I am a teacher.
And so on Monday I will go into my classroom, and I will teach. I will use my teaching voice with my students, and when I leave I will use my teaching voice with anyone willing to listen, and even those who refuse to listen, because I am not afraid.
I am a teacher.
Heidi Nance
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is WONDERFUL!!!! Brave and strong.
Brava! Thanks you Heidi for your commitment, and Diane for sharing this!
JFYI, Here is a bit more from Ken Robinson, from the case he made:
‘The Education System’ is not what happens in the anteroom to Arne Duncan’s office, or in the debating halls of our state capitals. ‘The education system’ is the school they go to. If you are a school principal, you are ‘the education system’ for the kids in your school. If you are a teacher, you are ‘the education system’ for the children in your classroom. And if you change your practice — if you change your way of thinking — you change the world for those students. You change ‘the education system.’
And if enough people change, and they’re connected in the way they change, that’s a movement. And when enough people are moving, that’s a revolution.
You can see a fuller clip at http://ow.ly/xifwl
@ChrisThinnes
Well done, Heidi.
My one quibble is that I wouldn’t ignore the women in offices who are also pushing these policies. Many state and city superintendents. A George W. Bush Secretary of Education. Michelle Rhee. I don’t see gender being a part of this.
Wow!! Well said.
Great letter, but I’m wondering how she feels about CC$$, as they were not specifically mentioned.
She did not mention them because she is from the “Great” State of Texas (dripping sarcasm) where where have adopted our own standards know as the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). The State of Texas and Little Ricky Perry are leading the way in testing our kids to death.
I applaud your conviction, but one thing I continually see missing in educators is to expect support, monetary and otherwise, from policy makers, educational leadership and parents.
We are not islands unto ourselves. To truly be effective educators in the classroom for ALL children, and I believe with all my heart this is what we should be, we need:
Parental support
Money for classroom supplies and resources
An environment focused on education
Up-to-date technology
Technology resource personnel
A school discipline system that works
Support behind the teacher who uses the school discipline system
School leadership that is consistent and focused on teacher and student achievement
Community support
I could go on. When I think back on my 21+ years being a teacher, at the high school and college level, I was the at my best as an instructor when I taught in an environment that had an effective support structure in place.
Could probably do without the misandry at the beginning.
Yes, the misandry was disturbing, and although I think Ms Nance intended to be dramatic, the tone of her letter seemed more histrionic than passionate. I think teachers need more resources for emotional support, since the stress of their work can be overwhelming.
Great letter from Ms. Nance. I just sent a message to her thanking her for speaking up:
https://mesita.episd.org/staff/contact/1323226
Thanks for the link. Sent my appreciation as well.
Thank you for the info. I sent her a note too! What a great and inspirational letter!
Bravo!
Momoffive – I’m guessing she didn’t address CC b/c she’s a teacher in Texas and they don’t have the CCSS. Plenty of other nonsense, but not CC.
Inspirational letter.
This teacher and many others like her have good intentions, but the “teacher voice” she described is that “authoritarian voice of authority standing in front of the classroom” telling everyone what to think, what to learn, and how to behave is what needs to change. Teachers need to get out of that role and become a facilitator for learning, not a director.
Teachers who are fearful that their students will get out of control, are afraid their students can “smell fear”, will be more authoritarian in their style. However, teachers who can model trust for their students by being relaxed and spontaneous, and even use humor, will allow their students to relax and not function in a chronic state of fear.
80% of behaviors children learn comes from modeling others, especially teachers, parents, and peers. However, most teachers now feel so pressured and driven to “tell” children everything they think is important, that what they now perceive as “teaching” is actually “teacher directed dominance”. It is as if they are trying to “program” computers.
They hyper focus on their own performance and goals and the children’s performance and goals., and what those “men in offices” have determined that children should learn, rather than providing a relaxed environment where children can use their imaginations to create and explore, to interact with their environment, and for self discovery.
Educational research shows that children learn from each other more than they learn from teachers. Cooperative learning that allows children to be self directed learners requires a teacher who can facilitate learning, rather than spoon feed everything. Spoon feeding from “teacher dominance” that has developed from standardized testing is creating learned helplessness. Children can pass tests since that is what was fed to them, but they can’t function well in relationships, or in work that requires scientific thinking. They learn to follow directions, but they will develop codependency from teacher dominance and lack of self development.
The ignorance of CCSS school policy makers is a big problem, but the greatest problems facing children in classrooms today are fear, isolation, and boredom:
Most teachers are aware of their won fears: fear of the children getting out of control, fear of the principal walking in and observing a problem, fear of children not performing as expected, fear of being perceived by others as inadequate. However, too many teachers in their “teacher voice”, standing in front of the class “directing”, can’t relate to the children’s fears: fear of authority, fear of making mistakes and disappointing parents and teachers, fear of other children laughing at them when they make a mistake and appear foolish, fear of being singled out for a mistake, loneliness from sitting in a room full of children all day without interaction and listening to a teacher giving orders and instructions of command and response, boredom from the same dull homework and lessons that do not allow creativity and imagination or interaction with others, being told what to do and think rather than having opportunities for self discovery using their own tools.
The children’s “tools” are getting rusty from too much “teacher voice”, too much “teacher dominance”, and too much fear. When those “tools” disappear, so will our humanity.
“Educational research shows that children learn from each other more than they learn from teachers.”
Would you please cite source(s) for that statement. As it stands it doesn’t pass the smell test.
Duane,
If you would like to educate yourself more on this topic, please look for research that addresses holistic learning and child development in order to understand how children learn best. Look for studies with children on how the environment shapes behavior related to development of identity.
After you GOOGLE and do some research of your own, will you please share what you discovered.
Children’s individual learning styles and needs require cooperative learning in an environment that supports their individual differences and intelligences. Children in an authoritarian environment learn early to “fear” making mistakes and to distrust adults, since it is not an environment that is based on “trust”.
Children cannot function as well in an authoritarian environment as they can in an environment of trust because of their natural response to fear which is hyper vigilance (stressor). There are interesting scientific studies that you may discover which will illustrate the brain functions involved when children respond to environmental stress.
Please do not be offended by my suggestions, since I am attempting to facilitate your learning, rather than tell you what I think is important for you to know 🙂
http://www.montessorisociety.
org.uk/montessori/research
Anne @ 1:44,
When one states “research shows”, especially “educational research shows”, my BE detector goes off. When one uses the “voice of authority, i.e., “research shows” they had better be prepared to link and/or cite that research. I’m from Missouri so you have to SHOW ME! I do not need any condescending little advice/lecture about “educating myself” for I do find that offensive. You’re the one that needs to “prove” what you state, not me.
Anne @ 12:07,
” I feel your pain”
I feel no pain in this, other than my usual aches and pains that remind me of all the good times I’ve had so far-ha ha! And I don’t really see it as a matter of “surviving” those authoritarian techniques, as it was fun at times as a kid to do my best to sabotage those techniques.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand what you are trying to say about stress free learning environments-I try to do that on a daily basis, but to say what you have said with the surety of your statements without offering substantial proof leaves a lot of questions about your arguments. It is not up to me to offer up proof of your assertions.
Continuing: “Children can pass tests since that is what was fed to them, but they can’t function well in relationships, or in work that requires scientific thinking. They learn to follow directions, but they will develop codependency from teacher dominance and lack of self development.”
You’re writing mimics Ms. Nance’s “teacher voice”.
Again, do you have any source for that strong of a statement as I can think of many who have gone through a teacher dominated schooling (thinking in terms of my own Catholic schooling for one) in which the vast majority of us not only survived to “function well in relationships” not developing “codependency” nor suffering from a “lack of self development”.
Duane, I feel your pain. Many of us did “survive” authoritarian school environments and/or family authoritarian environments, and did go on to be highly successful in work and relationships (in spite of anxiety, perfectionism, workaholism, narcissism, etc, etc.). Fear has always been a good motivator, but it causes children to build a reservoir of repressed powerful emotions – anger, guilt and shame.
Codependency from learned helplessness, as well as dysfunctions related to anger issues are showing up in every aspect of people’s lives. Consider the increase in addictions, especially workaholism, which comes from the same dysfunction as alcoholism. I would not call that a “successful” adaptation to adult life. Look at all the statistics of child abuse, divorce, suicide, bipolar, and general anger in the population. We can’t blame all of society’s problems on the authoritarian school environments, but there seems to be a connection with this increasingly punitive environment for children related to mental illness and social dysfunction in the general population.
Just because we “survived” an authoritarian environment and are successful does not mean it was the best option. How much more “success” or fulfillment might there have been if we had been allowed to thrive rather than survive?
Authoritarian environments “train” children, using behaviorism, rather than supporting their holistic development. Authoritarian environments are punitive for children rather than positive, causing them to have low self esteem, which are masked with narcissistic behaviors of superiority. Authoritarian environments in childhood cause more need for “control” in adult life. As authoritarianism has increased in the schools, so have illnesses related to anger. Do you get the picture?
Authoritarian management has become the business model for schools as a result of the fear promoted by CCSS and high stakes testing. My professional opinion is that this is not a good thing.
Anne Chase. I am sorry, but you have so much causation fallacy mixed in with you theories, I don’t know where to start. Schools more authoritative? Where? If anything teachers are completely undermined in the classroom and have zero authority. It is all about tests now. And that repression is not coming from the teacher. It is coming from Feds, governors, and politicians.
You want to end what you say is an authoritative classroom? Trust, not blame, teachers. Reduce class sizes. End standardized, high stakes tests. Ensure disruptive students cannot destroy an entire classroom. Let teachers collaborate, not compete, to design adaptive curriculum. Give teachers the freedom to innovate and experiment without penalty. Support the voice from the classroom rather than silence honest concerns.
MathVale, I disagree with your opinion. Anne Chase has not exaggerated but seems to have described what I and a number of my colleagues are seeing as leading to the demise of our profession. We are being used as propaganda agents and child abusers. CCSS needs to go!
MathVale, you are correct that it is coming from the Feds and higher up, but teachers are caught in the pecking order from top down bullying. They are not seeing themselves as bullies, but if you read about Projection Theory, their displaced anger will be directed at a weaker person than themselves. Hence, their students. Most people are not able to recognize displaced anger, and if they are, their natural response is to deny it. Children are now the group in society who are being scapegoated.
Anne Chase, I agree 100% with what you wrote. That line was just a joke I told my daughter. The “teacher voice” I am referring to is the charisma and magic that every teacher has. I feel like if I can get 24 six year olds to be inspired and motivated in my classroom, then I can definitely do the same outside of my classroom. I just want to inspire other teachers to speak out as well.
Anne Chase, what you said is true, I believe. But that’s now how I read Heidi Nance’s letter at all.
Heidi Nance, thank you so much for writing. Your words were inspirational! ROAR!!
Ms Nance said: “The “teacher voice” I am referring to is the charisma and magic that every teacher has.”
Change that present tense “has” to “had. “”Has” sounds delusional coming from a teacher in Texas where experienced teachers are leaving the profession in droves as a result of the bullying policies of TEA and Pearson lobbyists in cahoots with legislators and business leaders. Good teachers in Texas are too burned out from the STAAR abuse to have any charisma or magic left.
My 4th grade daughter’s school district in Pflugerville is a good example, where parents are finally waking up and getting involved with the Opt Out Movement as we have. Some teachers like Ms Nance are starting to recognize that they are being used to bully children, and to teach in a way that goes against how kids learn; but unfortunately, too many teachers have been in the Stockholm Syndrome too long to notice, and they do exactly as they are told.
Thank you Ms Nance, and I do admire your awareness and congratulate you for speaking up. I hope you continue to stand strong and help organize the El Paso teachers for civil disobedience like those in the valley and Brownsville ISD who are in the process of organizing a “Refuse to administer STAAR” Movement in 2015.
Regardless of our professional ethics and positive aspirations, with the mandates of CCSS and TEKS, it is so easy for teachers to become indoctrinated into a more authoritarian teaching style as a result of their own response to fear and their own high expectations for themselves. The unrealistic demands on teachers and unrealistic measurements of their performance, along with decreased resources and support, are producing a teaching profession of “Cinderellas”. It is basically impossible for teachers or children to functional normally and remain healthy in the TEKS/CCSS environment.
Teachers will become more authoritarian (increased need for control) with a slow progression that comes from declining security in their daily work environment. The greater the threat, the greater the need for control. It is difficult to recognize behavioral changes that are so gradual, until eventually they become burned out and part of the overall authoritarian system. It is the Stockholm Syndrome that seems to be invading the whole of our battered society.
It is unusual for healthy teachers who have an option to leave, to want to stay in an environment where they are being punished or disrespected and abused (as many teachers call it). When teachers continue to stay in a punishing workplace because they don’t have an option to leave, they will feel trapped, and they will be less productive. Feeling trapped, punished and powerless is a form of psychological abuse. It will impact their overall health.
Teachers, just like the children they teach, need to have a sense of dignity in order to function in healthy ways. They need to feel valued, respected, and productive in order to maintain their vitality and sense of accomplishment. From my experience with teachers who are clients, there can be no professional dignity when being forced to administer tests and carry out directives they recognize as abusive to children whom they care about and value.
Psychology teaches us that humans who observe pain being inflicted on others will also suffer emotional pain because they have empathy. However, when people become desensitized, burned out, and detached from their emotions as a result of an environment of chronic fear and insecurity, they will become robotic. They will not suffer emotional pain when observing others being mistreated. Instead, they will participate in the sadistic behavior out of loyalty for their abusers.
Teaching has become a Sisyphean task. I hope you and other dedicated teachers like you can strengthen the resistance to TEKS and CCSS.
It’s so strange the order the comments post in. I just want to clarify that I can’t agree with everything you posted above. Although the back and forth has been interesting to read.
You need a mix of teacher led and student cooperative learning. And you must adapt your approach to the characteristics of each classroom.
Beyond just selling books and seminars, there is the hard reality of a classroom. Some students do well with constructing their own learning experience. Some are just successful leaving each day without a meltdown, hurting themselves or others, or staying awake. All experienced teachers have been in classrooms ready to explode in an instant. Teacher authority is the best, and sometimes only, option. Other classrooms are filled with students who can almost teach themselves.
The truth is, a selection process, whether explicit or implicit, greatly affects learning outcomes. Schools that claim success with a strategy should either be honest and admit they excluded the most difficult students or prove the strategy does work for all populations.
I have an “all of the above” approach to teaching. That’s what non-educators can never understand. Teaching is incredibly complex!
Anne,
By the way I am AI so I need help with what LSW stands for.
Thanks in advance!
Duane
Anne Chase, what you wrote is very profound. As a retired teacher, I saw the trend toward “teacher dominance” rather than “facilitating” begin in schools sometime in the late 80’s.
When I taught at the community college in the late 90’s up until I retired, I noticed more “learned helplessness” and increasing remediation classes for incoming freshmen.
Authoritarian environments create fear, and have been shown to be harmful for children. Thank you for sharing what many teachers do not recognize in themselves.
Did you ever teach k-12 Katherine? Your job teaching young adults is a completely different job than the job of a teacher in a k-8 classroom. I’m not saying that your perception of your students was faulty, just that there is probably no connection between the “learned helplessness” you observed and supposed teacher dominance in earlier grade levels.
Betsy Marshall, I began my career as a 6th grade teacher in the late 70’s with a self contained class in Richardson, Texas. It was my ideal job, since we used project based multi-disciplinary teaching. Learning was creative and joyful for children, like that of Montessori. At that time, 6th grade was still in elementary school. It was sometime in the mid 80’s when both Assertive Discipline & TEAMS statewide testing combined to bring on the steady decline that now causes Texas schools to be a living Hell for elementary age children. It was because of the increasingly large class sizes, as well as budget cuts and difficult administrators that I chose to move into community college. Throughout the span of my career, I moved from elementary to college. The freshmen college students that I taught near the end of my career in 2009 were socially and emotionally about the same level of my 6th graders back in the late 70’s.
It takes “old timers” like myself who have observed and experienced the decline to see how “dumbed down” kids are becoming from the low level teaching, spoon feeding test material, and lack of creative cooperative activities. Teachers in elementary school now could easily be replaced with computers. Maybe that is actually the goal of CCSS?
Those of us who have commented from long time similar experiences, like Katherine in Mobile, and unheardofwriter, have watched this storm brewing with insight that needs to be shared.
Many of the young teachers today, especially in Texas, grew up with this standardized testing craze and are not aware that teaching had a previous life. In my earlier years, teaching was an “art”. I hope it will not become a “lost” art.
Some others who watched this storm brewing also did so from a personal perspective of time. I personally entered public school in 1965 and graduated in 1978. My first child entered public school in 1984 and graduated in 1997. My second child entered public school in 1990 and graduated in 2004. My third child entered public school in 2004 and my fourth in 2006. In 2011 I withdrew my two youngest from public school and began homeschooling. My family has never been healthier, happier or more self directed with their education. I love the teaching profession. I have incredibly fond memories of great teachers from my own childhood and my children’s. My son and daughter in law are both teachers in the public schools. Sadly, public schools are being controlled from Washington and social programs seem to have replaced education. I wish you success in winning back your profession. (I have my own battle with the dictates of Washington in my place of employment as an inner city ER nurse where I will fight to be your strongest healthcare advocate) I believe the opposition to be formidable and the momentum is with them.
The writer’s comment “ I will inform them that researchers already have the answers to help low performing schools” is NOT supported by documented research.
If the researchers really had the answers, high and effective K-12 achievement would occur for all students including the educationally disadvantaged, which obviously from your letter and research is NOT occurring. Many of the so called experts comments such as mandatory free pre school, smaller class size, and additional funding, have not in the past helped significantly student learning. In addition, many of the so called experts have never been in the classroom teaching the educationally disadvantaged students, so their so called expertise is not based upon their own practical teaching experience including collecting and analysis of pre/post student class, school, district, state, and national data. In addition effective program research such as the Khan academy and Kumon programs all based upon mastery learning of prerequiste skills before moving onto the next academic level are ignored. Also, regardless of social-economic situation, how do the experts dismiss the mean achievement expectations and achievement levels of the ethnic groups in the order Asians > whites, > Latinos > blacks. Finally, the educational experts still do not even know the difference between reliability and validity in measurement. Case in point is that the experts confuse the reliaibilty term of achievement gap among groups, as important, when the validity term of proficiency gap that is important, discussed and should be addressed, based upon research.
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For the most part as a teacher/ researcher for approximately 40 years in which 70% of the teaching experience was teaching the educationally disadvantaged, mostly black and Latino students. The single most important problem that the teachers REFUSE to examine and address is the prevention of “social promotion’ with appropriate proper placement and direct instruction on the skills required to learn the current material being taught by academic proficiency. Then national NAEP, State and classroom(*) research documents by 8th grade math , for example, the non proficient student is four years behind the pre-requisite skills required to learn the material at that grade. In other words, the 8th grade teacher is attempting to teach 8tth grade material to students with 4th grade skills. How honest, fair and logical is that to the student, parent, teacher and the tax-paying public? In addition, norm reference research documents that in our current K-12 system based upon grade promotion based upon attendance and age instead of the NCLB mandate of promotion by proficiency requires six years to move from the beginning of proficiency of 20% to 80% the beginning of proficiency. However, if students were promoted by proficiency this 60% change could requires only one years(research available to examine*).
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Finally a model to accomplish the goal of promotion by proficiency os ALL students is simply to promote students by achievement level proficiency SEPARATELY from attendance grade. In other words, a student could be in 4th grade by attendance , but academic levels 2,3,4,5,6 by proficiency achievement. In this way the student is in charge of their own achievement, based upon the student’ s interest and ability and the programs’s effectiveness. Obviously this change requires a change in thinking, choices, practices, and cooperation among the school board, district and school administration, counselors, parents, and teachers.
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The individual teacher by themselves can do little to address the academic needs of students, unless the student enters the class with the appropriate skills to learn the presented material. An effective learning program for each and every student requires proper academic placement, an effective, empirically based program, and a team effort by everyone related to the educational process. These comments are not just talk but are backed up by documented research.
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The teacher and educators must have the “TOOLS” and program that allows each to see, measure, monitor, correct and predict student and class achievement in real terms to accomplish the model of promoting each and every student by level proficiency throughout the grades K-12.
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Obviously from your letter, you do not have these tools, unfortunately. If you did, many of the letter comments would not be necessary.
*Research papers( about 40 papers) on these points are available from this researcher. The student achievement desired by parents, students, teachers, school boards, and society, especially in the STEM disciplines has been available and documented for decades, but is ignored.
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Sincerely,
Eric Kangas, ekangas@juno.com; 619-588-9950
Ekangas2014, I will say that the most successful students are the ones with the most engaged parents.
janinelargent Sorry but I must disagree. I think the most
successful students are the ones who have someone to believe in
them, to validate them. It may not always be a parent, since for
me, it was a mentor. I became a doctor because of the encouragement
and faith of one person who connected with me. I think a good
teacher can serve that role also. Most teachers do not seem to
recognize how much impact they have on students lives. Maybe if
they did, they would be kinder to the students.
What no one wants to admit is that learning is not linear and likely asymptomatic. So it takes an increasing amount of $$$$$ for a marginal gain. Some students learn quickly with only small increasing costs. Others require more intervention or more time resulting in rapidly increasing costs. In other words, it is possible to teach an increasing number of high school students The Calculus. Some could learn derivatives in a few months on their own with a few videos, others may take a year or more but get there after intense tutoring. And some, honestly, can not learn it in their lifetime. This ignorance of the nature of learning was evident in NCLB’s “100% proficiency” goals.
I would argue social promotion is more myth than reality. The push for “differentiated” classrooms really was an end to social promotion by placing the burden and costs on the teacher. A low budget solution to track students by learning goals. Gifted programs also have been greatly expanded to include more children giving them access to better teachers and smaller classes without as many discipline issues. Gifted isn’t what it used to be and can be a very political issue at elementary schools. High schools are often heavily grouped by ability mixing grade levels and requiring classes be retaken to pass.
Where I grew up, in the early 1980s, the “gifted” program was the exact same as the one my grandmother remembered from her elementary school days. It was called “skipping a grade.” Talk about low budget.
Up through high school, the gifted program in my district is still skipping a grade. In high school it is either leaving a student alone do they can teach themselves or allowing them to pay to be a non-degree seeking student at the local university for which the get no credit towards graduation.
“…Some could learn (fill in the blank) in a few months on their own with a few videos, others may take a year or more but get there after intense tutoring. And some, honestly, can not learn it in their lifetime. This ignorance of the nature of learning was evident in NCLB’s “100% proficiency” goals.”
This is such an obvious truth. Why do we pretend that this is not reality?
Ending social promotion sound good to the hard ass portion of the general public. They don’t understand. I like to use 8th grade as the measuring stick. If a student is 15 in June of their 8th grade year, the odds of them graduating HS at 19 are slim. If they are 16 in 8th grade, the odds of them graduating at 20 are almost zero. So you can talk big and tough about social promotion all you want. We in the business have this brick wall that is insurmountable when it comes to student age and completing HS. That’s the reality of it. End of social promotion story. It cannot be argued; period.
The bigger story, something we can change, is the ridiculously low bar set at the middle and junior high levels for promotion to HS.
Not to mention the dreaded “circle 50”. If people only knew.
Our district has implanted a very unique and demanding promotion policy that works!
Pull-out opportunities for “gifted” elementary students were big in the 80s in Irving TX. There was first a teacher recommendation and then a written test administered to determine if the student was pull-out worthy. French, cooperative activities, logic problems, and alternative math are samples of the curriculum.
I often wonder what it would be like if all students had access to those resources. It’s not like there wasn’t time in the day to plug them into the schedule, back then. To be fair, there was a hekuvalota time for students to play and be physically active, too.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
Heidi Nance reminds us that the best education is by example. She is a great example that, as I tell my children, “character counts”.
It was exhausting going through all these comments! I just want to say “Thank you!” You are an inspiration.
I am glad, Ms. Nance, that you have found your voice and have reenergized yourself for the work of your chosen profession. My hope is that you also empower and energize your students to the same extent.
Rather than set goals for your students, Ms. Nance, please let them set their own goals. If they can’t do this, teach them how.
If Alfie Kohn is one of the guys you like to read, then you should realize how destructive alpha-numeric grades can be. It would be best to eliminate these.
Also, if you’re teaching in elementary school, eliminate the homework. If you teach at other levels, please reconsider what you give, why you give it, and how much you give. It’s one thing to control a student’s school life. It’s quite another to take control of his/her home life.
Students don’t just arrive in the classroom in different places and with different motivations, but they also have different interests that may not align with the curriculum you would like to impose on them. How able and ready are you to allow each student to pursue his/her own interests? It’s one thing to say that you will allow each kid the time s/he needs to complete the tasks you give to him/her. It’s quite another to allow each student to explore the avenues s/he would like to explore. No two kids need the same exact assignments at the same exact time, but also no two kids need to actually learn the same material at the same exact time. Real individualization in the classroom, I believe, would lead to kids who are much more energized and empowered.
I challenge everyone who reads this to write your own statement about education. I originally wrote “I am a Teacher” for just myself. I returned from the NPE conference and I poured my heart out. I never intended to share it with anyone. I would reread it when I felt like I had lost focus or when I needed to renew my strength. It was last weekend, on the 60th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, that I felt ready to share it on my facebook wall. I have less than 150 friends, so my audience was pretty small. But something amazing happened. It resonated with people. So much so that it made it to this blog. Over the last week, my personal statement has been reposted by at least 600 people – still small, but more than I ever imagined. So if an introverted first grade teacher from El Paso can do this, imagine what could happen if everyone wrote something. You could keep it to yourself and just use it as a personal guide, or you could share it. And like my statement, it might not sit right with everyone, but it will be exactly the words somebody needs to hear, at exactly the right time.
A question in one of the comments above caught my attention, since I am one of the teachers in Texas with “battered teacher syndrome”.
Ms Nance, do you plan to join the “Refuse to Administer STAAR Movement” that is organizing among Texas elementary teachers?
Will you be organizing the El Paso teachers?
Someone posted a way to contact me above. Please email me.
Amen! You will hear us ROAR in NH too! Doing what’s best for kids is paramount! Thank You!!