tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375458480051761302.post2447788416528433489..comments2014-12-16T02:17:48.534-08:00Comments on Bullis Charter School Thoughts: Closing the Parenting GapJoan J. Stronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09126305977807930244noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375458480051761302.post-70026938109795242552012-08-19T11:51:36.679-07:002012-08-19T11:51:36.679-07:00Franklin,
Great discussion here. Let me try to co...Franklin,<br /><br />Great discussion here. Let me try to continue it.<br /><br />1. There's always a risk of corruption, no doubt, but I think one way to help prevent this is to make the posts at the *Federal* level. The Federal government already spends a fortune on (a bunch of things that don't work and meddle with the local machinery) but this "softer" oversight role might be a way for the Fed get involved but not directly order anybody around and thus leave local decisions to be local (which is not always perfect but I think it's still better than centralized control). I totally agree this is a risk of this position though--and preventing that would need to be a primary focus of setting it up.<br /><br />2. I think that Los Altos, CA is the *direction* we should send our schools, not a "finish line" we think we could cross. We'll never duplicate what we have here 100% but the question is can we take some of the most important ingredients (which, to be clear, I only offered some *suggestions* as to what those exact ingredients are in my article--this will require detailed research) and make these other areas *better* than they are now. And again, per #1, we need to do what we can to make this role like a true parent, advocating purely for the child. I also agree that *training parents* can be a big part of the overall program (or maybe even *be* the program). <br /><br />3. My political leanings are... complicated :-). That said, I'm not sure much of this discussion is partisan in nature. Clearly evaluating teachers is very important, just as evaluating any professional is very important. There's virtually no profession in the world that is evaluated strictly "by the numbers". It needs to be a judgement call based on the context in every individual instance--the kind that other professionals get.<br /><br />I think we're both saying the same thing though: we need to elevate teachers to the level of true *professionals* as opposed to driving them the other direction toward paid babysitters. I agree with paying them more and expecting more out of them--but again, that brings up the management and evaluation problem I mentioned above. We need a workforce of managers to make this work, and here we've got an army of super-smart parents to fill that role (and look how great that works). I think you're a businessperson as I am, and I've never seen anybody respond to a situation of low performance with pay cuts.<br /><br />I also agree that we need to eliminate "coddling" of teachers and so forth, but I think a lot of that is driven again by the lack of the management layer. Teachers who are simply teaching "to a number" will get very afraid for their jobs (because they know so much of that performance is out of their control) and thus will push for artificial barriers--which in turn are used for the truly incompetent to hide behind. As such, I'm pitching my approach as the *beginning* of reform--but certainly not the end of it.<br /><br />Thanks again for your thoughts.Joan J. Stronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09126305977807930244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375458480051761302.post-79449403127543713622012-08-18T10:14:54.341-07:002012-08-18T10:14:54.341-07:00Hi JJS,
I'm choosing to reply here versus the ...Hi JJS,<br />I'm choosing to reply here versus the FB forum since I see this is a separate, though clearly related, topic. I fully agree with most of the points you raised above but would like to point out a couple of observations and suggest some additional things for you to consider. <br /><br />1. I agree with you that the "parent gap" as you described is clearly a major factor and I think the "surrogate" role you described is an interesting idea. My concern with that notion is how long would it take for the SSP to "go native" and become aligned with either the unions or with the administration. Part of the effectiveness of parent involvement is that it is almost without exception, motivated exclusively by what is in the best interest of the students. The challenge in most low income areas is that even if a parent really, really wanted to be involved in the school as a room mom, literature docent, yard duty, etc., it's often the case that both parents have to carry full time jobs just to support the family. <br /><br />2. Whether the approach is a role like the SSP or incentivizing increased parent engagement, the key skills provided by parents that you outlined above (management, judgement, encouragement) may be sorely lacking in low income communities. LASD is blessed with many MBA's, PhD's, lawyers, doctors and even stay-at-home-moms that were educated at places like Stanford or Berkeley. I question whether you will be able to replicate the quality of that contribution in low income areas or with an SSP. The first two skills are in very short supply in areas where most people work "blue collar" or other low income types of jobs, and the last one (encouragement) is on of the major cultural gaps between rich and poor areas. Now, if you could construct a program like the SSP that provides relevant skills training (and funding) for the role, but recruited *parents* only, and created a fire-wall between SSP, union, and administration, some of these issues could be mitigated. <br /><br />3) I think I can infer your political leaning, so am not surprised by this, but you seem to gloss over the very real issue of quality and accountability of teachers a bit. While it is always dangerous (and arguably immoral) to apply stereotypes to individuals, stereotypes exist for a reason and are usually based on some basic truth. While the majority of the teachers my kids had at LASD were really good, I agree with you that the level of parent oversight probably helped contribute to that. There are clearly many teachers nationally that were drawn to the profession because they got summers off, had relatively short work days, generous pension benefits, and a chance to earn tenure. Pretty appealing trade-offs for lower salary if you are inclined to be either lazy, or just don't prioritize career as high as other things. <br /><br />I think we absolutely need reform on this side of the equation too. I think teachers should be paid twice what they are paid now. But they should also be required to have a masters degree in their primary subject area (or in early childhood education if they are doing K-3 or K-4) and should be subject to regular and objective performance reviews and that tenure should be abolished. Also, the cost of the salary increase could be partially offset by eliminating generous pensions and replacing them with 401K retirement packages like most of the rest of us have to rely on. It needs to be easier to remove apathetic or poorly performing teachers and to lift up the best and brightest. A structure like that might actually encourage more people with the ability to provide "judgement" "management" and "encouragement" to consider a profession in teaching which would also help close the gap you described above. <br /><br />Anyway, I think alot of what you wrote above is very insightful and absolutely worth looking at in the context of a balance approach at education reform. Just my $0.02.<br />Franklin Grosvenornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375458480051761302.post-52855966185862112962012-06-29T11:18:06.298-07:002012-06-29T11:18:06.298-07:00Great point. I agree "surrogate" is a ba...Great point. I agree "surrogate" is a bad-sounding word--and that the "positioning' of this role would be very important. Parent-School Liaison is better. Clearly you need to involve real parents as much as possible, when possible--and this role could be something of a teacher for parents as well. <br /><br />Although there might be a place for "advisory councils" what is really needed here in the 1:1 individual attention which more fortunate parents are allowed to give. This is somebody that knows the context of each of their subjects in detail--again, just like a parent. I'm also assuming the role of the traditional "guidance counselor" doesn't go far enough. In particular, you'd want somebody who operates independently of any single school (again, just like a real parent).Joan J. Stronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09126305977807930244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1375458480051761302.post-84502037578752574782012-06-29T08:16:06.916-07:002012-06-29T08:16:06.916-07:00I like the idea of making a place in the instituti...I like the idea of making a place in the institution for what you call a Surrogate School Parent. I'd probably choose another name like Ombudsperson or Child Advocate or Parent-School Liaison, as I don't know how some parents might perceive having a "surrogate." Would they feel insulted at the implication that they weren't doing enough or doing it "right"? Would they feel they've outsourced all responsibility, as opposed to found an intermediary tasked with helping them solve a problem? And so on.<br /><br />Depending on the school, there are also active District and school-based English Learner Advisory Councils (DELACs and ELACs) and site councils which are more for parent input into policy and governance, but not necessarily set up for an advocacy role.Cynthiahttp://k12newsnetwork.comnoreply@blogger.com