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No single impediment to closing the nation's shameful achievement gap looms larger than the culture of excuse that now permeates our schools. Too many educators today excuse teachers, principals, and school superintendents who fail to substantially raise the performance of low-income minority students by claiming that schools cannot really be held accountable for student achievement because disadvantaged students bear multiple burdens of poverty.

I think a teacher's years of experience should matter because it carries over to how effective they are. A first year third grade teacher is not going to as effective as a ten-year third grade teacher.

Very convincing and persuasive......because we all want to believe that it's that easy. If we are good teachers, all the education problems are solved. Poverty will be eliminated and suffering will cease because we, as teachers, have that power. After all, most of us probably went in to education to help others and be an instrument of change in the world. But I have a hard time believing that it's really that simple. I would like to dig a little deeper into the statistical improvements that the stated charter schools have made. I don't want to give off the impression that i don't think there is a solution to the problems of educating the economically challenged. I believe education is the answer to a better world. But I don't believe the answer education's woes is as simple as "no excuses".

Article abstract: This article explored "the personal and professional changes experienced by a teacher education faculty who embarked on a joint project relating to urban education. The faculty members committed to write book chapters applying their areas of expertise to the challenge of preparing teachers for urban schools." With a qualitative research design, the results showed a detailed description of the staff's "discoveries, thoughts, doubts, and reflections at three points during the project" The study's results revealed "an evolving perspective on urban education focusing upon understanding the lived experiences of the children" as a means of implementing meaningful education for these urban students.

I think what I'm starting to see is that the essence...is not developing recipes, quick fixes and a how-to-do-it book as much as it is to begin to talk about the need for understanding such issues as passion, resilience, compensatory kind of skills...I'm getting more to the point of talking about what a person takes into the environment...So if we try to just give our students a whole lot of tricks saying this will work and that will work I think we're setting them up for failure. So we've got to try to turn some of their attitude into philosophy and understanding of the urban setting. It's more knowledge and attitude than it is a skill. That's a change. That's not the way I was approaching it (ST, 11/6, pp. 1-2).

I agree that a lack of experiences in urban schools causes hesitation and confusion. I remember going to a school-wide urban education training when I first started teaching in my district. Having some experience with attending and student teaching in an urban school setting, I was astounded by the lack of knowledge of some of my peers. Most of them thought they would be able to build relationships with the students right away and demand their respect. As our student population changed and we gained experience, we became less hesitant and started brainstorming ways to involve our ever-changing community in order to develop better relationships.

Jill, I really enjoyed this article! It is an interesting perspective for me, an elementary teacher, who never gets a chance to witness the great things that are being done at the high school level. Like you, I think it's truly important for higher education discussions to begin earlier than high school...the earlier, the better. Students need to have the mentality that they CAN and WILL go to college because it is their educational right, despite any hardships they may have to face. Building excitement in school based on school spirit days (Represent Your Alma Mater Day) or field trips to see what is available can instill the excitement and motivation of higher education. Thanks for sharing!

Wow! Jill what a great program to be a part of. How do your students react to this experience? Are they open to asking questions? Do they show genuine interest and intrigue? Also, I agree that there needs to be a "YES I CAN" attitude. This takes more than just a teacher though. It takes a the school as a community to instill these ideas into students. By teaching students the possibilities and starting their intrigue in higher education earlier, I think there can be a change in mind-set. At the high school level, I see many of my ELL students doubt their abilities or chances of attending college, so they never allow that dream to come into their minds. With the right encouragement and guidance, this can change.

Great article Jill. Pike started a really neat college initiative this year that involved the elementary, middle and high schools. It involved teachers discussing colleges during academic advisory times, decorating classrooms and wearing college gear on certain days. Although I do not have college bound students in my classroom, we still decorated my door and I had several students come in my classroom asking about IU. I was able to share my experience with them. This initiative was able to provide students with a chance to talk with teachers about real life experiences. I don't know what they were doing at the elementary level, but I would be interested to see what activities took place, as I think early exposure is necessary. It would be worthwhile to also have parents involved at an early age, especially for students whose parents did not attend college.

This article makes a great point about an achievement gap statistic. A black or Hispanic 12th grader has reading and math skills comparable to a white 8th grader. I appreciate this article because there are no excuses, just a desire to fix what is broken.

I appreciate the reality of this article. Normally, I get upset when I read about educational reform; however, this article laid out a truth to reform. I agree that the decisions of our government went "the wrong way on education." But, I appreciate Booker's message: "I am no longer concerned with right and left. I just want to go forward!" This is what we all need to focus on. Our students. They need to be what we fight for.

Yet another article about school reform that completely leaves the role of parents out. Until parents have the ability to support their children at home and set high, achievable expectations, true reform will never be possible. Unfortunately, this is one aspect of that administrators cannot control, no matter how many reform plans they invent or enact.

This article discusses how teachers who work to improve students test scores are leaving a lasting impression on their students. The more education they are getting by "good teachers" increases the students chances of succeeding. Teachers are working to improve these students test scores and while they are doing this the students are learning more than just what is needed to pass the tests. Schools need better teachers to help students in the long run.

"Mr. Jones might regularly help raise test scores more than Ms. Smith, but maybe that is because his students are from wealthier families, or because he has a harder-working class - factors that can be difficult for researchers to discern. " This quote stood out to me because it is similar to the argument against merit based pay for teachers in Indiana. We all know that students come to us with an array of prior knowledge, much of which is based on previous experiences and their environment. However, all students are capable of academic growth. What's the harm in evaluating teachers based on the growth their students made during the school year?

I knew I want to be a teacher since fourth and fifth grade when I had Mr. Cearfoss. He was one of those effective teachers who changed my life by making me feel successful on a daily basis and believe that I could be successful on a daily basis if I saw value in everything I did. Kind of deep for a fourth and fifth grade teacher, but I remember him attending my baseball games late in the evenings and calling home when he thought I was slacking. He made it clear to me, and the rest of the students, that while he cared about our education in his classroom, he cared even more that we used our education to make the right decisions in our lives after we left his classroom. The average effect of one teacher on a single student is modest. I did not find it surprising that, according to the article, "All else equal, a student with one excellent teacher for one year between fourth and eighth grade would gain $4,600 in lifetime income, compared to a student of similar demographics who has an average teacher. The student with the excellent teacher would also be 0.5 percent more likely to attend college." This is the power that vested, compassionate teachers can have on a student's life. While some of my students will say they like me and others will say the exact opposite, all my students would say that I care about them and care about their success. When a student feels that a person, especially a teacher, cares and believes in them, that student will strive to retain that faith others have in him/her.

This article highlights some of the changes that suburban schools are just now facing, that urban schools have been facing for years. 

I thought the first section you highlighted about kids and their parents perceptions is valuable. It is a 2 way street between home and school and it has to be united for student success. If parents are not supportive and can not help their students, clearly there is going to be decrease in student performance. I think families are the most important relationship to establish. There are so many different groups that need to come together in order to fix this crisis...the thought seems difficult...almost impossible.

One point that I thought Kennedy left out of her arguments was parent support. Oftentimes, students are coming to schools with their parents' view of school, both positive and negative. If parents had trouble in school or have negative feelings toward schooling, they are less likely to be positive about it with their kids. The amount of support at home can make or break a student. Furthermore, reforms can come and go, but parent support is often the determining factor of success. This trend may begin to exemplify that notion as both urban and suburban schools face the same issues. I will be interested to see if the parents of the students in suburban schools are much more supportive and the difference that will make when the playing field is evened.

Their sway over policy and politics appears to be growing, especially at the state and local levels. A new generation of education advocacy groups has emerged to play a formidable political role in states and communities across the country.

Interesting article! I think that advocacy groups pushing for the interests of CHILDREN is something that has been long overdue to the reformation of urban education. Also, I read about Rhee in a different article, for anyone that is interested and wants any more background knowledge. Link is below: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1862444-1,00.html

I used the link to Indiana's Democrats for Education Reform and found information about a budget proposal for next year. They are discussing adding additional cost to states and districts that are already under economic stress! Democrats for Education Reform - Indiana: http://www.dfer.org/branches/in/

A very simple video about what makes teachers great

I think the strongest piece of the video is setting strong goals or setting high expectations. In my experience as an educator and the principal of a successul "A" rated school, students will rise to the expectations we set for them.

To me this video just shows that matter what your qualifications are (highly qualified, effective, ineffective, etc) when you are truly listening to your students, you are a great teacher. Very refreshing. I needed this.

High-performing urban schools have climates that nurture the commitment and engagement of teachers, parents, and students. This short video by Dr. Lynne Perez from the National Center for Urban School Transformation and Power Pont detail the perspectives/attitudes of parents, teachers, and students from successful urban schools.

I agree that students wanting to come to school is a big part of it's success. I really dislike hearing from students "I hate this school" etc. That is why nurturing them and making them feel wanted is important. If they feel wanted then they will want to be at school. When parents see this and hear from their child how much they enjoy being at school they will also be on board too. Thank you for sharing this!

I think the concept of this video is relevant. Brian you said you do not believe you are a nurturer; however, I think all educators are to some degree. I think nurturer is often translated to caudle, which is not the case. Teachers have an obligation to provide their students with the best possible education. This education does not just develop overnight. It takes a variety of components to bring it all together. We know students need to feel safe in their environment. We know that students need to feel accepted in order to collaborate and communicate to the best of their abilities. If students feel stifled, they lose to drive to achieve in a class. A big part of this develops within the social and emotional aspects of school. With this is mind, educators are nurturers. Doesn't mean you can't hold your students to high standards. Doesn't mean you let them make excuses for themselves. No matter traditional or progressive. Strict or lenient. Teachers by nature are nurturers because we help our students. I am a high school teacher too, and I still make sure that my students are comfortable and confident in their classroom because I know they will engage and learn more if I do.

The article, by Jonathan Mahler, was about the heroic efforts of Ramón González, the principal of M.S. 223, a public middle school in the South Bronx, to make his school a place where his young charges can get a decent education and thus, perhaps, a better life.

Educational reforms are rarely about students and while they typically boast the mission of "student success" the majority of teachers and educators I have come into contact with feel a great disconnect between those enacting reforms and the needs they have in the classroom. One of Abraham Lincoln's strongest leadership principles was to "ciculate among the troops" however, it is a very rare event for central office leaders in a school district and the legislators that pass reforms actually set foot in a school much less engage with the teachers who are "on the front lines" in order to learn what the struggles are in today's educational environments.

I think while us (teachers) are wanting reformers to take a "walk in our shoes" with what goes on a day-to-day basis, we teachers have to stop and think no matter what we judge, or want to believe, we have no idea what goes on from the time our students leave in the afternoon until the time they come back the next day. This article goes to show that "yes," 80% of a student's learning comes from school, but then there is that 20% that needs to come from the home.

Grand Prize Winner Says Charter Schools Should be Like Cancer Contact: Boulder, CO (May 31, 2012) -- The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder, has announced via online video the winners of the 2011 Bunkum Awards -presented for the most compellingly lousy educational research for the past year.

NEPC might be an organization you are interested in checking out. They provide a unique service to the education community: they arrange careful and timely reviews, by the nation's leading scholars, of foundations' and policy groups' (among other groups) research reports.As can be detected from this headline, they are strategically intervening in the faulty pipeline that puts shoddy "research" results in the hands of policy makers, who often times don't have the background to view these exceedingly complex issues with a nuanced perspective like that we are developing.

The article brings up a good point about all the different efforts and fads. While on the one hand it's commendable that a number of initiatives are attempted to improve student learning and students' experiences (and they all likely have various degrees of success), this does beg the question of how much might be TOO much. For instance, if multiple efforts are piloted within a school district, how long is it before there is pressure at other schools to adopt one model that shows promise? If there is struggle with one pilot program, how long does it take before there is pressure to abandon it in favor of another endeavor? There are a variety of questions that can come up, and it can just add to the layers of complications that students and educators face. With the world of standardized testing, deadlines and results-based outcomes, I think there are times that certain initiatives may be hindered simply by the pressures of a certain expectation of immediate results that fail to fully take into account the students and educators properly.

Austin and Jenn- The immediacy for results is true. We are a nation of we want it fast, and we want it now; however, this is not possible nor is it reliable. The need for answers only causes stress and irritability in our school systems. Sadly, the pressure to perform on tests and other assessments negates students overall comprehension and engagement within a class. It also limits a teachers ability to teach. It is complicated. I do not think there is one answer. I don't think there is an easy answer. However, I do think that there needs to be a bigger fight for students. It is my belief that this fight starts with eliminating the presence of instant failure, otherwise known as standardized tests.

I have spent many of my research classes studying the effect positive parenting has on education. With all of the fad ideas that have come and gone, reaching parents has been an initiative that has made a significant difference. Now we come to the dilemma. Unfortunately, we can't control what happens to the students away from our care, so how can we replicate the same results? I have no doubt that reformers will continue coming up with new ideas to try.

Take two kids, one from a low-income family, the other middle class. Let them run around and do little-kid things in their respective homes and then, at age 5, enroll them in kindergarten.

I feel this shows how important it is to start educating children at a young age.

This topic/article really strikes home for me. One of my dearest friends works in Mississippi in a Pre-K class. Her effervescent personality, dedication, and perservance would make any child want to come to school. She is in a very high poverty school system but overcomes this obstacle in her teaching and with her students. Preschool children are at an age where money and SES have no baring but influence and change do. Thanks for sharing this article!

I got ahead of myself and posted before I highlighted or captured...i'll have to experiment more closely with Diigo on my next post! I thought this article was interesting because it adds the community component to urban school reform. "Community-based organizations that deal with issues such as housing, health, and regeneration would profit from partnering with schools and working together to improve the lot and the education of children living in these areas as a means of benefiting both schools and the community." This intrigued me as it is a reminder if a child's basic needs are not being met (shelter, health, etc) then school is going to be on the back burner. This collaboration between school and community seems to be a piece to the reform puzzle.

Yes, it was implemented, but I am not sure how fully. Mayor Washington died while in office, and the plan was quite a radical departure from the way urban schools historically were - and still are - run. So, as you can imagine, it was maintained without fidelity (LSCs still exist, but to varying widely in their effectiveness and with much of their power stripped) and other critical parts of the plan were dismantled.

As a teacher in a Title I school, I often find it difficult to contact students' homes since so many students move around during the school year and some parents/guardians tend not to be very receptive. Nonetheless, some of the greatest successes I feel I have had during my two years of teaching have come from parent-teacher conferences that I have called and/or those informal phone calls I do when a student misses five days, begins to fail my class, or is disruptive. The article says "Engaging community groups with schools has the added benefit of helping teachers and other educators to better understand the communities and lifestyles of the children they teach, and thus to better adapt their style to meet their needs." I have formed positive working relationships with many of my students' families, which not only led to an improvement in the students' behavior, but also their academic performance. That old saying "It takes a village to raise a child" also applies to educating them as well.

This article contains information about reform efforts in IPS, special education reform initiatives, and examples of success for IPS.

After reading this article, did you find that the implementation and reform initiatives were working? Not having worked in Indianapolis, I cannot be an accurate judge of the influence these ideas of success are having on IPS. I was just wondering what your thoughts were regarding the reality of the changes and the effectiveness?

I think looking at the beginning numbers before they changed the schools around is interesting to what they are after. The graduation rate has gone down, but the middle school and elementary testing scores have gone up. This could mean that as these younger students get older the graduation rate will increase.

Most of you have probably heard of the Halem Project or the Harlem Kid Zone. Most of the critics have cited its dependence on high levels of funding. In the interview Canada mentions the funding cutbacks and challenges. What I like about it is the comprehensive approach to reform. It's not a 7:30 - 3:00 job.

I don't understand how this reform is fiscally possible. Canada mentioned that they had around 10,000 kids in the program and that they had an original budget of 200,000,000 dollars. He then said that it was cut to 10,000,000 dollars. This may be a model that works but the costs seem to be astronomical and any sort of school reform that is going to be widespread will need to not be dependant on expensive programs. Kennedy mentions that reforms fail because teachers give up on them when they don't see results right away and in this case the programs will likely fold because the improvements will either not come right away or not be deemed significant enough to justify the budget required.

I had forgotten that this was a model that was sought to be replicated across the country because of some of its successes in being able to address some of the major issues facing students in the Harlem Children's Zone. An article from 2010 addresses some of the successes, but also points out that the efforts have seen their share of struggles too, including a class of students that was completely dismissed because of students' academic performance, something that public schools would not be able to do (Otterman, 2010). The article also criticizes the funding that is spent per student on average, which also does not include everything that the organization provides to students, and the community as well (Otterman, 2010). It was noteworthy that, at least when the article was written, most of the funding was attained through private donations, though the government was beginning to try to allocate more federal funding to such initiatives. I think the biggest thing I take away from this is the realization of a variety of factors that influence students' performances in the classroom. While people typically focus on how well students do on tests and papers, other areas of their life (such as long-term or short-term illnesses, home life, etc.) unquestionably impact how students do in schools. As many people suffering challenges in their life would see that affect their performance at work, so to it influences students. The organization has done a great job of trying to address a lot of these different areas in an effort to improve students' performances (and, for that matter, their lives). Otterman, S. (2010, October 12). "Lauded Harlem schools have their own problems." New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/education/13harlem.html?pagewanted=all

This article discusses the teacher turnover rate in one group of New York City schools; many of the teachers are either being fired or resigning for their own reasons. While it is definitely important to have the best teachers possible in the classrooms, it seems that schools might not be going about this in the best way possible for the teachers or the students.

Edward, I completely agree with your image of a "bad" teacher and I honestly have never seen one myself either! I know some that might be a little burnt out, but they are still trying their best and doing everything they can to teach their students. I realize that this must not be the case in every school, or at least I am assuming there must be some really "bad" teachers out there since everyone seems to be so eager to get rid of them! And yes, your point about the bottom third is also important--even if every teacher in the school is working hard and doing their best, there still has to be a bottom third that will get fired...

Austin, I would also be interested in hearing from these teachers. If I were in a position like that I think I would feel like I have to keep looking over my shoulder and making sure that I am making administrators happy, rather than focusing on effective teaching strategies for my particular group of students. No two classrooms of students will ever be the same, and that should be taken into consideration accordingly.

The Key Learning Community is based upon the Theory of Multiple Intelligences developed by Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University. I visited Key during my undergraduate work. I am a huge fan of Howard Gardner.

I am also a fan of Dr. Howard Gardner. With my profession, I think it is so important to realize the whole-child and finding ways where all students can succeed. My high school friend did Teach for America with Kipp Indy. She fell in love with the school's mission and commitment to learning. After her 2 years with TFA, she stayed on and is now a coordinator for collegiate education.

I really appreciated what Ron Smith, the principal, said: "Children are naturally curious about the world and they have many ways of expressing what they know. They have questions of their own that should be taken seriously by the adults who surround them." I think this applies to all levels of learners. Curiosity and intrigue are so important as students grow academically. This is why probing questions were invented! Heuristic thinking and wonderments from our students allow them to explore and discover new meanings and gain new knowledge. I just really found myself connected to this statement and thought about the applications inside my own classroom.