We are in the age of no excuses.

http://www.newschools.org/news/teachers-reformers-and-the-real-fight/


We have faced many challenges this year with having such huge teaching teams. Collaboration is designed for discussion and agreement and action but with a team of 15, just sharing an opinion or thought can eat up half of the meeting time.

So I reached to the two experts, asking for ideas and resources. Within a matter of hours, I heard back from Mike Mattos and Ken Williams. They provided me with immediate ideas, as others to contact. All I had to do was ask.

In education, or any field, for that matter, there is no reason why we should be providing a service that is not supported by the research. And we should know what that research is because we should be reading and searching ourselves.

If is has been ten years since your doctor attended a workshop or training, or read scholarly research related to his practice, you probably wouldn't receive the best care available. Why would we allow it from any other profession?

It is our responsibility to know how to increase the academic and socio-emotional growth of our students. And if we are struggling to find the answers, the experts are available to ask directly. Powerful learning happens with students ask questions. Powerful learning happens with teachers do as well.

Parents: please ask your teachers what books or blogs they're reading to inform and guide their instruction, what professional development they've recently attended and how it impacted their classroom, or who's reading instruction philosophy they agree with more, Allington or Shanahan.

It's crunch time!

The first day back from Spring Break is always a wake-up call for me. In the back of my mind I know that the end of the year is coming, but Spring Break always seems to block it from my view. Now that the break is over, it's a sprint to the finish line. The urgency to get our students to read and math at their necessary level is really a matter of life or death by the end of 2nd grade. 

According to the American Educational Research Association, "A student who can't read on grade
level by 3rd grade is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently by that time. Add poverty to the mix, and a student is 13 times less likely to graduate on time than his or her proficient, wealthier peer."

Here are some facts about "Dropping out" of school. 

1. More than 1.3 million students drop out of high school every year in the US.
2. More than 20% of dropouts are foreign born. Another 17% are Hispanic students.
3. A high-school dropout is ineligible for 90% of jobs in America.
4. In 2009, the Northeast had a lower status dropout rate (7.1%) than the South and the West (8.4% and 8.6%, respectively
5. After World War II, the United States had the #1 high school graduation rate in the world. Today, we have dropped to #22 among 27 industrialized nations. 
6. 16- to 24-year-old boys made up nearly 60% of dropouts in 2010. That’s more than 1.8 million students
7. The percentage of students enrolling in college in the fall immediately following high school completion was 68.2% in 2011. Females enrolled at a higher rate (72.2%) than males (64.7%).
8. Roughly 80% of white and Asian students complete high school, compared to 55% African-American and Hispanic students.
9. A high-school graduate’s lifetime income is 50 to 100% higher than a non-graduate’s.

There needs to be a sense of urgency. It is not an issue of students "dropping out." It's an issue of us letting them down. We say that Viking PRIDE starts at JCP. In reality, their opportunities for a successful life start here. 

Sources:

• 1 
  PBS. "Who Isn’t Graduating From High School?." PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education/dropout-nation/who-isnt-graduating-from-high-school/ (accessed July 22, 2014).
• 2 
  "High School Dropout Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. http://www.statisticbrain.com/high-school-dropout-statistics/ (accessed July 21, 2014).
• 3 
  "High School Dropout Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. http://www.statisticbrain.com/high-school-dropout-statistics/ (accessed July 21, 2014).
• 4 
  Cullinan, Bernice E. "Independent Reading and School Achievement", American Association of School Librarians. Accessed February 2014. .
• 5 
  "Fast Facts." National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372 (accessed July 22, 2014).
• 6 
  "Fast Facts." National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372 (accessed July 22, 2014).
• 7 
  "The Broad Foundation - Education." The Broad Foundation - Education. http://www.broadeducation.org/about/crisis_stats.html (accessed July 22, 2014).
• 8 
  Hanson, Jack. "Why Children are Left Behind." Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2014. Print.
• 9 
  "Higher Education: Gaps in Access and Persistence Study." National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012046.pdf (accessed July 22, 2014).
• 10 
  The New York Times. "The True Cost Of High School Dropouts." The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/opinion/the-true-cost-of-high-school-dropouts.html (accessed July 22, 2014)
• 11 
  The New York Times. "The True Cost Of High School Dropouts." The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/opinion/the-true-cost-of-high-school-dropouts.html (accessed July 22, 2014).

What if every one of your students believed you felt this way about them...

You do realize that you have 100% control of whether your students 

believe this or not, don't you?

Can you imagine how hard they'll work for you?

Sir Ken Robinson and I had a meeting of the minds yesterday

He has been talking about creativity in education long before this TedTalk but it's the most watched TedTalk in history. 

I had the privilege of listening to Sir Ken Robinson present at a Creative Learning Institute yesterday. He was witty and a little rambly (like rambling -- pretty sure that's a British word) and said some things that hit me right between the eyes. 

Here are a few that I can't get out of my head:

• What you monitor you prioritize. So in America, (and in most countries in the world) we prioritize reading, writing and math, with some science. Based on what we assess and test, we do not care much about music, art, dance, history.... Sir Robinson says Art and Dance and Music should be equally as important as reading, writing, and math. 
• “Dropout” implies that the kid failed the system. But it's really the system that failed them. We dropped them.
• In 2013 the NFL made $9 billion. The movie box offices made $11 billion. Companies that create tests for education (not PD or support, just testing) made $16 billion!
• There are two worlds: 
• The one that existed before you were born and will be there after you leave
• And the world that began when you arrived and will end when you leave
• Our goal: get students to understand how to be successful in both worlds and how to work within both of these worlds.
• There are a lot of things that are legally required of schools (NCLB, CCSS, etc.). But most things that happen in school are done out of habit. It is what your school does that are not required by law (habits, school culture, priorities, etc.) that will have the biggest impact (positive or negative) in the education and future of your children.

Every child deserves...

"Every child deserves an education from someone who believes in them, who truly believes that this child is capable of becoming 

whatever they dream. 

This adult refuses to hear labels. This adult does not want to know how previous adults underestimated this child. When a child has an adult who believes in them in this way, that adult will authentically treat that child as something precious, possibly for the very first time in that child's life."             -Rob Darling  :) 

The consequences of Education

http://rw.runnersworld.com/images/raveruns/june_2014_raverun_1920x1200.jpg

The impact of education is possibly the most significant and consequential endeavor that will ever exist. 

However, the children being impacted by education are the least likely to fully comprehend it’s value. Their ability to see long-term is limited.  

That is why you (parent, teacher, paraprofessional, custodian, volunteer, neighbor, principal, relative, ROLE MODELS) are so important. 

I used to run. (Don't judge my current physical condition, there's an athlete under all of this still, somewhere....) From 2005 - 2012 I ran 13+ marathons (and hundreds of 1/2 marathon if you count all the long runs. I just could never get myself to pay for a half, since I ran them weekly for free. Sorry Halfers, but it's still only half. :P )

I ran with a guy who ran XC and the steeple chase in college. Brilliant guy, one of my most prized friends. He pushed me and challenged me and made me faster and puke, which I did not enjoy. But his most lasting advice was: 

               

"When things get tough, some runners look down. They focus on the next step. But not only does it make it more discouraging, it physically takes a toll. Your chest closes, your shoulders tense, your neck strains. Look up. Always look up. Focus on a location down the trail and work towards that. Once you reach it, pick another. Then another. Good runners focus on where they're going, not where they are."

We need to help our students see the end, not just each step that it takes to get there. 

Completing my Doctoral Dissertation, GRRRRRRR

http://successyeti.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/TSBB_Frustration-440x293.jpg

I've been working on this stupid thing for years, literally. It's been two years since I've completed all of the required coursework and passed my comprehensive exams for my doctorate in educational leadership. The only thing between me and wearing the goofy looking robe is my dissertation. There are 5 chapters for a dissertation. Chapter 1 is an introduction, 2 is a literature review, 3 is my research methodology, 4 is the results section and Chapter 5 is where I discuss the findings.

Once I was able to get approval from my dissertation chair, I submitted chapters 1-3 and was approved to move forward. I then received approval from the Institutional Review Board my first submission, and could start my research. The research itself consisted of a series of interviews with principals and teachers and only took me about 2-3 weeks to complete. I really liked that part. I really enjoyed sifting through all the data. That was May of 2015. Since then I've been writing and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting chapters 4 and 5. Once my chair and I get to a place where we think it's right, we submit to my two dissertation reviewers. Their jobs are to provide me with feedback. They're apparently experts at that.

I am SO sick of feedback!! We're not even talking about grammar and such yet. I'm still not to that fine of a level. We're still talking about about organization and flow and presenting qualitative data in a way that doesn't look or sound quantitative, which I thought did in revision #4, but then it sounded TOO qualitative and there wasn't enough narrative or synsthesis.....

I know, I'm boring you. But I do have a point.

I know the content of this topic and research inside and out now. The purpose of doing the doctoral research is to become the foremost expert on a topic or leadership problem that is relevant, unique and useful. All of the editing and revising and yelling at my computer that I've been doing over the last year has given me a level of understanding that will last forever.

Yes, I'm sure my dissertation chair could fix this for me. Yes, I've been to that point where I would have paid someone else to write it just to be done. But her perseverance and gentle pressure, applied relentlessly has forced me to productively struggle, or as James Nottingham calls it, "cognitively wobble." (click his name to watch a great video!) And it's because of this productive struggle that I'm earning and owning knowledge.

And that's my point. 

Knowledge must be earned for it to be lasting, to become synthesized and embedded. 

Do you want to know what my dissertation chair asked me to do tonight? Write a flippin' outline for chapter 4.  Can you believe that?!?! My dissertation is currently over 140 pages, all my own work and research and she wants me to stop and write an outline?!?!

But I did it. And in doing something as simple as an outline, I could clearly see how disjointed the chapter was, the portions that were redundant, and the portions that altogether didn't belong.

It is such a pain in the butt having a teacher who sees your full potential 

and knows that the learning is the true reward, and makes you struggle. (written in sarcasm font)