Sorry for the lack of posts recently! I've been hard at work trying to get the NEW TEN ready. Any day now!

I've also been busy preparing for Golden Apple's first-ever digital storytelling seminar, which I'm teaching alongside Golden Apple Fellow and award-winning storyteller (and my dad), Syd Lieberman.

Interested in finding out more about digital storytelling? Below you'll find some of the best resources I've come across in preparation for the workshop. Stay tuned for more!

GENERAL DIGITAL STORYTELLING (OVERVIEWS, THEORY, GUIDES)
Overview of one classroom's process.
Evaluating digital storytelling.
Comprehensive list of resource, relevant articles, examples, etc.
Comprehensive list of resources.
Really good four-part intro. Parts 3 and 4 (technology/legal issues and assessment) are particularly practical.
eBook with tons of links to examples of digital storytelling. (free registration required).

EXAMPLES OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING
Great collection from the Center for Digital Storytelling.
Capture Wales digital stories: a major BBC initiative to collect stories in Wales.
Digital stories by teachers.


TECHNOLOGY TUTORIALS AND HOW-TOS
Screencast tutorials for iMovie, Moviemaker, and PremierePro, as well as overviews of key digital media concepts.
Screencast Audacity tutorial.
How to use a Mac if you're a PC user.


IMAGE/VIDEO/AUDIO RESOURCES
Creative Commons. A gateway to materials with "some rights reserved" that are intended to be shared and used.
Flickr for images and photos. In the advanced search, make sure to check "only search within Creative Commons licensed photos."
ccMixter for sounds and music. Creative Commons licensed.
United Streaming for video. For use in digital stories, be sure to use the advanced search and choose "include only editable titles." Free 30-day trial.
PacDV for sound effects.

Labels: resources

The National Council on Teacher Quality comes out swinging in its 2007 State Teacher Policy Yearbook, looking at state progress on teacher quality. They looked at each state and Washington DC, evaluating its progress on a matrix of 27 goals related to teacher quality for a total of over 1,300 separate analyses. What did they discover? "States as a group meet or come close to meeting just 21 percent of the goals, with no state meeting even half of the goals."

These goals include equitable distribution of quality teachers across the state, professionalization of teacher training and licensure, value-added teacher evaluation, accountability for teacher preparation and alternative certification programs, and improvements to the preparation of special ed teachers.

Some of the specific shortcomings the report sees nationally:

STATES ARE NOT PAYING ENOUGH ATTENTION TO WHO GOES INTO TEACHING. States provide significant funding to teacher preparation programs, particularly in state-funded universities, yet there is little oversight of candidates’ academic caliber.

This is interesting vis-a-vis the IERC study from a few weeks ago that found that new teachers with strong academic backgrounds were likelier than others to leave the profession quickly. Could this be related to another shortcoming seen in the NCTQ analysis--that states aren't doing an adequate job of monitoring the quality of teacher preparation these students are receiving?

The report berates states for not relying on their own licensing tests and allowing teachers to teach for months or even years before having to show competence on a licensing exam, something no other highly trained profession allows. If states don't rely on the tests and don't trust them to measure whether someone is minimally qualified to become a teacher, what is their purpose?

Most damning, the report argues that in most states:

THE INTERESTS OF ADULTS FREQUENTLY COME BEFORE THE NEEDS OF THE CHILDREN. Far too many accommodations are made for teachers in the areas of testing, tenure and evaluations, risking the possibility that too many children could suffer significant academic harm from a bad teacher.

This is a BIG report (and this is just the summary! There are full-length state-by-state reports, too), but there's lots here to think about. To keep it manageable, I suggest focusing on pages 6-11 and then popping over to page 29 to see about Illinois. Hungry for more? Pages 68-121 go through each of the 27 goals in some detail, including listing which states are meeting each goal. (The website also has a neat interactive map that shows a summary of this info).

Labels: conversations, resources

It will likely be years before the full impact of the Supreme Court's latest school integration decision is clear. In the meantime, there's plenty of commentary to keep us busy.

Just have time to read one thing? My recommendation is NPR senior correspondent and biographer of Thurgood Marshall, Juan Williams, who takes the controversial position that "it is time to acknowledge that Brown's time has passed" in his New York Times OpEd "Don't Mourn Brown v. Board of Education."

Desegregation does not speak to dropout rates that hover near 50 percent for black and Hispanic high school students. It does not equip society to address the so-called achievement gap between black and white students that mocks Brown’s promise of equal educational opportunity.

And the fact is, during the last 20 years, with Brown in full force, America’s public schools have been growing more segregated — even as the nation has become more racially diverse. In 2001, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that the average white student attends a school that is 80 percent white, while 70 percent of black students attend schools where nearly two-thirds of students are black and Hispanic...

...Racial malice is no longer the primary motive in shaping inferior schools for minority children. Many failing big city schools today are operated by black superintendents and mostly black school boards.

And today the argument that school reform should provide equal opportunity for children, or prepare them to live in a pluralistic society, is spent. The winning argument is that better schools are needed for all children — black, white, brown and every other hue — in order to foster a competitive workforce in a global economy.

Want to hear Juan Williams instead of reading him? Try his NPR conversation with Renee Montagne.

Looking for balanced television coverage of the decision? Try NewsHour.

Have hours and hours? Google News is your source for EVERY. ARTICLE. EVER. WRITTEN. It's overwhelming, but a great resource.

Labels: conversations, resources

Now that school's over and you've got some time to think, is anyone considering going for National Board Certification next year? According to the consortium National Board Certification Chicago,

The true value of earning the profession's highest distinction comes from the enhanced pedagogical skills teachers obtain upon finishing the NBC process. The descriptive, analytical and reflective writing about your practice will make the experience priceless while impacting the academic achievement of your students.

The value of NBC to teachers is also financial, with Illinois offering NBCTs a $3,000 per year bonus for up to ten years. Chicago teachers are eligible for additional awards through National Board Certification Chicago.

For support through the NBC process, try National Board Certification Chicago or Illinois National Board Professional Preparation and Support System. ISBE's website has more info on NBC for Illinois teachers, and the National Board itself has a good website with lots of information and links relevant for teachers nationwide.

I'm interested to start reviewing the literature on National Board Certification, especially in light of the recent flurry of interest in teacher retention. Could NBC be one of the tools we use to try to keep those highly educated new teachers in the profession not just for five years, but for 10, 15, 20 years? Perhaps the professional and intellectual support provided in the program is a piece of the puzzle of keeping talented teachers in the career.

Labels: conversations, resources

I met today with local education technology expert Lucy Gray, and she introduced me to ning, a new social networking site that's attracting a great group of educators. The two sites I've explored so far are Lucy's Global Education Collaborative and the group exploring how to fully integrate new interactive technology into the classroom, a phenomenon known as Classroom 2.0. Both are open to any interested teacher, and feature discussions, video clips, and blogs. (Just like the new TEN will!)

For more ideas about how technology can improve your teaching (and/or your life), start with Lucy's blog and Will Richardson's Weblogg-ed and just click on the links for anything that sounds interesting!

(By the way, that's my high-tech advice for anyone just getting started using blogs and other internet tools: click anything that sounds interesting! If you're using Firefox or Safari or the newest version of Internet Explorer, be sure to use the tabs feature! It's a huge time and energy saver.)

Labels: resources

Just a few of the many options out there...

Revolutionize your teaching practice at the Lesson Study Summer Insitute.
Attend a chess and math workshop (or many others!) at the Chicago Teacher Center.
Learn to teach science using food.
Conduct action research as part of the Teachers Network Leadership Institute. ($1,000 fellowship stipend!)
Win a grant to start a podcasting program at your school.
Explore moral choices, courage, compassion, race, and identity.

Labels: resources

This week, a bipartisan group (including Golden Apple Board President Max McGee) released its Burnham Plan for a World-Class Education. Named for Daniel Burnham's famed Plan of Chicago.

The plan was developed in the wake of the Chicago Tribune's editorial series "From Here to Excellence," published in February.

The proposals include:

• Improved accountability, including improving student data systems, financial accounting, and teacher evaluation.
• Specific education reforms, including digital education grants, professional development for school boards, a statewide new teacher induction program, tenure reform, performance pay for teachers, and raising the cap on charter schools.
• School funding reform.

As might be expected the funding reform is the vaguest part of the plan. The proposal is summarized as "Identify stable, predictable, and sustainable revenue sources and continuing appropriations to guarantee a system of adequate state funding." Well yes, we should. But where?

Not surprisingly, the Tribune thinks the plan is, "worth reading -- and enacting. It's thoughtful, bipartisan, results-oriented and, most compelling, it's within reach." The Sun Times is more measured, reminding us that several of the proposals are fairly controversial, particularly tenure reform, merit pay, and raising the cap on charter schools.

Expect to hear a lot more about these issues in the next few months. Wheels seem to be turning in Illinois education these days. It'll be interesting to see where we go.

Resources:
Burnham Plan Summary from A+ Illinois
Burnham Plan Legislative Proposal from the Illinois Education Association.

Labels: conversations, resources

May 30
12 - 2 pm
Join Golden Apple, MetLife, and the Committee for Economic Development at a forum to discuss the newly released 2006 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, Expectations and Experiences. Barbara Eason-Watkins, Chief Education Officer for Chicago Public Schools will give the keynote, and panelists include Golden Apple Fellow and school principal Cheryl Watkins and Victoria Chou, Dean of the UIC School of Education. RSVP to Zack Schwartz.

June 1
3:00-7:00 pm.
Grand Opening celebration for Kohl Children's Museum's new exhibit "The Power of Documentation: Children's Learning Revealed. Free! Light snacks and cash bar from 5:30-7.

June 20
8 am - 5 pm
The Center for Teaching through Children's Books and the Office of Partnerships at
National College of Education present INDIVISIBLE, "an engaging study opportunity for mindful educators who are open to experiencing an illuminating day to deepen their knowledge about societal issues that impact youth and to develop new vistas for teaching for social justice through children's literature." Speakers include Bill Ayers and Deborah Ellis. Click here for more information and to register.

Labels: resources

Teachers in Chicago Public Schools are (hopefully) well-aware that tomorrow is the union election. A rematch of sorts, the election pits the current president, Marilyn Stewart, and her slate (UPC) against the previous union president, Deborah Lynch, and her slate (PACT). In 2004, Stewart was elected by a tiny margin--a result that was hotly contested by Lynch at the time.

The Sun Times has an overview of the election issues. To read what Chicago teachers are saying, visit the District 299 blog. (137 comments at last count!)

UPDATE: CTU elects Stewart in a landslide.

Looking for a broader perspective on teachers unions? Spend some time with this guide from Teachers College's Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media. It's written for journalists, as a resource for them to use when covering education and union issues. A history of teachers unions, case studies, and research are combined to offer a really comprehensive overview.

Related: Elephants in the Room.

Labels: resources

APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MAY 29!

Golden Apple is in the process of creating an amazing new Teaching Excellence Center for Illinois teachers. The center will feature exciting in-depth seminars in a residential setting throughout the year. This summer we're piloting the center, by offering four new week-long seminars. Three are residential (lodging and meals included!), and one is a more traditional non-residential format. All four of them are FREE!

June 24-29 at Pere Marquette State Park in Grafton, IL:

Click for the Flyer
Click for the Application


July 22-27 at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL:

Click for the Flyer
Click for the Application
[This workshop is especially for teachers in CPS Region 6 and Chicago's South Suburbs]


Click for the Flyer
Click for the Application



July 30-Aug. 3 at University of Chicago Lab School (non-residential):

Click for the Flyer
Click for the Application
[TEN members are especially invited to apply!]

Visit the Golden Apple Website for more information about these workshops or our other summer professional development experiences:

• Science Workshop

• CORE (Center for Ongoing Renewal and Enrichment) (for more information contact Sister Raeleen Sweeney: raeleens@goldenapple.org)

• Storytelling Workshop (contact Gaby Aguirre for a brochure: aguirre@goldenapple.org or (312) 407-0006)
  

Questions? Want more information? Contact Penny Lundquist, lundquist@goldenapple.org, (312) 407-0006 x122.

Labels: golden apple, resources

Apply for a $300 Study Group Member grant. More information HERE.

Labels: resources

A new take on performance-based compensation for teachers from TeacherSolutions, a unique panel of excellent teachers from across the country who meet (both in-person and virtually) to think through education issues from a teacher's perspective.

What's in the report?

Teachers will support performance-pay plans that advance student achievement and the teaching profession, says a first-of-its-kind report written by a diverse group of expert teachers from across the United States. The new TeacherSolutionsSM study proposes radical changes in the way teachers have traditionally been compensated, including:

• Rewarding small teams of teachers who raise student achievement together;
• Rewarding teachers who accept challenging assignments in high-needs schools and strengthen connections between school and community; and
• Redesigning pay systems so that teacher success, not seniority or graduate degrees, determines maximum teacher pay.

The value of the report is not only in its recommendations, but in who they come from and how they were developed:

"What's unique about this report is that it's the first time that classroom teachers -- not policy wonks or politicians, but great teachers -- have weighed in on this policy issue in a nationally publicized report," said Barnett Berry, founder and president of the Center for Teaching Quality. "If we want pay plans to gain acceptance on the ground, the voices of accomplished teachers must be heard."

Links to the report, the executive summary, and news analysis of the report can be found at the Teacher Leaders Network website.

TLN and TeacherSolutions are projects of the Center for Teaching Quality, a national research-based advocacy organization focusing on teacher quality and teacher leadership.

Here at TEN, we're excited to a see such a strong model for teacher-led conversation on serious educational issues--the kinds of conversations we hope to be having on TEN!

Labels: resources

From the Chicago Foundation for Education (CFE):

Apply for a $300 CFE Study Group Team Member Grant!
Applications are due postmarked by Friday, April 20, 2007!!!

What are Study Group Team Member Grants?
$300 Team Member Grants provide teachers interested in participating in 12 hours of Study Group Meetings with the coaching and support needed to learn and implement new teaching strategies. Study Groups are led by fellow CPS teachers who have been awarded CFE Coach Grants to mentor teams of 6-8 teachers in an area of expertise that they have developed.

How Can I Apply?
Teachers can apply by looking through the Study Group Grant Catalog and completing an application based on the Study Group Instructional Strategy that they are interested in adapting and implementing in their classroom. Catalogs are available at all CPS schools, and on our website at www.cfegrants.org

From the Chicago Schools Alliance:

Apply now to be on a Practice-Based Inquiry School Visit Team!

• Spend a week focused on learning and teaching
• See how another school operates up-close and in-depth
• Get trained in and use Practice-based Inquiry®
• Have great conversations with fellow professionals
• Help improve a school’s practices
• Get CPDU credits

WHO?
Experienced teachers (with a minimum of 2-5 years classroom teaching experience in the grade levels of the host school).
The final team selected will represent a diverse mix of grade levels, disciplines, and experiences. At least one team member will be an administrator. Teachers from AMPS schools are especially invited to participate.

WHEN & WHERE?
North Grand HS (4338 W. Wabansia): HS teachers wanted Apr 30 to May 4.
Chavez ES (4747 S. Marshfield): Elementary teachers wanted May 7 to May 11.

Visit days begin no later than 8:00 a.m. and end by 5:30 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday night's dinner/work session ends by 8:30 p.m.

HOW?
Teachers must be nominated by their principals. Ask your principal to nominate you!
Email Kim Zalent, kzalent@bpichicago.org, the following information:
1. Name, school, contact information (email and phone - work and cell).
2. A paragraph or two about your qualifications and experience, as well as the reason you are applying and what you think you will contribute to this visit. Be sure to include the number of years you have taught, the grade level, subject areas and type of schools (e.g. start-up, student population, location.). Again, one or two paragraphs is fine. Attach your resume if you have one.
3. Principal's nomination can be in the same email or separate.

If in doubt, apply! Call Kim Zalent, (312) 641-5570, with any questions. More information is available at www.chicagoschoolsalliance.org.

Labels: resources

Looking for one simple way to rev up your technological know-how? This is it.

In a nutshell, RSS (short for lots of things, including Really Simple Syndication) is an easy way for you to find, all in one place, what's new on your favorite websites. You "subscribe" to the sites you're interested in, and then any new content on those sites is delivered to one place, called an aggregator. Will Richardson, probably the top writer on technology in education, has published a guide to getting started with RSS. I couldn't say it any better, so here's how he explains some of the things you can do with RSS:

For instance, say you're a political science teacher and you've found 20 or 30 Weblog and media sites on the Internet that are consistently publishing interesting and relevant information for you and your students. Finding the time to click through to those sites and keep abreast of any new information on a regular basis would be nearly impossible. But what if you only had to go to one place to read all of the new content on all of those sites? Wouldn't be so difficult, would it?

Here's another scenario: you currently get the headlines from The New York Times via an e-mail message that arrives each morning. But more and more, your e-mail box is being clogged up by spammers selling everything from pornography to mortgages. There are new virus warnings every day. That New York Times content is getting lost in the morass that e-mail has become. Not so with RSS. The New York Times, as well as hundreds of other newspapers, has a number of virus free "feeds" that your aggregator can collect. And in general, you know that everything in your aggregator is something you want to read because you subscribed to it. No ads, no spam, just new content from the sources you read.

Ready to get started? Go to Richardson's easy-to-follow guide and go for it! And don't forget to add TEN's RSS feed as one of your subscriptions!

Labels: resources, TEN stuff

The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) published a study in 2003 entitled No Dream Denied: a Pledge to America's Children. In the summary report, NCTAF framed the issue this way:

The number of teachers entering the schools increased steadily during the 1990s. The problem is that teacher attrition was increasing even faster. It is as if we were pouring teachers into a bucket with a fist-sized hole in the bottom...

An analysis of the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics found that approximately a third of America’s new teachers leave teaching sometime during their first three years of teaching; almost half may leave during the first five years...

Not surprisingly, turnover is highest in low-income urban schools. The turnover rate for teachers in high poverty schools is almost a third higher than the rate for all teachers in all schools...

This is old news. We've heard these statistics before. But the report had an interesting addition to the last part, about turnover in low-income schools:

Teachers who initially benefit from staff-development investments in low-performing schools often end up leaving the profession or moving on to more “desirable” teaching positions in affluent communities, contributing to the talent drain in our most troubled schools...

Schools serving the students with the highest needs are left to constantly restock their staff with brand new teachers who must be trained and mentored, who then leave the system or the profession within five years.

Statistics don't tell the whole story, though. There are schools out there who are beating the odds and retaining their teachers. There are plenty of teachers who are out there every day making up the half that DO stay in teaching, that DO stay at high-need schools.

I recently sat down with Temp Keller, the founder of a fascinating program that tries to match these groups up. RISE (Resources for Indispensible Schools and Educators) identifies job seekers with 2-5 years teaching experience who are in danger of leaving the profession (or of staying in teaching, but moving to a wealthy district) and matches them with schools in low-income areas that value effective teachers.

It seems to be working. After seven years, 71% of RISE teachers are still teaching in low-income schools, where statistics show that nationally up to 70% of teachers in low-income schools are gone within five years.

Apply to become a RISE Teacher or a RISE School on their website.

Labels: conversations, resources

Every week the Carnival of Education collects the best education writing from all over the web. This is Week 112. Check it out!

Labels: resources

This year, Sherman School in Chicago began an experiment. As part of CPS's far-reaching Renaissance 2010 program, the school, a chronic low performer on the city's south side, was completely reorganized under the management of the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL). All the kids stayed, but every single one of the staff members left. A new principal, a new administration, and a completely new staff opened the school year.

Chicago Public Radio has been following Sherman all year in short update reports on the morning show 848. These are fascinating, and if you've got some spare space on the iPod, you should download them:

Chicago school gets a makeover - Sept. 2006
First day for the new Sherman - Sept. 2006
Sherman Students learning that staff means business - Dec. 2006

As ISAT testing comes to a close, WBEZ's most recent visit dealt with more than just academic expectations. (At Sherman School, progress means more than test scores - March 2007).

The piece profiles Monty Apostolos, an 8th grade teacher at Sherman, who tries to combine academic instruction with careful attention to her students' emotional development:

[from the transcript]
Because she believes the social is so tied to academic performance, Apostolos weaves life lessons with academics in unexpected ways. The week before the ISAT, Apostolos noticed something brewing amongst the girls. ...Apostolos took 35 valuable minutes away from teaching to talk first with her girls, then her boys, about how to handle the girl who was instigating chaos. But she talked about it in terms of cause and effect and point of view.- standards concepts her students will need to understand on the ISAT.

What does it really mean to have high expectations? What do they look like? I think the issue of balancing academic and socioemotional instruction is a huge part of this. When you talk about having high expectations for your students, is it purely an academic concept? If not, how are you making sure that academics aren't put on the back-burner in favor of more "touchy-feely" topics?

Labels: conversations, resources

If you've been following education news online in the last two weeks, you've probably been seeing lots of references to Reading First, the federal government's attempt to influence reading instruction nationally:

Through Reading First, states and districts receive support to apply scientifically based reading research - and the proven instructional and assessment tools consistent with this research - to ensure that all children learn to read well by the end of third grade.

The proven instructional techniques the law refers to are specified:

Phonemic awareness - the ability to hear, identify, and play with individual sounds - or phonemes - in spoken words.
Phonics - the relationship between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language.
Fluency - the capacity to read text accurately and quickly.
Vocabulary - the words students must know to communicate effectively.
Comprehension - the ability to understand and gain meaning from what has been read.

Since it was implemented, many districts have complained that the Reading First materials and trainings they received seemed to imply that only extremely regimented programs such as Direct Instruction and Open Court would be approved for Reading First. A Feb. 2007 report by the USDE Inspector General suggests that trainings were indeed biased, and that US Department of Education officials did not do enough to clarify that many possible programs were eligible for Reading First, not just those two.

In fact, Reading First is, to some extent, optional. Districts can choose to forgo the RF funding in order to continue using a reading program they feel is better for their students. Last Friday, in an article in the New York Times, reporter Diana Schemo described Madison, WI's decision to forgo federal Reading First funding in order to continue using their district's reading program, which they felt was highly successful. According to Schemo:

Under[Madison's] system, the share of third graders reading at the top two levels, proficient and advanced, had risen to 82 percent by 2004, from 59 percent six years earlier, even as an influx of students in poverty, to 42 percent from 31 percent of Madison’s enrollment, could have driven down test scores. The share of Madison’s black students reading at the top levels had doubled to 64 percent in 2004 from 31 percent six years earlier.

But the real story in Madison, say a variety of education commentators, is much different. Ken DeRosa who writes about education at D-Ed Reckoning went through the Wisconsin and Madison scores and concludes that the district is "spinning its numbers" to show big test score increases that are easily explained away by changes in the Wisconsin state test and the pass cutoff point. He points to the NAEP scores, which have not shown any increases.

What this story is really about, when you boil it down, is, of course, the age-old debate between proponents of reading programs based primarily on Whole Language and those who support reading programs with a much greater emphasis on phonics and skills instruction.

You can get into all the analysis of Reading First by going to any of these sources:
EdWeek
D-Ed Reckoning
This Week in Education
Joanne Jacobs

But, for my money, the most thoughtful commentary is coming from two of our most powerful education thought leaders, who have a new blog in which they exchange letters and ideas. To hear Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch think it through, go to Bridging Differences and scroll down to March 7, and then read up from there.

TEN members, what has your experience been with Reading First?

Labels: resources

Every week, a different education blog hosts the Carnival of Education, a roundup of the week's best writing on education. You'll find links to personal narrative, political analysis, opinions, and much more. I'll post the link here every week, so you'll always be able to join the fun!

Carnival of Education - Week 110

Labels: resources

Looking for something to listen to on your iPod? Chicago Public Radio offers some fascinating education stories for free download.

Try these episodes of Eight Forty-Eight for a start.

Feb. 20, 2007: Addressing Education Funding Reform
As the state reaches its deadline for bids on the lottery, we talk with Center for Tax and Budget Accountability Executive Director Ralph Martire about the need for education funding reform in Illinois.

Feb. 14, 2007: School Daze: Comparing and Contrasting Urban Reform Efforts
Chicago has taken the lead on national school reform efforts in recent years, and many other large urban cities have been paying close attention. Education writer Alexander Russo compares and contrasts the Chicago experiment with efforts in other cities.

And if you missed this year's Chicago Matters series, "Valuing Education," you can download segments from the website.

Labels: resources

The Chicago Tribune recently ran a five-editorial series entitled "From Here to Excellence," outlining a plan to turn around Illinois schools. In case you missed it, here's a quick recap.

• Smarter schools for Illinois outlines the series focus: how much revenue is needed to improve the schools, how can it be raised, and how should it be spent?
• Coming up short highlights the fundamental inequities in the way Illinois funds education, including over-reliance on property taxes and the way local districts are forced to find their own money when Federal funds don't cover their costs for, say, special education or bilingual students.
• In return for more money argues that before any more money is rustled up for education, a level of transparency and accountability needs to be reached by instituting pension reform, ending the protection of incompetent teachers by unions, and mandating disclosure of school spending.
• Classroom ideas that work is the first of two editorials that outline "best practices" in education that the Trib suggests should be a required part of any new funding for schools. First up: better teacher preparation, and mentoring and induction programs that help keep teachers in the classroom for more than a few years.
• Five more great ideas for the classroom adds lower class size in grades K-3, a longer school year, small group tutoring, data-driven instruction, and more school choice (especially charters) to the list of needed reforms.
• The war of the "woulds" looks at the bickering that has crippled efforts to reform school funding in Illinois ("your plan would hurt businesses," "your plan would throw good money after bad," etc.) Emphasizing that any funding reform should be tied to education reform, the editorial selects what they feel is the best proposal currently under consideration for funding Illinois schools, a 1% tax on gross receipts for businesses.
• Rising to greatness finishes the series with a call to arms, reminding readers that today's students are tomorrows voters and taxpayers.

In the next few weeks, I'd like to use this space to get back to some of these issues. Let's talk about teacher and school accountability, about best practices, and about what teachers can do to impact the school funding debate.

In the meantime, have you read this series? Thoughts?

Labels: resources