Is SAT stress good?

File this one under the "Give-me-a-break" category:

According to Time Magazine, "Stress and Exhaustion May Improve Test Scores."

I can think of countless ways that this story can be a problem.  At least I don't have to worry about discussing it - and its myriad of implications and complications - for nine weeks.  School's out.

Perspectives on Health Care and Politics

The Denver Post devoted the cover of its Sunday's opinion section to the controversy over plans for a public option on health insurance. Featured were a Canadian clinical psychologist named Rhonda Hackett who focused on "Debunking Canadian Health Care Myths" and a local citizen who asked "What Do We Pay for, Anyway?" Both of these pieces offered important insight and perspective, and simply reinforced the idea that reform is necessary and change is coming. What that is remains to be seen. Of course, there is plenty of evidence that many people who are still clueless about the current system and alternatives. I recently spoke with a man who lambasted national health care and said we should pay for ourselves, ignoring the fact that he has, has always had, and is very satisfied with his veterans benefits.

For some perspective on the public option, there is much debate and commentary going on in the papers and on the blogs, though sifting through it all could take hours, if not days. One notable piece recently featured on the Huffington Post argued "Fixing Health Care Does not Require a bi-partisan Bill - It Does Require a Public Health Insurance Option. Creamer offers some insight into the politics involved when he says, "it won't matter one whit to average Americans whether the bill passed by Congress is "bi-partisan." That's true. He goes on to explain that while the bill may not be bi-partisan, the feelings of country are. For example:

A poll conducted earlier this year by the highly respected Lake Research Partners found that voters overwhelmingly want everyone to have a choice of private health insurance or a public health insurance plan (73%), while just 15% prefer everyone having private health insurance.

And the preference for a choice between public and private health insurance plans extends across all demographic and partisan groups, including Democrats (77%), Independents (79%) and Republicans (63%). So in fact, President Obama's proposal that creates a choice of a public health insurance option is a bi-partisan plan - whether is has "bi-partisan" support in Congress or not.

I'd say Creamer is right especially when he notes:

If private insurers can't compete with an efficient public health insurance plan, they have no business being in the market place. After all, they would be the first to argue that the "private sector" is always more "efficient" than government.

What they're really worried about is that in order to compete they would have to cut massive CEO salaries like the $26 million Cigna paid last year to its CEO - a figure that is 65 times higher than the salary paid to the CEO of the Federal Government - President Obama. Insurance companies are worried that they would have to become more efficient and cut their profit margins in order to compete. Of course from the point of view of the taxpayer, that is one of the major goals of health care reform: to control skyrocketing costs and incentiv-ize efficiency instead of waste.

Newsweek's List - Top Schools

Well, here it is:

Newsweek's annual list of the top high schools, based on Jay Matthew's Challenge Index of ranking schools simply by dividing the number of AP exams taken and the number of graduating seniors, has been released for 2009. The "formula" has been quite controversial among the education crowd, though it has generated some great discussion of what a "top school" is, and it is based on Jay's firm belief that "the best education for the best is the best education for all."

We'll see.

Getting Accountability Right

We should hold public schools accountable for effectively spending the funds with which they've been entrusted. But policies like NCLB, based exclusively on math and reading scores, have narrowed the curriculum, misidentified both failing and successful schools, and established irresponsible expectations for what schools can accomplish.

Instead of just grading progress in one or two narrow subjects, we should hold schools accountable for the broad outcomes we expect from public education - basic knowledge and skills, critical thinking, an appreciation of the arts, and preparation for skilled employment - and then develop means to measure, and ensure, schools' success in achieving them.

Grading Education describes a new kid of accountability plan for public education. It relies upon both higher quality testing and professional evaluation. This new plan is practical and builds upon capacities we already possess. It requires a big commitment, but one necessary to fulfill responsibilities to provide for our youth and the nation's future.

After reading, Tony Wagner's The Global Achievement Gap, I have launched myself into Grading Education by Richard Rothstein, just in time for summer. It looks for some engaging reading, simply from the back of the book posted above. The concept of "broad outcomes we expect" - but don't evaluate - is important, and I am intrigued by the premise. Hopefully, many will be reading and discussing this book.

Charter Growth in Colorado

Colorado charter schools continue to grow — adding schools, students and more diversity, according to a study released Tuesday by the Colorado Department of Education.

"It's fascinating to see as time goes on, statistics and laws of nature take over and charters end up looking like everyone else," said Jim Griffin, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools.

As I've noted before, in Colorado, open enrollment and the growth of charters is the preferred model. This is preferable to a general statewide voucher system which is not needed or desired because for at least three quarters of families, the neighborhood school is preferable, and people move into neighborhoods for the schools. Thus, a voucher system isn't necessary, nor in demand, though I would concede that some voucher advocates want the option of private schools, and that concern should be addressed.

It's also important to remember there is regular opposition from the communities of struggling schools when districts attempt to close them. Thus, the support for the neighborhood model is still high. I applaud the growth of charter schools as well, and I will continue to support the system of choice that exists in Colorado.

Evaluating Teachers is the Problem

According to the Denver Post:

Excellent teaching goes unrecognized and poor teaching is ignored across the country and in Denver, according to a national study that says failed policies make teachers as interchangeable as widgets. The two-year study called "The Widget Effect: Our National Failure to Acknowledge and Act on Differences in Teacher Effectiveness" examined four states and 12 school districts, including those in Denver and Pueblo. It found common patterns: that teacher effectiveness rarely factors into decisions, such as how teachers are hired, fired or promoted.

"If you ask a superintendent and head of a union to name the top teachers and the bottom teachers, they couldn't tell you," said Dan Weisberg, vice president of policy for the New Teacher Project — the national nonprofit that conducted the study. "It goes back to the widget effect, which is the flawed assumption that each teacher is as good as the next."

While there is much to criticize in teaching today, there is much more to criticize in school administration. Granted, there are many stories of the difficulty schools face when they try to dismiss or discipline teachers. However, that does not excuse districts from managing their staff. Far too often, stories are revealed of all teachers receiving "satisfactory" evaluations when there are clearly ineffective and underperforming teachers on staff. In fact, Tony Wagner recounted, in his book the Global Achievement Gap, the story of his first evaluation in which he was called into the office to sign his "satisfactory" report, though he'd never been observed.

Again, start at the top people. The Rockies just fired their manager because the team was losing. Take a memo.

Random School Drug Testing in Colorado

It appears that the country's paranoid hysteria over drug use continues to dismiss the "innocent-until-proven-guilty" component in our legal system. From the Denver Post, "Springs school district weighs random drug tests:"

A random drug test program being considered by Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 would be the first such program in the Pikes Peak region and only the fourth in the state. The policy, which had its first reading at a May 20 school board meeting, would allow random drug tests of high school students who are involved in district extracurricular activities, including sports, clubs and musical groups.

Discussions about adopting such a policy grew out of an investigation last fall that revealed what police called a "significant" heroin problem at Cheyenne Mountain High School. Police arrested former students and Mexican nationals in a bust linked to the school, but no students were arrested. District officials met with students and parents to determine how serious the drug problem was at the school, offering counseling and other services to students using drugs. About 25 students were involved in the drug incident involving black tar heroin, a potent form of the drug trafficked through Mexico, district officials said.

The board and administration in January began to consider a random drug testing policy. Such policies are controversial because some people believe they are an invasion of privacy and aren't warranted to ferret out the small number of students who abuse drugs.

The interesting component is the focus on activity-involved kids. It may seem to be the one thing districts hold over the kids' heads. But are they just not concerned with the uninvolved kids who are smoking across the street while the activities kids are at meetings and practice?

NCEE Thinks They Have the Answer

According to an op-ed in the Washington Post today, William Brock, Secretary of Labor in the Reagan administration, Ray Marshall, Secretary of Labor in the Carter administration, and Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), have the answers for a "world class" education system. However, excuse me if I hold my applause for their basic recitation of the regular mantras of "better teachers" and "accountability" and the ever-present, and slightly clueless obsession with "preparation for college." Their proposals are not so radical as they think, though some of their assumptions are off the mark. For example:

The key to U.S. global stature after World War II was the world's best-educated workforce. But now the United States ranks No. 12, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and today's younger generation is the first to be less educated than the preceding one.

A dubious claim, as I've noted countless times, when the rankings are based on international tests that are voluntary for American students and are often blown off by the test takers. The real test is truly the economy and the state of society. In this regard, the American system is still the place of innovation it has always been, and its college system is still the envy of the world. Ultimately, with 85% of Americans saying they are satisfied with their education, the system is obviously serving its populations to their satisfaction. And isn't that the point? Couldn't we be more like Europe and Asia in test scores if we eliminated sports programs and the arts and theater and student government and recess and physical education and proms and homecomings and fundraisers, etc., etc., etc.? Do the communities want that? I don't think so. But, of course, I could be wrong because I'm just a parent and a teacher in a very successful school district, and not a former Secretary of Labor or head of a "think tank."

Additionally, the authors note a regression from sixty years ago, yet high school graduation is up and more diverse and the top students are breaking down the walls of higher education with AP/IB programs ever expanding with more and more kids doing college-level and even graduate-level work in high school. There is much success in the current system, and the variables for arguing that the population is "less educated" than their parents is dubious at best.

Hold faculty accountable for student achievement. Take over every school that, after three years, is unable to get at least 90 percent of all major groups of students on track to leave high school ready to enter college without the need to take any remedial courses.

Accountability. Of course. But 90% in college. If that means technical schools, maybe. But the country has maxed out at 30% with a four-year degree, and their is no evidence the economy needs or could even accommodate more than that. Remedial courses may say more about the student, than the system.

Make a range of social services available to children from low-income families and coordinate those services with those students' school programs. We have the most unequal distribution of income of any industrialized nation. If the problems posed by students' poverty are not dealt with, it may be nearly impossible for schools to educate the students to world-class standards. The state cannot eliminate students' poverty, but it can take steps to alleviate its effects on students' capacity to learn.

Offer high-quality early-childhood education to, at a minimum, all 4-year-olds and all low-income 3-year-olds. Students from low-income families entering kindergarten have less than half the vocabulary of the other students. In kindergarten and the early grades, those with the smallest vocabularies cannot follow what is going on and fall further behind. By the end of fourth grade, they are so far behind they can never catch up.

This, I admit, is intriguing. There is certainly evidence for its validity with the Harlem Children's Zone and its Promise Academies. We'll see if taxpayers are willing to pony up for the equality of funding and extra services for struggling populations.

Health Care Choice

According to the Denver Post, Howard Dean was in town on Friday stumping for health care reform:

Howard Dean, calling himself a "counterweight to the insurance industry," rallied a Denver crowd Wednesday to push for a public, government-subsidized insurance option for all ages. The former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who is traveling the country to talk about health care reform, said Americans also should have the option of keeping their private insurance.

Of course, if Dean really wants to help the Obama administration's efforts, he didn't do them any favors when he says things like, "Republicans try to act like it's some kind of socialist, communist plot. Welcome to socialized medicine. It's called Medicare." People don't want to see socialized medicine - they want to see national health insurance. People want the doctors and the hospitals and the drug companies operating in the free market where the consumer has choices on who he sees and what he's willing to pay for. They perceive "socialized medicine" as single-payer systems in Canada and Britain where the doctors work for the government. That won't fly here. And Obama didn't help himself when he recently said of reform, "If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done." Not a good idea to throw down ultimatums. We don't like being scared or threatened, and we want change, but not hasty change.

Thus, I am still baffled by the Administration's refusal to offer consumers another "choice" with a logical blend of public and private care. This is best exemplified by the Healthy Americans Act - also known as the Wyden-Bennett plan - or the extension of FEHBP - Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan - to all Americans. In these systems, the free market exists and health care providers bid to serve a pool of 300 million Americans. Each person can choose to purchase as much or as little as he needs or wants, but no one is denied access. No one is forced to give up his doctor - as I was in our current private employer-based system - and all medical decisions remain between the doctor and patient.

The problem for critics of Dean and Obama is that the country wants change, and it will come, and if conservatives are not careful, they could end up with single-payer simply because they provided no logical alternative that maintains the free market. HAA and FEHBP do this. Let's get on it.

Health Insurance Industry Cuts Costs, Too

WASHINGTON — A major health insurer says the government can save more than $500 billion in Medicare spending by sending patients to less expensive, more efficient doctors; reducing hospital visits by the elderly; and cutting unnecessary care.

Those are among 15 suggestions made Wednesday by UnitedHealth Group Inc., a Minnesota-based health-management company that is the biggest participant in the government's Medicare insurance program for the elderly.

So, when the government talks about cutting health care costs by avoiding wasteful and superfluous spending, it's "rationing," but when private industry does it, it's just efficient and good business?

Support for Community Colleges

According to vice-presidential wife, Jill Biden, "Community colleges are the way of the future." Biden, a former teacher at Delaware Technical and Community College and current teacher at Northern Virginia Community College, was in Denver on a visit with her husband, and she offered this insight during an interview with the Denver Post. It's nice to see someone near the Obama administration talking more specifically about this post-secondary option, especially as more high schools push the four-year college track on everyone. While President Obama has said it is his goal that all students seek some secondary education or training, his Education Secretary has been more assertive in focusing on four year colleges. And anyone with any true knowledge of the education system or our economy knows that is naive and myopic. Biden has the experience to speak credibly on this issue, noting the increased enrollment in tough economic times.

Biden said Delaware Technical & Community College, where she used to teach, logged a 30 percent increase in enrollment this year. Enrollment is up about the same amount at Northern Virginia Community College, where she now teaches English as a second language and developmental English for foreign professionals. After watching EMS faculty and students respond to a simulated heart attack in the school's mock street scene, Biden told the group, "I've taught many EMTs, firemen, police cadets and nurses. You all play such a vital role in our communities.

"In fact, we had a fire in our house four years ago. As we were running around in a panic, one of the firefighters waved and yelled at me, 'Mrs. Biden, I'm Harry, remember me from your class?' "

Biden is on the mark. Perhaps, the administration will start letting her give more interviews.

Principals Make the Difference

According to the Denver Post, Principal's persistence sends Lincoln High grad rate soaring. At Lincoln High School - of the notoriously struggling Denver Public Schools - the turnaround rate in dropouts to college applications has been impressive, and:

Part of the reason for the rebound is the school's principal — Antonio Esquibel, a Lincoln alum who grew up about half-mile from Lincoln. He has made it his mission to change the culture for the Lancers. Esquibel has borrowed techniques from successful charter schools, putting an emphasis on attendance, credit recovery and college readiness.

Esquibel has set clear expectations, from attendance to grades, and his enforcement of this pro-academic culture at his school is fundamental to its success. Granted, there is a long way to go. Though the message is clear. A culture of learning is integral to the success of a school community, and that culture is set by the administration.

Got a problem with the school? Start at the top. It's no different than in sports. Failing teams fire their coaches, and successful teams result from strong leadership.