A Poor Strategy

The February 6th HSD Curriculum Committee meeting focused on the district's Strategic Plan, available at this link.
Sadly, it looks like the issue of the radical, hateful, and racist teaching of Critical Race Theory (discussed in my last blog post) is more pervasive than I thought. Page 18 of this strategic plan contains the action item "Continue education and awareness training through Pacific Educational Group..." And to make sure no teachers remain un-brainwashed, the same page requires the schools to create a "tracking system of the participation rates for equity focused professional development".

What is the Pacific Educational Group? Basically, they are a consulting group that has been providing "diversity education" to school districts around the country-- centered on the most radical, divisive teachings of Critical Race Theory. An informative article online summarizes their beliefs better than I can:


Glenn Singleton of Pacific Educational Group has become a rich man by preaching racism, hate, and scapegoating. School systems hire him for hundreds of thousands of dollars to insult and scapegoat teachers and students based on their race under the guise of “diversity training.” That embarrasses the school systems that hire him in high-profile legal cases. Yet foolish school superintendents continue to hire him at exorbitant rates, as the Discriminations blog notes, citing a recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
...
Singleton promotes the basest racial stereotypes, such as claiming that “’white talk’ is ‘verbal, impersonal, intellectual’ and ‘task-oriented,’ while ‘color commentary’ is ‘nonverbal, personal, emotional’ and ‘process-oriented.’” He also blathers about “the ubiquity of white privilege and racism,” and depicts Asian students as being “majority students” just like whites because they have the temerity to succeed academically in a predominantly white society. But although he views minority culture as not being “intellectual” and “task-oriented,” it is white teachers whom he blames for the underperformance of many minority students, since he claims it would be a “racist statement” to place any responsibility for minority underperformance on minorities themselves.

Not only is this use of race irratonal and insulting, it is also illegal:

In June 2007, the Supreme Court struck down Seattle’s use of race, and 4 of the 9 justices cited Seattle’s wacky, Singleton-influenced, definitions of racism in the course of their opinions. Justice Thomas, for example, cited those definitions as an object lesson in why not to defer to school districts when they use race. I filed the brief that brought those wacky definitions to the Supreme Court’s attention; it was one of the few amicus briefs filed in the case that opposed Seattle’s use of race. As a result of losing the case, Seattle is expected to pay more than a million dollars in attorneys fees to the lawyers who challenged its use of race.

Other interesting articles, on more recent experiences with this group, can be found here and here.  So, in summary, the Pacific Educational Group provides a radical, extremist form of "equity training" that is racist at its core, and its policy suggestions have even been held illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet the Hillsboro School District has not only hired this group, but embedded dependence on them in its strategic plan.

I have brought this issue to the attention of some school board members, and am waiting to see what action is taken.

Fighting Racism With... More Racism?

At the Monday 1/9 meeting of the Hillsboro School District’s Curriculum Committee, I was shocked to learn that the district’s new diversity programs are centered on instructing every staff member in Critical Race Theory.  In case you have not heard of it, Critical Race Theory is a trend at the most radical fringes of postmodern academia, based on analyzing how Whiteness is the root cause of the major problems of modern society. As summarized by Judge Richard Posner,

 

What is most arresting about critical race theory is that...it turns its back on the Western tradition of rational inquiry, forswearing analysis for narrative. Rather than marshal logical arguments and empirical data, critical race theorists tell stories — fictional, science-fictional, quasi-fictional, autobiographical, anecdotal — designed to expose the pervasive and debilitating racism of America today. By repudiating reasoned argumentation, the storytellers reinforce stereotypes about the intellectual capacities of nonwhites.

What does Critical Race Theory teach? Basically, all whites must take responsibility for all the historical crimes committed by their race. These crimes have bought them an unfair Privilege of Whiteness.  Minorities face insurmountable obstacles today, and whites receive endless privileges, all stemming from these crimes. (And implicitly, in any historical event that has occurred over the past thousand years, any whites who participated must be judged by 21st century moral standards, though no others are subject to this condition.)   So it is a form of Orwellian doublethink, where racism is bad, except that Caucasians are uniquely responsible for the problems of modern society based on the color of their skin.

 

I wonder how my 16th-century ancestors would have felt, as they eked out the living of poor Jewish peasants in Russia, knowing that they were personally responsible for Hernan Cortes’ disruption of Aztec society thousands of miles away in Mexico, due to their roughly similar skin tone. I think someone forgot to send them their share of Montezuma’s gold.

 

More seriously, what are the consequences of this Critical Race Theory philosophy?

• It teaches that racial consciousness is a core requirement for progress, throwing out the ideal of judging people by the content of their character, dividing people by race, and using this as a basis to assign responsibility for the problems of modern society.
• It is used to justify racial quotas and First Amendment-violating speech codes, teaching that the “voices of the oppressed” universally take priority over Western ideals of freedom and equality, and leading to persecution of students for politically incorrect statements.
• It teaches minority children that success is not to be expected due to problems caused by other races, rather than encouraging them to take advantage of the opportunities offered them.
• It fans flames of racial animosity, alienating minority students from their teachers and classmates.
• These programs are self-perpetuating regardless of the fact that they exacerbate problems they claim to solve, as any who dare criticize them are accused of racism or hate crimes. (I’m sure I’ll be called a racist for this blog post.)
• Scarce resources are wasted teaching workshops on Critical Race Theory instead of being used for effective, race-neutral programs that could be helping these children.

Note that I am not claiming here that we should be ignoring the disproportionate problems of minority students in our schools. I agree that we need to examine the situations of disadvantaged and struggling students (whether minority or not), and take the action needed to provide them the opportunity to learn and achieve to their full potential. But we need provide such opportunity through race-neutral programs that nurture each individual child, not by teaching irrational anti-Westernism and racial hatred. In a future blog post I will provide examples of such programs.

 

But right now, I am outraged that our school is wasting resources and indoctrinating its staff in Critical Race Theory. You can find Hillsboro school board contact information at the district website linked here.   The radical, irrational, and racist philosophy known as Critical Race Theory has no place in our school district. If you agree, please call or email your school board member today.

 

Positive Steps In Leveraging Technology

Recently at a Hillsboro School District Curriculum committee meeting, it was mentioned that science textbooks in the district had not been updated since 1997.  This got me a little worried, especially after I did some research online and found that some new online texts had been approved by the state in 2009 for local districts.    So I emailed the adminstration for more details... and was pleasantly surprised by the answer.   Basically, they didn't adopt the online texts because they saw no need to pay money for something being provided so widely for free. 

If you haven't been following this area, there is an amazing amount of free educational content available these days on the web.   You probably know that I'm a big fan of free online educational resources, having been making my own small contribution through my podcast over the past few years.  HSD sent me a presentation they had given to teachers in the district on the many online education resources available, such as http://ck12.org, http://www.khanacademy.org/, http://wikibooks.org, etc.   Their presentation frankly admits "We're behind... we need to lead."

There are no statistics available on our district's actual usage of such resources at this stage.  But I'm hoping that as teachers do examine these resources and become more comfortable with them, the district will be able to look across-the-board at phasing out expensive textbook purchases in favor of online sources.  Most texbooks are insanely expensive, and we may find that providing every student with an e-reader is a lot more cost-effective in the long run than buying them.   This also is a great end-run around the slow, politicized state-level approval process that ensures mediocre but high-priced textbooks as the standard.  

Magnet Schools For Hillsboro?

At a recent curriculum committee meeting, we were given a presentation on STEM education (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) at Hillsboro schools. I was happy to hear that there is a lot of focus on this area recently, no doubt heavily influenced by money coming in from local companies like Intel.

One especially interesting point was that some of the elementary schools are going to become STEM showcase schools, with specific focus on science and technology. This may mean that Hillsboro is finally thinking about mimicking our successful neighbors in Beaverton (http://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/home/schools/option-schools-and-programs/), and instituting magnet schools to provide another option for students.

As you probably have inferred from 342892 of my other blog posts, I'm a big fan of offering different options for different children. It is beyond question that students vary in interests, ability, and learning style, and I think there is a lot to be said for offering many unique choices rather than cookie-cutter neighborhood schools. Especially in the sciences and math, students who are with a group of others who share their interest can advance significantly beyond their peers.

You may detect that I also have some personal feelings on this topic: way back in the ancient days of the 1980s, I was attending a New Jersey public school, and was rather annoyed that by senior year I had no more math classes to take. If I had been in a magnet school that concentrated others with similar interests in science and math from neighboring areas, we probably would have had critical mass to offer a class beyond calculus. 

As usual, we need to watch this closely. I see both notes of caution and positive developments.

• When I asked point-blank if these STEM-focus schools would be magnet schools, district officials gave verbose and circuitous answers that left all options open, instead of a simple "yes". So it means that these schools might just be provided to selected neighborhoods, with out-of-neighborhood transfers being possible but involving lots of procedure and paperwork, rather than true magnet schools.
• On the plus side, In the September board minutes (http://www.hsd.k12.or.us/Portals/0/d%20September%2027%202011%20Minutes-revised.pdf), I see a discussion of the "Instructional Options Plan". There is a lot of potential there, including discussion of the STEM schools as well as international and online options.

I'll keep watching the board minutes for further updates. Be sure to tell me if you have more info on these efforts!

On Being Impolite

Some of you may have a few concerns about this blog.  "If you are meeting with a small group like the curriculum committee, it is appropriate for you to discuss their workings in a public blog, rather than bringing them up with the group?"  Actually, I share this concern.

In fact, before reviving this blog, I proposed at a curriculum committee meeting that we have a online group forum, so we could have followup discussions in the long period between meetings.  But the district staff brought up the fact that this committee is required to have public meetings, and any online group discussion would be considered a non-public meeting.  I suggested making the online forum public, but apparently this did not alleviate their concerns.

This is especially ironic given that one of the major topics at the meeting where I had made this proposal was the fact that our committee's only power is to approve new course proposals, and there were no new course proposals this year, so we would not actually have any issues to vote on.  But they will be nice enough to present us information on curriculum plans and listen to our (non-binding) feedback.

So, in summary:

• A poorly-publicized monthly 1.5-hour meeting, at an inconvenient time and location on a weeknight, which nobody but committee members ever attends, is public.
• An online forum, accessible 24/7 by anyone in the district  (and at a public library anytime by those without PCs), is non-public.
• Our public committee has no power anyway.

Ah, the joys of bureaucracy.

I do think it's important to be able to do online research following the meetings, and discuss the topics with others to gain a better understanding.  I'm pretty sure a blog is kosher, as former (elected) school board member Hugh O'Donnell published a regular blog on school board issues while in office.    And I think this blog is certainly in the spirit of public communication that seems to be required.

English Language Learners

At a recent HSD curriculum committee meeting, the district's director of English Language Learner, or ELL, programs gave a presentation on their plans. This is a critical issue, as we have a huge Mexican immigrant population in Hillsboro, as well as a smattering of other nationalities.

He described some foundational understandings, including some impressive-looking graphs showing that bilingual programs, especially the new "two-way bilingual" programs where English- and Spanish-speaking students learn from each other, are the most effective methods. Overall it looks like there will be a combination of structured instruction and bilingual programs.

They have clearly done a lot of analysis and planning around these programs, and it certainly seems like there is a lot of potential for improving the proficiency of our students. I very much liked the focus on measuring outcomes in order to understand the effectiveness and course-correct as needed. In addition, the speaker had a lot of credibility, as he had personally been very successful as an ELL teacher in one of our local schools with a high Latino population.

There are a few aspects of the issue that give me a bit of concern, though.

• Generations of immigrants have succeeded through English immersion, without bilingual programs. Many of us grew up on stories of grandparents and great-grandparents who arrived from non-English-speaking countries, entered public schools in large cities, and achieved the American dream.
• It is not an established fact that bilngual programs are the most effective. To be fair, there are many studies that do make this claim. But on the other side, there is a lot of concern that the "crutch" of the native language reduces the imperative to learn English, and does the students a long-term disservice when they enter the job market and find themselves at a huge disadvantage. In the presentation, I saw no real acknowledgement of the controversy over these methods, and the many dissenting studies. For example, from a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision (http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/08pdf/08-289.pdf)
• After the 2000 order was entered, Arizona moved from a "bilingual education" methodology of ELL instruction to"structured English immersion" (SEI). Research on ELL instruction and findings by the State Department of Education support the view that SEI is significantly more effective than bilingual education

• Our district has real experience with badly-implemented bilingualism. I know this due to hearing firsthand experiences of students and parents, when I knocked on hundreds of doors during my 2009 school board campaign. In particular I remember one woman who was practically in tears that her 1st-grader could not read yet, and the teacher was spending virtually all her time speaking in Spanish to a group of unruly immigrant students.

But like I said, I was impressed overall with the dedication and energy of the district's ELL director, and am cautiously optimistic about the district's direction. (I also give him bonus points for his mathematical integrity, as explained in my previous blog post.)  We just need to keep a close eye on outcomes. We also need to keep in mind that programs that work for some students may not work for others, and be ready to create alternative or charter programs for students not reached by the district's primary methods.

And as always, I would love to hear comments from readers about firsthand experience they have had in this area. Please post a comment or send an email!

"That's How We Do It In Government"

At a recent meeting of the curriculum committee, a Hillsboro School District official presented a statistic that looked something like this:

• Mean test score: 73%
• Margin of error: 9%
• Adjusted score : 82%

Now, for any of us in engineering or other professions that use margins of error, this looked distinctly odd. A "margin of error" represents the imprecision in a measurement, and inherently can show uncertainty in either direction. So a 73% with a 9% margin of error represents a range of 64%-82%. Why does it make sense to add the margin of error to the mean score? The answer, when I raised the question: "That's how we do it in government."

This is a nice trick: it enables every statistic to be presented in the best possible light for promoting the success of public officials. It also is inherently insane, in my opinion, granting bonus points for the imprecision of the measurement. Normally, measurements with lower margins of error are seen as more valuable, as they give a clearer and more precise picture. But look at the scores above: if they had a better sampling and lowered their margin of error, the "adjusted score" would actually be penalized! And if they know the true scores are going down, they can game the system by aiming to increase the margin of error rather than improving student knowledge. Is this the right way measurements should be done in our education system?

I can see how this would become the custom in government: once one official does it, everyone else has to follow suit, or else their statistics would appear inferior. Imagine if the district suddenly stopped "adjusting" these scores. "Look, in Hillsboro the scores went down 9% this year!" Any elected officials involved would see their opponents demagogue the issue, and the employees who stopped the adjustments would suffer for it.

Don't take this post as a criticism of the particular official (Travis) who made this presentation though: in fact, I am commending him. In a regime where this silly "adjusted score" must be produced, the most intellectually honest policy is to do what he did: present the actual source numbers in addition to the final adjusted score, and let the viewers see the full story. I'm happy to see our district doing this.

The big lesson: any time a government body reports an "adjusted" statistic, look very closely at the adjustment.

　

　

Back To The Blogosphere

After an absence (from this blog, not from life!) of a couple of years, I've decided to start blogging again on education & related issues. Why, you might ask? Several reasons:

• Having a daughter who just entered kindergarten (at the Carden Cascade Academy), I continue to be very interested in issues involving children and education.
• While I'm not sure I have the stamina for another School Board election race after my hair-pulling 1% loss in 2009, I have become involved on some appointed committees: the Washington County Commission on Children and Families (WCCCF), as well as the Hillsboro School District's Citizens' Curriculum Advisory Committee (CCAC).
• I also have continued to produce my free educational math podcast, Math Mutation, which you can find on iTunes (or at http://mathmutation.com).
• Writing my thoughts helps to clarify them. On issues I don't fully understand, maybe a blog conversation can help me to figure them out. Maybe with a well-crafted response, you can even bring me around to your point of view.
• And naturally there is the usual bloggers' ego motivation, where I imagine that out of the 304897812037 blogs on the net, mine will contain the occasional brilliant insight that will enrich the lives of all readers. It would be selfish of me to deny this service to humanity.

I can't guarantee that you'll like everything I write, though it all will make sense to me, at least for the time it takes to write a blog. Hopefully you'll occasionally find it interesting enough that you'll be motivated to post a reply. Please do so, even if it is to disagree with me. I hope to hear from you!

It's Official

As expected, my 56-vote loss has been certified. Congratulations Janeen!

This doesn't quite mean the end for this school board race though-- as mentioned in the last post, there is a sudden additional vacancy on the board (to be filled by appointment), and I have applied. I'll update this blog when the final decision is announced.

A Surprising Postscript

One of the current board members who was not up for reelection this year suddenly announced her resignation, to take a salaried job with the district:
http://comment-blog.advance.net/cgi-bin/mte/mt-search.cgi?tag=Beth%20Graser&blog_id=3957. This means that the remaining board members get to appoint a new member of their choice to the board. I think they are planning to act quickly, as they gave less than 2 weeks between announcement of the vacancy & the application deadline. (I've heard various cynical theories about the timing and intent of this move, but would prefer not to dwell on negatives at the moment.)

I have applied to be her replacement. Coming so soon after an election, I think it's common sense that the board should listen to the voters when choosing their new member: in addition to losing my seat by only a tiny margin, I have significantly more votes than any of the other non-elected candidates, and in fact more votes than the winner of one of the other seats. So I think I would be the logical choice.

I'll update the blog if there are any further developments.

Unofficial Final Total: Congratulations Janeen

It's looking clearer that I have lost. I'll wait until the numbers are certified (expected 6/8) to call Janeen and formally concede, but unless the elections office suddenly discovers a major issue, this is what they currently call their "unofficial final" count:

Hillsboro School Dist 1J Director - Pos 1 Vote for 1
Erik Seligman . . . . . . . . . 3,537 38.13
Janeen A Sollman . . . . . . . . 3,593 38.74
Nina E Olson Carlson. . . . . . . 2,102 22.66
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 43 .46

Not Dead Yet!

Currently posted results so far: (from http://www.co.washington.or.us/deptmts/at/election/results/may09.htm)

Hillsboro School Dist 1J Director - Pos 1 Vote for 1
Erik Seligman . . . . . . . . . 3,402 38.23
Janeen A Sollman . . . . . . . . 3,458 38.86
Nina E Olson Carlson. . . . . . . 2,005 22.53
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 34 .38

A bit disappointing, especially given my 100+-vote lead before I went to bed last night. Now I know how Al Gore felt in 2000.

I received a frantic call this morning from one of the local political gurus advising me not to concede yet. (Sorry Janeen!) Apparently there are always some district ballots from outlying areas that end up in the wrong office, and machine-rejected ballots left to be counted by hand, numbering in total much larger than the 56-vote gap in the race. Counting will continue at least thru tomorrow, and possibly Friday too.

So, though it doesn't look good for me, it's not quite over...

Idea #8: Management Diet

Continuing to walk around & talk to neighbors, I've heard several comments on the number of administrative employees being excessive. Now I have to admit, this is something I would need to examine more closely in order to get the hard data. But I have read many general reports of public school districts having much greater ratios of nonteaching to teaching employees than private schools, and I would be surprised to find that Hillsboro is an exception.

This is not a problem unique to schools: many companies also hired too many managers in relation to individual contributors during past good times. During the recent economic difficulties, the best companies have been re-examining this ratio, and reducing unnecessary layers of middle management or increasing the number of contributors under each manager. This is especially effective when the individual contributors are educated professionals, who can largely due their day-to-day work independently & without much direct supervision.

We should carefully examine the administration and other nonteaching employees, and benchmark in relation to other school districts and private schools. I bet we will find opportunities there for cuts that will not directly impact the teaching staff.

A Child's Right To Transfer

One important policy that I think should apply to all school boards is the following:

• If a parent believes their child's needs are not being met by the current school, they should have an absolute right to transfer their child to another school.

But of course, in Hillsboro, the board has the power to deny any transfer. Greg Clark, candidate for Position 3, posted recently (at http://www.clarkforkids.org/) about his struggles to get his daughter into a school in a neighboring district. The neighboring district had the space and had no problem accepting her-- but the Hillsboro school board did not want to let her go, no doubt afraid to let go of the small bundle of money that would travel with her. That is an attitude that needs to change.

Talented And Gifted ('TAG') Children

One theme that seems to have come up quite often as I chat with neighbors is the issue of handling exceptionally intelligent, or 'TAG', children. There is a common perception that the Hillsboro school district is willing to spend lavishly on special-needs students, but believes talented students are going to do fine anyway, so should be left on their own.

But we all know what happens when a student is far above the level of their peers, and feels like their time in school is being wasted. At best it leads to boredom and disconnection from their own education, and at worst can lead to behavioral problems as the child desperately lashes out for some kind of mental stimulation.

I think we need to start with a fundamental principle: Every student whose needs are not being served by their current school is equally worthy of attention. This applies whether they are TAG, special-needs, or have other specific issues.

Once we accept this principle, I think we can look at several directions for addressing the needs of these students.

1. Teacher Empowerment: We need to make sure teachers have the freedom to use unorthodox approaches when needed, as I have been stressing in the "Freedom to Innovate" part of my platform. As an example, I recall my experience in 5th grade, when I was getting 100% on every spelling test the teacher could throw at me. Finally she took me aside and said, "I think we both agree that I'm wasting your time with these exercises. Want to try a real challenge?" She took out her New York Times, and opened it to the crossword page. We came to an agreement that whenever the class is working on spelling exercises, my assignment was to work on the New York Times crossword puzzle, and solve 10 words per week. Not every student is as independent as I was, but for me, that was a great solution. And definitely a real challenge. I'm sure that idea wasn't in any policy manual, and that teacher would have been in trouble if some administrator came and judged my experience against officially approved teaching methods.
2. Magnet Schools And Programs : If there is not enough demand at any individual school for a separate TAG class, especially at lower grade levels or in specific subject areas, why not create a magnet program? It can be a whole separate magnet school, or merely a program offered in a small subset of classrooms in an existing school; the key point is that students from all parts of the district can easily transfer there if eligible. Students who can demonstrate a certain level of achievement, through tests or current grades, should be eligible to transfer to the school where the magnet program is offered. Because the classes focus on high-achieving students, they can learn more advanced topics and at a faster pace, to keep these students engaged.
3. Charter Schools: At some point, we have to face the fact that some students learn best with models simply not found in the default public schools, and will find that their current school just isn't working for them. Students need other options, and simply transferring to another nearly-identical neighborhood school in another neighborhood doesn't really solve anything. We should foster and encourage charter schools, as you have seen me mention in previous blog posts, offering real and distinct choices to our students. This way, children not currently being served have as many options as possible.

Hillsboro Argus and Lawn Signs

I was pleasantly surprised to pick up yesterday's Hillsboro Argus (http://www.oregonlive.com/argus/) , and see a big photo of myself on the front cover. Although 12 candidates participated in the debate, they chose my photo to illustrate the story. Probably a matter of luck, but it can't hurt my campaign. The text was very evenhanded, not favoring any particular candidate, and included a good quote from me on applying Intel principles to managing the school system. Their editorial page had a nice story calling all the candidates "heroes" for running, but as far as I can tell they have not chosen any particular ones to endorse.

I also finally have my lawn signs ready. If you are a supporter with a home in the Hillsboro school district, please email me (erik@erikseligman.com) if you would like to display a sign. Thanks for all your support!

Teaching To The Test

Often when I bring up the issue of measurable results, people respond with the dread specter of "teaching to the test". This is the idea that, in order to maximize the scores on standardized tests, teachers will start spending all their time having students memorize multiple-choice answers instead of truly understanding the material. Let me explain why I do not believe this should be as important a concern as some make it out to be.

1. Standardized tests are the only real way to compare different classes and schools. If you have seen a better, objective measurement, please point it out to me. But it is very difficult to compare students from different environments, classes, etc. A standardized test is one of the few measurement instruments that really is the same regardless of who is administering it or where it is administered. Even those who criticize standardized tests ultimately worry if their kids score low, and breathe a sigh of relief when their kids do well. We instinctively know that if you want to find out how much somebody knows about something, you do it by asking a bunch of questions on the topic.
2. What's wrong with wanting students to know some facts? An important part of learning is to know the basic facts. While items testable on multiple-choice tests do not cover all aspects of knowledge, they cover a minimal basis that students need in order to achieve higher-level thinking. I've rarely been impressed by the "higher" mathematical reasoning of a smart student who had never heard of the Pythagorean Theorem.
3. Parents can help judge elements of learning that cannot be measured by a test. This is one reason why I consider an element of parental choice so crucial in a school system. The parts of learning that cannot be judged by standardized tests need to be judged by the parents, in consulatation with the students' teachers. And if they believe their child is not effectively learning, they need to be able to easily move them to a different class, method, or learning environment.
4. "Teaching to the test" is unlikely to result in exceptional test scores anyway. How do we best learn things? Is it by being presented a bag of disconnected, multiple-choice facts and told to memorize them? Or is it by fitting the facts into a coherent narrative? Think about, for example, the Civil War. A flood of images come to mind from when I studied this: the controversies over abolitionism, the failed presidencies of Pierce and Buchanan, Lincoln's fateful decisions to hold the Union together, etc. With this vision of the whole in my head, I think I will do much better on a standardized test than somebody simply given dull rote drilling on several thousand specific questions, unless they are an exceptionally talented memorizer. So, why would a teacher choose to "teach to the test" when there are more enagaging and effective teaching methods available?
5. When teaching to the test is done, it is often an act of desperation or protest. I have heard of cases where the class lessons are thrown out to just practice tests over and over. But I largely view this as an act of either desperation, where teachers in the worst-performing schools have not been given the tools to succeed and want to show they are doing something, or of protest, where they do it so they can say "see what you're making me do" as a criticism of the tests. What I haven't heard much about is quality schools where the students achieve high test scores solely due to their strategy of teaching to the test.

I'd love to hear readers' thoughts on these issues as well.

Idea #7: More Charter Schools

This is one idea I've forgotten to include simply because it was so obvious. Previously I discussed online charter schools, which have especially low costs due to their unique education model. But what about "regular" charter schools? If you're not familiar with the concept, you can read lots of details at http://www.uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/index.htm. But basically, a charter school is an independently-run school (like a private school) that, based on certain agreements with the board, becomes part of the public school system, enabling parents who could not otherwise afford private schools to take advantage of alternative educational models. And since attendance at charter schools is 100% by free choice, a charter school that does not offer quality education will automatically be shut down as the students and parents "vote with their feet", unlike traditional public schools. A robust system of charter schools in Hillsboro would provide real choices for families not currently being served by the neighborhood schools.

So, charter schools may be nice, but why would they save money? As you may have heard, a district is only required to give charter schools 80% of its per-student funding for each student that attends. But it's actually even less than that: if you look closely at the budget, various parts of it are in special buckets that "don't really count" as per-student spending, by some judgements. (Construction bond repayment, etc.) So if you actually look at the total district expenditure divided by the total number of students, charter schools receive significantly less than 80% of what the district spends per-student. This means that the more students in charter schools, the more the district saves. Because they only gain money to the extent that voluntary customers choose their schools, charter schools have much greater incentive than traditional public schools to find efficiencies and increase quality at lower cost.

Of course, the fewer students in the traditional non-charter schools would mean that there might be some teacher layoffs-- but the loss of demand for teachers in public schools would be balanced by increased demand for teachers in the charter schools, so for each teaching job lost, one would likely be created. Experienced teachers should easily remain employed, and the loss of students to charter schools might well be the wake-up call the current schools need to improve their own efficiency and quality.

Another Charter School For Hillsboro?

Last night I attended the board hearing on the proposal for a new Knova Learning charter school in Hillsboro. Their proposal can be found here: http://www.hsd.k12.or.us/Portals/0/district/Board/Boardpacket/2008-2009/Complete%20Packet%204-14-09.pdf

I thought they made an excellent presentation, though I was disappointed that they showed up late. The board quizzed them on some issues I consider important (how will you handle English language learners?), and others I would label as rather unimportant (how is it possible to get a quality education from uncertified teachers?). They seemed very skeptical that a charter school could deliver good educational results with lower cost-per-student than the traditional schools. But I think the overall questioning exhibited an emphasis on process orientation rather than results orientation, and missed the main point:

Attendance at the charter school will be entirely voluntary.

So if they fail to deliver, the parents will vote with their feet, and the school will fail. Inherently, a charter school only receives money in proportion to the students it can attract. So if the board is worried that they won't be as successful in their educational model as the current public schools, why not let them try? It is up to the individual parents to learn about the school, and actively make the choice to send their children. The internal details are interesting, but should not be the criteria for allowing or disallowing the chartering of the school.

In my opinion, the main requirements to open a charter school should be:

1. A basic level of sincerity and competency, showing they have the means, intention, and ability to run a school.
2. The ability to attract parents willing to try the school.
3. Transparency of results: an honest system for reporting the same measurable results by which public schools are judged.

In my chats with various neighbors, I have found some who are perfectly happy with our current schools-- and some who are furious at the way their local schools are run. The latter group is eager for additional charter school options, and we need to do all we can to open up more choices for them.

Voters' Pamphet, and Fiscal Responsibility

Washington County has published the voters' pamphlets online:
http://www.co.washington.or.us/deptmts/at/election/may09/pamphlet/book_b.pdf

I see that my opponents have lined up numerous members of the local education establishment to supply endorsements. Well, given the generally mediocre educational ranking of the Hillsboro school district, I think being an outsider candidate should be considered a virtue in this race. It's time for some change on the school board, and real focus on my key points: results orientation, freedom of innovation, and responsible use of technology.

It's interesting to see that both my opponents claim to be in favor of "fiscal responsibility". But read the fine print: Nina Olson-Carlson writes that we should "...advocate for more dependable ways to stably fund our schools", and Janeen Sollman considers it a major selling point that she "stands up for adequate school funding in Salem". While both of these sound like fine sentiments, in practice they are both saying that they believe the solution to our schools' problems is more taxes. I believe that this is not the economy in which to raise taxes, and there are better ways to be fiscally responsible.

As far as I can tell, I'm the only candidate advocating that our school district face the economy in the same way as local businesses: look for places to responsibly cut spending without hurting the quality of education. Such opportunities are abundant, if we allow a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. The various ideas I've mentioned so far in my blog (read the many posts below if you need to catch up) are probably just the tip of the iceberg. I'd love to hear more ideas from you.

Idea #6: Selected Online Classes

Rather than a full Connections Academy, as I suggested in Idea #2, why not start gradually introducing online classes to the district? In other words, offer some classes in online form, and enable students from any district school to enroll in them, for the same types of credits as standard classes. They can attend online from the local school library or their own homes.

Why would this save the district money? Well, the Oregon Connections Academy has shown that online instruction can handle much larger ratios, up to 50-1. This isn't a surprise to me: much of a typical teacher's energy is taken up by classroom management. Without that issue, they are able to concentrate on the teaching itself. So by offering some proportion of its classes in online form, the district can gradually increase capacity without needing to hire additional teachers.

There are further benefits to this idea as well. If an elective class is rarely offered at any individual school due to low demand, it might be possible to offer it district-wide in online form if there is enough collective demand. And similarly, if an upper-level class is lightly attended at each school, perhaps the classes can be consolidated online, freeing up some teaching resources for other purposes. This could help improve the student/teacher ratio in the more popular 'live' classes.

And, there is the additional benefit that some students who may struggle in standard classes are especially suited for this form of education. In particular, online communication has sometimes been found to be very helpful for people with autistic spectrum disorders.

Some Oregon districts have already been taking steps in this area. This is one trend that I believe we should fully embrace, both for the cost savings and the potential educational benefits.

The Curse Of The Calculator

I've been having many discussions with neighbors about their concerns for Hillsboro schools. One interesting theme that came up was the problem of over-reliance on calculators when teaching arithmetic.

While there is certainly a place for calculators in some situations, I think it is vital that students first learn how to do old-fashioned calculations with a pencil and paper. This is often derided as "drill and kill", but is what gives people a basic intuition of how to deal with numbers. Sure, technically it's the same if you remember 2+3=5 from repeating a lot of hand calculations, or if you type 2 and 3 into a magical black box and get 5-- but the thought process is a lot different. When you do it by hand, you can't help but notice patterns and gain an inherent feel for the numbers. If all you do is mechanically type them in and always get a guaranteed answer, you may lose even your basic impulses of curiosity about what's happening. In one of my podcasts, I illustrated this issue with a story about a run-in I had with an obviously machine-dependent teenager:

Recently I was at a local fast food restaurant, and I saw a burger that looked good for $1.98. I ordered two of the burgers, plus a soda which was 99 cents, and the cashier told me the total was 6.93. I looked at her, confused, and tried to reason with her. "You see that burger I ordered is about 2 dollars? And I got two of them, plus a one dollar soda. Shouldn't the total be around 5 dollars?" She was a bit annoyed. "So, you're not going to pay the amount displayed on the register?" I valiantly tried one more time to reason with her."Look, 2 + 2 + 1 equals 5. So the total should be close to 5 dollars. Something is wrong here." She gave up and went back to get the manager. I could overhear her speaking to him, though she didn't realize it. "An irate customer up front is refusing to pay for his meal." Needless to say, after the manager finally sorted things out, it turned out she had rung me up for an extra burger.

I'm glad to see that a backlash is developing against the emphasis on calculators these days, both in neighborhood chats and online. While I love technology, it has its proper time and place, and we cannot allow a dependence on cool gizmos to replace our kids' basic skills.

Idea #5: Sensible Architecture

This point was brought up by a neighbor chatting about the campaign, and also makes a lot of sense to me.

If you look around at the school buildings in Hillsboro, you will likely be impressed with many of them. There are unique designs and architectural touches to each one, and some are quite beautiful. But why has our school district devoted so many resources to its buildings?

Compare to how Intel, one of the most successful and profitable businesses in Oregon, designs its facilities. If you drive by the buildings, you will be rather unimpressed-- they all look like large boxes. On the inside, you will find that many of them seem like exact copies of each other. This isn't by coincidence: the company follows a "copy exactly" methodology, where they make minimal variations to a standard design as they build new facilities.

I see no reason why the school district should be any different. Settle on a standard, simple, modular design and do not waste time or resources changing it, except to the degree absolutely necessary based on local land contours, regulations, or similar issues. Resources that should be going to education should not be spent on making buildings aesthetically pleasing.

Idea #4: Free The Service Districts

Hopefully, most of you read the fine print (or the date) on my proposal from yesterday (http://seligman4schools.blogspot.com/2009/04/another-cost-saving-education-improving.html). Now let's get back to some real ideas for improving the cost-effectiveness of our education system. Here's one I heard in a random chat that sounds quite sensible to me.

In Oregon, many supplemental services for schools such as speech therapy, special ed, etc., are provided by ESDs, or Education Service Districts. These districts are each tied to a specific set of school districts, with a monopoly on services for their selected schools, and centrally funded. As we all know with monopolies, this means they have little incentive to cut costs or improve their service.

Why not give the money to the school districts, rather than the ESDs? We could then allow each school district to shop around, and have a choice of ESDs to purchase services from. The healthy competition would increase the business for the more efficient service providers, and force the others to examine their operating procedures to catch up.

Another Cost-Saving & Education-Improving Idea

How many times have we seen this situation in a classroom: the teacher is in the middle of a brilliant lesson, the students are all enraptured, education is flowering in the truest sense, and suddenly it is all ruined. A hand is raised in the middle of the room, begging, "Can I have a bathroom pass?"

Attempts to solve this problem by limiting availability of these passes, or requiring good behavior from students, simply fail to address the root. Let me ask the obvious question: Why are there bathrooms in our schools at all? Every bathroom in the Hillsboro school system should have all its toilets and sinks removed, and the rooms should be re-purposed as classrooms. Think about the benefits:

• Schools will gain additional classrooms in what is now wasted space, increasing capacity.
• Custodial costs will go down, as janitors have significantly fewer cleaning tasks.
• Students will learn the valuable techniques of self-control.

It's about time we leave the self-indulgent school designs of the 20th century behind, and fully utilize our schools' spaces for their intended purpose, education.

(Non-April-Fools ideas will resume tomorrow...)