And the Oscar Goes to...Mrs. Olson!

I like watching movies. If I had a week to do absolutely nothing, I'd probably go to a movie at least six of the seven days of that week. For two consecutive years in high school, I averaged seeing more than ten movies per month in theaters. I was also very involved in student government, athletics, school plays and my church group (all while maintaining a 4.0 gpa), so I'm not sure how I managed to fit that many movies into my month.

I saw a trailer for The Great Gatsby and it sent me through a flood of memories from reading books and watching movies during high school. From there, I thought of Mrs. Olson, my choir and English teacher. I point to Mrs. Olson as a tireless teacher and personal hero who encouraged me to take risks and demand more of myself.

After spending a minute thinking about my youth, I compiled a list of some movies with incredible teachers or movies that highlighted kids in teachable moments or movies with an education focus or just good flicks. I now submit that list. (Click the titles to view the corresponding IMDb entry. Short descriptions also come from IMDb.)

Bully
A documentary on peer-to-peer bullying in schools across America.

Dangerous Minds
An ex-marine teacher struggles to connect with her students in an inner-city school.

Dead Poets Society
English teacher John Keating inspires his students to a love of poetry and to seize the day.

Finding Forrester
An afro-american teen writing prodigy finds a mentor in a reclusive author.

Freedom Writers
A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

Good Will Hunting

Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

A shy, withdrawn English schoolteacher falls for a flashy showgirl.

Lean on Me
The dedicated but tyrannical Joe Clark is appointed the principal of a decaying inner-city school that he is determined to improve.

Mr. Holland's Opus
A frustrated composer finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.

October Sky

The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.

Precious
In New York City's Harlem circa 1987, an overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.

School Ties
A Jewish boy goes to an elite prep school in the 1950's and hides his religion until a jealous bigot forces it out in the open.

Stand and Deliver

The story of Jaime Escalante, a high school teacher who successfully inspired his dropout prone students to learn calculus.

The Breakfast Club

Five high school students, all different stereotypes, meet in detention, where they pour their hearts out to each other, and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.

The Miracle Worker

The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.

The Paper Chase

A first-year law student struggles with balancing his coursework and his relationship with the daughter of a stern professor.

To Sir, With Love

Idealistic engineer-trainee and his experiences in teaching a group of rambunctious white high school students from the slums of London's East End.

Waiting for Superman
Education "statistics" have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily. Follow a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth.

And a few silly flicks:

Clueless

Easy A

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

High School Musical

Kindergarten Cop

Mean Girls

School of Rock

...and check out the very cool marketing site for Monsters University (coming this June!) here: http://monstersuniversity.com/edu/

I've surely missed other great films featuring education. What movies would you add or remove from the list? And how many lawns did I mow to earn enough money to see so many movies!

A Tireless Teacher: Plan, Teach, Adjust, Repeat

The Department of Education caught some heat a week or so ago when the following Mao Zedong quote was posted on a DOE site for kids: "Our attitude towards ourselves should be 'to be satiable in learning' and towards others 'to be tireless in teaching.'" In the future, they'll probably spend a moment more when considering the sources of their blurbs, but the inspiration of this message isn't half bad.

Are students today striving for excellence the way we tend to think they did when we were young? Are we as educators "tireless in teaching" because we can't give up on a single student?

Last week, I was in the neighborhood of the school where a tireless elementary teacher-friend of mine teachers. It was about 3pm, so I decided the timing might be right for a quick dropby. She was just wrapping up class for the day when she looked up and shared her gentle smile. After the intercom permitted the last kids to leave, I greeted her and questioned how her day had gone. She breathed a sigh of relief that said more about her successes with students due to carefully crafted lessons than it did about the exhaustion she was surely feeling. This teacher, like many great instructors, worked longer hours without quite enough classroom support than she preferred. We're nearing the finishline of the school year so I'm sure that was wearing on her, but I didn't see that bubbling behind her eyes. Sure, an instructional coach to help when she had questions about a lesson plan would be great. Another adult to help her when she divides students into small guided reading groups? What a dream!

Instead, this tireless teacher makes due with what she has and spends her time thinking of how she can reach each of her students. I've seen her in action and she pulls from the same Web sites and apps and resources that other teachers do, but she puts such thought into her planning that the teaching (aided by her excited/contagious/soothing/kind nature) comes to her almost effortlessly. Her style compels her students to become "satiable in learning."

We spoke for a moment after she attended a short staff meeting. While walking back to her classroom, she shared a funny story about a kid finally understanding some simple addition concept. As I turned to leave, I told her to have a nice evening. She had already declined my offer to get her a drink somewhere nearby because she wanted to capture some thoughts she had when considering how she might improve one of the lessons she taught that day.

When I told her I was writing a blog post and that she was the inspiration, she asked that I not use her name, so "Tireless Teacher" she is. Finding time to create strong standards-based lessons before executing solid teaching are part of her tirelessness. Finishing up with a reflection and adjustment moment only helps her get better.

But the thing that sticks with me is how every time Tireless Teacher talks to me, she shares stories that prove her heart is focused on her students achieving more than they think they're capable of achieving. She also has a life outside of teaching, but she lives to help kids learn. Tireless Teacher won't rest until the current batch succeeds and the next batch is delivered to her...and she helps that batch succeed and receives a new class the year after...

Thus the tireless teacher cycle continues.

A Sense of Urgency

In a new blog post from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, Andy Smarick writes:

"A new report on state-level implementation of Common Core merits some attention—but less for its top-line findings and more for how it confirms what I’m now calling the “Common Core Implementation Gap.” That’s the miles of daylight between the platitudes about the new standards’ “dramatic,” “transformational” nature and the distressing reality of implementation."

It's a worthwhile read. You can find it in its entirety here: http://educationnext.org/the-common-core-implementation-gap/

He ends the piece with a call to states to get on the ball and figure out implementation. He says: 

"But the bell has rung. It's go time." 

As I read, I could feel my blood pressure rise and in my head I kept thinking "YES, YES!"  States do need to launch coordinated and thorough efforts so that successful implementation is not just a goal, but a reality. But something inside of me also repeated, "People need to know why successful implementation of Common Core is so important!" There is more at stake than states just failing at another reform effort and Common Core being chalked up to another loss in the policy churn game. The success of Common Core is much more urgent than that.  And so here it is; the stark reality of why Common Core implementation and its success are of the utmost importance: 

• "Up to fifty percent of all college students who enter a 2 or 4 year college or university take remedial courses in math of English.

• Only 22% of those students earn their degree in 8 years. 

• Students of color, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and students who are non-native English speakers are over-represented in these remedial courses."  (Ed First, 2010; Atwell, Lavin, Domina, 2006)

• Approximately 90% of the jobs in the fastest-growing occupations require some level of postsecondary education and training. Eighty million to 90 million adults today—about half of the workforce—do not have the skills required to get or advance in jobs that pay a family-sustaining wage.”
 (US Chamber of Commerce, 2011) 

The achievement gap that persists in K-12 schools keeps persisting in college and career. So, yes, "It's go time." Kids are waiting and we as a nation can not continue to fail them. 

Lessons from the Field

Last week, three of my colleagues and I presented at the California Charter School Association's 20th Anniversary Conference. Our presentation topics focused on how to support successful implementation of the Common Core from planning to practice to evaluation to professional development. We were lucky, during and after our presentations, to talk with several impassioned and dedicated educators who believe in the promise of Common Core and are searching for ways to begin implementation.

It is the overwhelming sentiment from teachers and administrators alike that, despite some great strides, the field is still underprepared to implement Common Core with success. Amidst the hope and excitement we heard from teachers last week, we also felt their great trepidation and anxiety. This mirrors the conversations that I have had with educators across the country this year in North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado and Arizona.  The field is now two years into implementation in early adopter states. We at Insight have been lucky enough to work alongside districts such as Syracuse, Baltimore and Memphis and learn with them through these early years of Common Core. California and states who are later adopters have the benefit of learning from early adopters and moving forward in a more purposeful and efficient way.

Here are two lessons from the field that we think could have a great impact on Common Core implementation:

1. Teacher effectiveness and Common Core cannot live apart from one another. HR departments who are tasked with recruiting, selecting, evaluating and professionally developing teachers must be talking to Chief Academic Officers and curriculum experts. If misalignment between the WHAT teachers are teaching (Common Core) and HOW teachers are being evaluated (teacher effectiveness systems), persists, both important reform initiatives will suffer. Early adopter states have already realized this and are starting to make changes. Baltimore, Syracuse, Memphis and others are starting the hard, but necessary work of aligning their teacher effectiveness initiatives with Common Core curriculum. These districts are making great strides and California and other later adopter states would be setting themselves up for success if they took proactive steps to align the work of teacher effectiveness with the implementation of Common Core. 
2. Successful implementation of Common Core will take concerted and coordinated efforts from all stakeholders. The exciting and perhaps daunting opportunity of Common Core is that everyone from principals to teachers, to superintendents and parents,  to teachers across disciplines and grade levels, must be talking to and planning with one another. Later adopter states can be smart about their ramp up to Common Core by thoughtfully creating space and time for dialogue and planning amongst all stakeholders. Common Core shifts instruction to focus on depth and rigor and the process by which states implement the Standards should mirror that change.

The promise of Common Core is great and there is an urgent need to prepare all students for not just entry into, but success in college and career. We are excited to see how the lessons learned from early adopter states will positively impact later adopters. 

To the teachers who take a stand

I was at five schools this week leading focus groups for teachers as we come to the end of their first year with a new evaluation and support system. These conversations were helpful in learning how we can optimize rollout to better serve teachers and students. This first year has been imperfect and there are changes to be made. Yet there is one piece that cannot be compromised; that is, the belief that teachers are responsible for growth in their students’ achievement.

As I reflect on these conversations, I want to give a shout out to all the teachers who have drawn a bright line in the sand on this issue. These teachers have real frustrations about how the new evaluation system has been implemented, yet they know they can change the trajectory for their students. These teachers of course have awareness that students enter classrooms with varied skills and competencies, and they know exactly what can be done about it.

When teachers don’t draw this bright line and take a stand, they instead tend to focus on external factors. Some even make reckless comments about the “quality of their students” or “parents who don’t seem to care.”

I once received an email forward from a relative that made a cutesy comparison between teachers and dentists. After some context, it asked, why not determine a dentist’s effectiveness based on the rate of tooth decay of patients? All I could think about was how healthy everyone’s teeth would be if we spent eight hours a day with the dentist.

Clearly this is an issue that is still up for debate in our ranks. So I want to give a shout out to all the teachers who have drawn a bright line and taken a stand on the side of kids.