...And It's Sarah Palin! Who?!?!

Word just leaked that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (NGA bio) has been tapped by John McCain to be his vice presidential running mate. Certainly his choice is not an attempt to nail down Alaska's vote in the Electoral College. It is an obvious attempt to appeal to independent women voters (and any Clinton supporters Obama didn't win over at the Democratic Convention) and to counter Obama's youth and dynamism. How Palin will face up to Joe Biden in the VP debate is another question.

Here is an initial look into Palin's education record in a year-and-a-half as Alaska Governor.

(1) In her 2008 State of the State Address she had this to say:

Victor Hugo said, “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” It's a privileged obligation we have to “open education doors.” ... Stepping through “the door” is about more than passing a standardized test. We need kids prepared to pass life's tests – like getting a job and valuing a strong work ethic. Our Three-year Education Plan invests more than a billion dollars each year. We must forward-fund education, letting schools plan ahead. We must stop pink-slipping teachers, and then struggle to recruit and retain them the next year.

We will enable schools to finally focus on innovation and accountability to see superior results. We're asking lawmakers to pass a new K-12 funding plan early this year. This is a significant investment that is needed to increase the base student allocation, district cost factors and intensive needs students. It includes $100 million in school construction and deferred maintenance. There is awesome potential to improve education, respect good teachers, and embrace choice for parents. This potential will prime Alaska to compete in a global economy that is so competitive it will blow us away if we are not prepared. Beyond high school, we will boost job training and University options. We are proposing more than $10 million in new funding for apprenticeship programs, expansion of construction, engineering and health care degrees to meet demands. But it must be about more than funds, it must be a change in philosophy. It is time to shift focus, from just dollars and cents to “caliyulriit,” which is Yupik for “people who want to work.” Work for pride in supporting our families, in and out of the home. Work for purpose and for action, and ultimately destiny fulfilled by being fruitful. It's about results and getting kids excited about their future – whether it is college, trade school or military.

(2) In her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, her education platform included:

A. Schools of Choice
B. Expanded Vocational Training Opportunities
C. Pre-Kindergarten
D. Competitive Teacher Salaries & Benefits

(3) Palin has been a strong supporter of the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project. The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development created the Project in partnership with the University of Alaska in support of their shared mission to improve academic achievement for students in Alaska. Through mentoring for beginning teachers, the goals of the program are to increase teacher retention and increase student achievement. The model is adapted from the New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Prior to being elected Governor in 2006, Palin had served four years on a city council and six years as a mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a city of 6,000 people.

I'm All Hot About: Jill Biden

I'm tired of hearing Jill Biden called a 'teacher.' Really--no knocks to teachers, but Jill Biden isn't teaching children. Ms. Biden is a professor of English at Delaware Technical and Community College. That's right-- she's one of the "honored but invisible" faculty serving on the front lines of higher education.

Yes, there are "front lines" of higher ed-- as anyone watching the battles between colleges and their states knows, the community college is the dear stepchild of the system. As I describe in a paper I'm working on for the Brookings Institution, every year nearly one million new students enroll in the 1,200 public two-year colleges nationwide. In many states those schools are bursting at the seams, dramatically underfunded and insufficiently respected. This is especially true at the urban community colleges, like DTCC.

When community colleges were founded, they were nearly uniformly small and required relatively little funding. The majority of their campuses were built more than thirty years ago and have not been updated since. Further, while growth in the number of community colleges began to slow in the mid-1970s, enrollment continued to surge. The ratio of enrollment to the number of community colleges grew much more rapidly at urban colleges than at non-urban schools during the period of 1992 to 2002. Given this trend, it is not surprising that many urban community colleges are crowded both day and night, with day classes for younger students and evenings classes for working adults. Many colleges in urban areas were never built to accommodate the sizeable populations they now educate, and the effects of the overcrowding are substantial. Their classrooms lack technology, their science laboratories do not meet current educational standards, most classes are quite large, and with faculty who are often overwhelmed and demoralized.

In the midst of all of this, stands Jill Biden, wife of the future vice-president. There's no doubt that, as she hopes, she is making a difference by working at a community college. One of my most fervent hopes is that she continues her commitment to those important institutions when she moves to Washington and crafts her new agenda. It's about time for a significant revitalization of the American community college, and she's the perfect person to lead the way.

EduProfs in the 21st Century

Edu-Academia is taking giant leaps forward (in my opinion) with the willingness of faculty (and future faculty) to get out there in the blogosphere and talk with the commoners. If we only hear the thoughts of our colleagues when they appear in peer-reviewed journals, then we're often engaging in an out-of-date conversation.

So, props for the day go to my Facebook pal Aaron Pallas; Columbia faculty and as it turns out skoolboy extraordinaire. It's a brave, brave new world, and the bigger the population the more powerful it is....

And my oh my, I had NO idea that I was *already* friends with skoolboy and eduwonkette. My known circle of friends already included Kevin Carey. Now things are SO interesting....

Mentoring Science Teachers

I thought I'd share this post from teacher leader Anthony Cody's blog Living in Dialogue. He discusses an initiative called TeamScience, a project to support new science teachers in Oakland (California) Unified School District.

Science teachers, in addition to knowing their content, must also know how to organize cooperative groups for hands-on activities. That means a whole level of classroom management that takes practice to master. TeamScience mentors will do their best to close this gap. We have several goals. The first and foremost is to make these new teachers as effective as possible, as quickly as possible.

TeamScience is a collaborative effort with the Santa Cruz-based New Teacher Center (NTC), my employer.

Another project that supports new science teachers through online protocols is e-Mentoring for Student Success, a collaboration between the NTC, the National Science Teachers Association and Montana State University.

Cool People You Should Know: eduwonkette

Imagine my tremendous surprise and the look of sheer "duh" on my face when I learned this evening that graduate student extraordanaire, Jennifer Jennings is none other than my favorite super-eduresearcher, "eduwonkette!"

It's like that old econ joke 'bout only searching for answers under the lamplight-- of course we all thought this incredibly bright witty commentator was a PROFESSOR, an esteemed one, one with decades under her belt. Shame on us--all of us-- for never considering that the coolest of the cool, the top blogger of 'em all right now, is only just finishing her PhD.

Lesson learned. Huge props to you, Jen. I'm officially "edu-optimistic" about the future soc of ed faculty of America. A real blogger is among us.

Update: Jennings is featured in a New York mag piece. Wow grad student, you go girl!

What Do New York City and Madison, Wisconsin Have In Common?

Read here (New York Times, 8/23/2008) and here (WISC-TV, 7/15/2008).

Musical Elective Of The Week

The Musical Elective of the Week is Ron Sexsmith.

Once again we head up north to Canada for our weekly Musical Elective. Ron Sexsmith, a 44-year-old singer/songwriter, hails from Ontario and currently resides in Toronto. (He's our third Canadian profiled, after Kathleen Edwards and Great Big Sea.)

Sexsmith made his major-label debut in 1995 with his self-titled album. It earned him wide acclaim, based in part through praise from Elvis Costello. He has followed it with regular album releases: Other Songs (1997), Whereabouts (1999), Blue Boy (2001), Cobblestone Runway (2002), Retriever (2004) and Time Being (2006). On July 9, 2008, he released his latest album, Exit Strategy of the Soul. Billboard calls it "instantly memorable."

The common thread through all of Sexsmith's albums and music is intelligent lyrics, elegant folk/pop craftsmanship, and his unique voice. I confess that I have yet to hear his latest album, but I have always appreciated his past offerings. Some favorite tracks include "Secret Heart" (since covered by Feist, Nick Lowe and Rod Stewart) from Ron Sexsmith, "This Song" from 2001's stellar, Steve Earle-produced Blue Boy, and "These Days" from Cobblestone Runway.

I brought a song into this world
Just a melody with words
It trembles here before my eyes
But how can this song survive?
--"This Song" from Blue Boy (2001)

Now, given that we have a newly adopted dog and are caring for a 90-pound behemoth lab this weekend, I gave strong consideration to Three Dog Night, Temple Of The Dog, and Dr. Dog. But I didn't want to be accused of having gone to the dogs.

If you want to find out more about Mr. Sexsmith, visit his web site. He will be touring selected cities in the U.S. and Canada in September and October. So, check him out.

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Extra Credit--Past Musical Electives of the Week:

Kasey Chambers
Lucinda Williams
Great Big Sea
Griffin House
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer
Neil Finn
Ray LaMontagne
Stuart Stotts
Dan Wilson
Kathleen Edwards

Poll: Obama Favored on Education Issues

UPDATE: Sherman Dorn offers cautions (here and here) on this poll's methodology.

--------------------------

A new Gallup/Phi Delta Kappan poll shows that voters overwhelmingly favor Obama over McCain on education issues.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Amy Hetzner provides a nice summary of the campaign-related portions of the poll.

A new poll on the public’s perception of education indicates that more think Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would be better for public schools than think rival John McCain would, even on the traditionally Republican issue of parental choice.

.....

While President Bush ran neck-and-neck in previous polls with Democratic candidates Al Gore and John Kerry on the question of whom respondents would vote for solely based on a desire to strengthen public schools, Obama was favored 46% to 29% over McCain on the same question this year, according to the poll.

People also found Obama much more likely than McCain to close the achievement gap between white and minority students, by a factor of 59% to 18%.

Obama’s weakest showing was on the issue of promoting parental choice. But even there he beat the poll’s 3 percentage point margin of error, with 43% saying he would be better vs. 32% for McCain.

Will The New President Support New Educators?

In yesterday's lukewarm editorial about the presidential candidates' education policy platforms, the Washington Post clearly sided with Barack Obama as the preferable option over John McCain. Not exactly a strong endorsement.

One thing is clear. Obama's presidential platform specifically focuses on developing excellent teachers--recognizing educators as the #1 school-based impact on student achievement. As a U.S. Senator, Obama has sponsored and co-sponsored legislation that would fund teacher residency programs and high-quality teacher induction programs. He's not a Johnny-come-lately to this issue.

Other than the fact that the charter-and-voucher-happy Lisa Graham Keegan (Matthew Yglesias/The Atlantic blog) (Arizona Republic article) is his chief education advisor, why is McCain clinging primarily to the tired, old right-wing focus on school structure, market-based reforms, and demonizing teachers at the exclusion of everything else? What too many conservatives don't seem willing to admit is that teachers drive results. Whether it's a public school, a charter school, a voucher school, a religious school or a home school, if a child has a good teacher he will be more likely to succeed. If teacher quality is lacking, learning is much less likely to occur. Teachers are not the enemy - they will lead us where we need to go if we support them and, yes, challenge them when appropriate to do better. But It can't be all sticks and no carrots. And It can't be done to teachers, it must be done with them.

The 'It' is what is in question in this campaign.

There is some hope in McCain's education platform. Buried within it is an interesting idea:

Provide Funding For Needed Professional Teacher Development. Where federal funds are involved, teacher development money should be used to enhance the ability of teachers to perform in today's technology driven environment. We need to provide teachers with high quality professional development opportunities with a primary focus on instructional strategies that address the academic needs of their students. The first 35 percent of Title II funding would be directed to the school level so principals and teachers could focus these resources on the specific needs of their schools.

I agree that Title II monies should be better directed at high-quality, high-impact professional development. About half of these funds currently go to class size reduction which is not necessarily the biggest bang for the buck, particularly outside the early grades. Certainly, some professional development monies are directed at low-quality, pray-and-spray, one-size-fits-all PD seminars. And some teachers are allowed to self-select PD offerings that really aren't focused on improving their teaching. I'm not saying that enrollment in Underwater Basket Weaving is rampant, but simply that districts and school leaders should have more say in -- and a better understanding about -- helping teachers improve through purposeful PD.

As McCain so often discusses, it is also appropriate to focus on weeding out ineffective teachers. But even more important is identifying the effective ones through meaningful evaluation systems [Ed Sector] [NGA] [NCCTQ], figuring out what makes them effective, and using that knowledge to transform the practice of the vast majority of mediocre-to-average-to very good teachers by improving preparation [ECS] [Edutopia] [SREB] [TNE], instituting high-quality induction programs [NTC] [AASCU] [AEE], and and designing career-long professional development opportunities [CCSR] [CCSSO] [PEN] [VA DOE] that support individualized teaching contexts.

The main problem with McCain's proposal is that he has proposed ratcheting down increases in domestic spending. That means little money to implement No Child Left Behind-related programs and fund needed teacher quality reforms. (Remember, we've got to fund those tax cuts for the rich that sickened McCain just a few years ago; oh yes, and pay for the 100-year war in Iraq.)

Obama, on the other hand, has signaled a willingness to reform teacher compensation and strengthen professional development systems and ante up federal resources and target them at high-need, hard-to-staff schools and districts across the country. His focus clearly is on making teachers better with a focus on student outcomes. That's a more comprehensive approach that makes a lot more sense. I agree with the Post that he needs to go further in fleshing out his views on issues such as teacher assignment and teacher tenure, but Obama's reform-minded, student-focused teacher policy proposals are a refreshing change from the "status quo or bust" and "more money is the only answer" ethos of many recent Democratic presidential contenders.

With regard to McCain, I wish he would spend less time talking about bad teachers and more time talking about how we can learn from good ones. And enough with this voucher obsession! Let's focus on making our public schools as good as they can be. That starts with strengthening America's teaching force.

Grow Your Own

As states and school districts deal with major budget shortfalls, programs are being cut. Such may possibly be the fate of an innovative gardening initiative involving North Hollywood High School students in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Here in this little-known oasis, Mud Baron and urban teenagers with a heretofore unknown penchant for rare flowers toil under a blazing sun to raise lemon verbena, tomatoes, lettuce and other greenery that hundreds of Los Angeles schools will use to jump-start their gardens this fall. They also cultivate exotic plants, including exuberantly colored dahlias the size of dinner plates, to sell at farmers markets.

Mud, known among administrators as Los Angeles Unified School District's "Johnny Appleseed," and his close-knit crew of North Hollywood High students are scrambling not only to help the district's fledgling gardening program grow, but also to save it from joining other new programs in the compost heap.

Read more about it in this story from Sunday's Los Angeles Times.

Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

This story comes courtesy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the Lone Star State. Surprised?

When classes start Aug. 25 in the tiny Harrold school district, there will be one distinct difference from years prior: Some of the teachers may have guns.

To me, it seems much more likely that one of these gun-toting teachers will accidentally or intentionally shoot someone rather than prevent an armed assault on the school. Not so, says the school district superintendent. He blames the supposed rise in school shootings on the federal government's policy to restrict guns in American schools.

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that’s when all of these shootings started," Thweatt said. "Why would you put it out there that a group of people can’t defend themselves? That’s like saying 'sic ’em’ to a dog."

So, Mr. Superintendent, is there performance pay available for teachers who hit any available targets?

UPDATE: Enjoy a much wittier post than mine on this same topic -- which I discovered just after completing my post -- from the one and the only Kevin "Red Dawn" Carey.

Teacher Pay Down Under

The Australian teachers union is calling on the government to fund a voluntary system of performance pay that would be based on national teaching standards and would pay the most accomplished teachers $100,000 annually.

According to an article in The Australian:

Federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said a new career structure was required to move away from the current system under which teachers are forced to leave the classroom and undertake administrative positions to achieve further pay rises.

"This is a two-step process in giving professional pay for teachers," he said. "First we need to ensure as a country that we have a competitive professional salary to attract teachers in the numbers required to ensure a qualified teacher in front of every single classroom, no matter where it is in the country.

"Beyond that, I restate our preparedness to negotiate a framework that further recognises and rewards demonstrated teaching skills, knowledge and practice."

This seems to me to endorse something akin to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards but which would be built upon recognized national teaching standards and funded consistently across the country. More info here and here.

Kudos to the Strategic Management of Human Capital project for bringing this issue to my attention.

Musical Elective of the Week

The Musical Elective of the Week is Kasey Chambers.

Chambers, a 32-year-old Australian singer/songwriter, grew up in the bush and spent time as a youngster performing in The Dead Ringer Band, formed by her dad and mom, Bill and Diane Chambers.

Chambers' music is a mix of folk and country. To date, she has released four studio albums, beginning with The Captain in 1999 in her native Australia and in the U.S. in 2000. It was followed by Barricades & Brickwalls in 2001, Wayward Angel in 2004, and Carnival in 2006. 2008 brought a collaboration with husband and musician Shane Nicholson and produced the album Rattlin' Bones. (It will be released in the U.S. on September 16, 2008.)

Chambers is a huge star Down Under with all but her debut album having reached #1 on Australian music charts. In addition, she has received numerous Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Awards, including Best Female Artist, Best Country Album, Single of the Year, and Album of the Year.

For an introduction to Chambers' music, I'd recommend starting with her Barricades & Brickwalls album. It includes the title track as well as "Not Pretty Enough," "A Little Bit Lonesome" and "This Mountain."

Check out more at Kasey's website.

When I got home I got a honktonk song
I played it til my eyes went red
I grabbed a glass I said "kiss my ass"
I'm gonna drink you out of my head

-"A Little Bit Lonesome," from Barricades & Brickwalls (2002)

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Extra Credit--Past Musical Electives of the Week:

Lucinda Williams
Great Big Sea
Griffin House
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer
Neil Finn
Ray LaMontagne
Stuart Stotts
Dan Wilson
Kathleen Edwards

I'm Excited About: Mama PhD

It's a book, a blog, and a t shirt. I realize, sadly, that I'm quite late to the party here-- but hey, at least I finally realized there was a party!

Mama(s) PhD are a group of women who seem pretty much like me and my friends, working hard to make it all happen. Their writings reflect a sense of the realness of life. Life, is oh so real. Like today, when I'm working hard with my colleague Doug Harris on our new survey instrument (while sipping lattes at Starbucks b/c their new free wifi is tres cool) and I get a text message from my nanny informing me that my son has pooped 4 times -- and it's only 10:30 am!

Ok...so... what am I to do about that? Respond to said, scary, text? Keep arguing with Doug about how best to measure "work centrality"? (Here's a measure--How about, if your toddler was pooping a lot but you were at work, would you stay at work?)

I dunno. Me, I texted back-- checked in-- and kept going. Conor seems to have survived the day.

Now, who wants to get me one of those hot t-shirts??

A Generational Divide Over Teacher Pay

Interesting story in today's Washington Post about the continuing saga over D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee's teacher compensation proposal.... Based on anecdotal evidence, the article suggests that support and opposition to Rhee's plan is breaking down along generational lines, with younger teachers generally supportive of the Chancellor's plan to base salaries, in part, on student performance and older teachers opposed.

I've always thought that union opposition to moving away from the traditional steps-and-lanes teacher salary schedule would lessen over time as a new generation of takes over leadership of national, state and local union chapters. That day hasn't quite arrived in most places. But the debate in D.C. certainly exposes the generational rift within the teaching profession and within union membership. And the ranks of younger teachers are swelling as the Baby Boomers retire.

I have to wonder how many potential teaching candidates we lose by our failure to recognize performance (based on student achievement or anything else) at any point in most of our teacher compensation systems. How many forsake the teaching profession entirely because of the design of the compensation system? The steps-and-lanes approach to paying teachers (based on years of experiences, advanced degree and PD credits) certainly doesn't warm the cockles of the younger generations' hearts. Have districts like Denver with differentiated compensation systems attracted individuals to teaching that might otherwise gone to another field? Perhaps it's too soon to tell, but I think this is an area that warrants further research.

Come Work with Me!

In an exciting development, my department of Educational Policy Studies at UW-Madison has just approved a search for an assistant professor of Sociology of Education!

Both recent or soon-to-be grads and advanced assistants are welcome to apply. For more details, please see the position vacancy listing.

Despite the low pay, I love my job. I say that all the time, and it's true. Come join me!

Moving Beyond Access

While the proportion of high school graduates going on to college has risen dramatically, the percent of entering college students finishing a bachelor’s degree has not. In 1972, just over half (53%) of all high school graduates went on to college and 39% of those students finished a BA within 8.5 years of leaving high school. Twenty years later, 81% of high school graduates attended college, but only 42% completed a bachelor’s degree. As a result, the proportion of the population attaining college access—and therefore “some college”—has increased much faster than the proportion of the population succeeding in earning college degrees.

What can we do about this? For some thoughts, see my new paper, A Federal Agenda for Promoting Student Success and Degree Completion, published today by the DC-based Center for American Progress.