Lost Teachers

       Many teachers, top notch teachers, are getting letters of non-renewal because we have given principals authority to remove all of the 'bad teachers'.  Reformers have held up the concept of a bad teacher as a scary boogie man that is so pervasive in public education.  In the hunt for these bad teachers great teachers are being lost from the profession. There are few checks and balances to protect teachers from capricious administrators.  There is also not a carefully outlined definition of bad teacher.

      Let's imagine for a minute a bell curve.  At one end of the curve there are teachers that make children delighted to be in class.  They create innovative lessons and manage to gracefully handle the demands of their jobs.  Not that the demands do not take a toll but they handle it.  They enjoy the process of teaching.  On the other end of the spectrum you have people in classrooms who throw fits and trash cans.

      There was always a process to remove people who were not fit for the classroom, the fits and trash can types  The notion that no teacher could be fired 15 years ago is incorrect. I have seen it happen.

      Fifteen years ago there were checks and balances.  The number of teachers removed from their position was so low the union was able to provide placement services for the teachers who couldn't cut it.

      Fast forward to 2015, my system lost 400 teachers last year.  The state is running at a deficit of teachers and new people are not signing up for teacher preparation programs.  Who can blame them.

       I know an eighth grader who has lost two of his favorite teachers this year.  One in the middle of the school year and one a month before school ended.  The year before he also lost his favorite teacher in seventh grade.  We are trimming the bell curve from both ends.  By what I can see, the trim is much deeper into the competent end of the curve.

      I know too many teachers who put their heart and soul into their work who are being dismissed over professional jealousy, prejudices and inappropriate relationships to which these lost teachers are not part.  If a teacher is willing to do excellent work, there needs to be oversight and soul searching before they are dismissed.  I would argue these teachers should never be dismissed.  A principal who removes one of them has no business being a principal. That's why I am labelling them lost teachers instead of dismissed. An error has occurred with several and should be rectified.

      Tennessee districts do not need to wait to collect more data.  Do something now to stop the flow of great teachers from Tennessee systems.  All principal decisions should be given oversight with a teacher advocate in the system advocating for the lost teacher and a review process.  New teacher should be given this protection as well.  Teachers who have done well and were dismissed under suspicious circumstances should have their case reviewed.  If the teacher was subjected to a capricious admin and is willing to come back she/he should be restored to a position.

      Subject administrators to a points system so that a tally of lost teachers is maintained as public record.  Let the record begin three years back.  Scrutinize carefully administrators that have lost the greatest number of teachers.  If they are found to have acted capriciously remove them from management.

      There is not an endless supply of great teachers.  We need to do everything we can now to protect this resource. If we do not protect this group, we may not be able to replace them. 

Needs to be shared

I recommend you follow up with Mercedes Schneider's blog Deutsche29 to read the other sections of this speech.  I am so greatful for these translations I am posting one excerpt here.  Please reference back to her blog. 

On Saturday, April 25, 2015, University of Oregon education professor Yong Zhao gave a keynote address at the second annual conference of the Network for Public Education (NPE). Zhao’s entire 55-minute speech can be found here.
This is a phenomenal speech, filled with insight and worthy of preservation in transcript form. So, I have been transcribing Zhao’s speech and posting it as a series of five segments. (Click here for parts I, II, and III.)
In this post, I offer Part Four. Here Zhao continues with his Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer analogy of student differences, with special attention to the “foggy Christmas,” a concept he uses to bring this excerpt full circle.
In this part, Zhao also discloses his conditions for accepting the Common Core.
Enjoy.

But I have to tell you that the “foggy Christmas” has arrived for everybody. You know, we start thinking about what we have as students. Look at every individual student. Every individual student is unique, unique in many different ways. They’re unique in terms of their cognitive or general abilities. We now accept the idea about multiple intelligences. We accept that.  People are talented in different domains. That’s why I never go [to] try to get a football scholarship for myself. I won’t even try. [laughter] I know what I’m good at, you know? People are differently talented. Talented means they have different possibility or aptitude [to] acquire different things.
People are differently motivated. They are motivated by different kinds of things. For example, some new theory explains some people are motivated by power. J. Edgar Hoover and people I don’t want to name you know, you know, [in this same] movement. Some people are motivated by independence; some, by curiosity. Some, by order: That’s the ones [if] we go home [and] put your book in the wrong place, your spouse will yell at you. [laughter] And, uh, some people [are] motivated by physical activity. But if you do not accept the different kind[s] of motivators, you will be very hard to understand. If you are motivated by one type [and] others motivated by others, it’s very hard for you to explain. For example, I never understand why people go skiing. [laughter] It’s torture. Why would you do that? [laughter] I [am] happy to stay [by a] fireplace, enjoy my warmth and comfort. You go skiing, pay a lot of money and risk getting killed. [laughter] Why would you do that? Now I know: They are just born to be motivated by physical exercises.
Now, everybody has a unique profile of motivators, unique profile of talents. Then you add something else: Education. Nurture. You are born in different environments. Even if you could be talented in music, if you had no access to music, you cannot develop. [36:02] You wouldn’t even know that. I could have become a Justin Bieber [laughter]. But I never had, I never had the, I never had a chance. I couldn’t do it. I never had access to music. So, imagine when you cut music, you might have kind of destroyed, well, Justin Bieber is not a good example, [laughter] but, you might have destroyed somebody. Don’t you know this process?
And then, we have another issue, too. [We all get] good [at] different time[s]. We all know this: If you do not put effort into something, you will never be good at it, even if you are talented, interested, but you have no effort. You cannot be born to be great. It’s a ten thousand hours, five thousand hours, whatever you’ve got to put on. But human life—do you not notice that you don’t have many “ten thousand hors.” If you spend time on this, you won’t spend time on something else. You can’t develop this. Now, you cannot be great; you can be mediocre. So, now, think about this: If you happen, if we happen to spend the ten thousand hours on something that you are good at, something you are interested in, you get great talent. But if I force you to spend time [on] something you have no interest [in], [that] you hate and something you are not good at, you at best become mediocre. Michael Phelps would be a great example. The great swimmer, Michael Phelps? You know that? If you force him to read, or write, and, you know, say, “Before you can swim, you must get your literacy, your reading up there,” what would have happened? He would still be “hooked on phonics” in some basement. [laughter] That’s how it could have happened.
Now what we have to think about, why did we, in [the] education system, what has happened here? And why do we do this model in a traditional way? The model, this traditional model of education is trying to homogenize people because we are preparing people for [a] different society. So, this model, this is something I want to really encourage [you to] think [about], produce[s] better scores, if you are good at this thing. Imagine: Same curriculum, same teaching, you exclude people who are not good at this thing, you have good scores. You have narrowed the variation. But has tremendous [what I] call “side effects.”
When we talk about education, we think most of them are simply innocent. Like, Common Core. People say, “Oh, it’s better math scores, better math standards, English standards. That might even be true. Might even be true. But it consists of two subjects [to] judge everybody, everybody goes through a system, is wrong. That’s why I’ve debated with many people. [applause] Not over the, not over the subject standards themselves, but over the philosophy of two subjects. To me, I’ve [argued this] I am not against standards. I’m not even against the Common Core if they are not “common” or “core.” [laughter] It’s a, if they are not “common” or “core,” I am fine. But to make something “common” or “core,” that’s the problem. It’s called “side effects.”
You know, in medicine, we always talk about side effects. That is, when you gain something, you lose something. You know, when you buy Tylenol—by the way, you should always read those warning labels. [laughter] The warning label says, “Cures runny nose but may cause a bleeding stomach.” [laughter] Right? Did you read those things? You read? In education, in policy and practice, educational research, have you ever seen a warning label accompanied with a book, a program? When vendors come to school to sell you this and they show you all these charts: “Look, we close [the] achievement gap this fast, and we do these things.” All of the early reading programs I’ve seen, they should come with some label like this: “You know, this may increase your testing scores in reading but may make your children hate reading forever.” [applause] And [there is] enough evidence on the global scale of how, when you choose something, you lose something, so when you celebrate this rise in test scores, ask, what did you give up? Did you cut out other curriculum? Did children lose something else?
Here’s an example: I love to show this, this statistic. American students– I don’t have to embarrass you any more– have always scored worse than Asian students. 2003 was no exception (referring to slide on screen); this is TIMSS, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. American students, as usual, scored way below Asian students—Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan. But, on the TIMSS, they ask another question called “confidence”: “Do you feel”—basically it says, “I always do well in math.” Strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree. As you can expect, American students [respond], “We may be stupid, but we’re very confident.” [laughter] That, all good. All good. We “out-confident” everybody. We out-confident people. We’re pretty good. We love this stuff. [continued laughter] By the way, this is not only American students. This is ah, ah, actually, it is a global trend. (Cartoon on screen: Picture of a student telling his teacher, “It may be wrong, but it’s how I feel,” in response to writing on board, 7 x 5 = 75.) Cultures that produce high test scores have produced less confident people, students. Less enjoyment. It is not just one time; it’s historical.
This is 2003. In 2011, we have found the same pattern: Look at all the East Asian countries, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan. Shanghai did not participate in TIMSS, but, uh, their scores are much higher than US, England, Australia. It’s basically, I can this is, I really want to call, a “utensil effect”: Use chopsticks and score very high. [laughter] If you use a spoon and a fork, you may not. [laughter] But at the same time, you look at confidence and interest. [42:00] You notice that? (slide on screen showing inverse effect of test scores to confidence level) Now, puzzling. Puzzling. This by the way, is not only on the TIMSS; it’s on the PISA test, as well.
The PISA test has the same thing. For example, Finland. You know, Finnish students lack interest in science. They have high scores. PISA has the same negative correlation of cognitive test scores and non-cognitive variables. And when people look at this data, this is how we explain why we are pursuing the wrong goal. We look at this test data, American politicians and researchers, so-called researchers, I would say, they say, what do, how do you explain this? “Basically, it says American students are too happy for their own good.” [laughter] “They are confident, but they are bad.” So, why are they so bad but they are so confident? “Because they don’t know how bad they are.” Why don’t they know how bad they are? “Because we have lower standards.” That’s the, remember, that’s the logic. “So, I notice we don’t test them enough. We’ve been lying to our students”—Arne Duncan’s line—right? “We’ve been lying.” That’s the argument: “But that’s why we ought to raise standards, we want to test more.”
We really want to tell our kids, “You’re bad. You’re worse. You’re worse than people in your neighborhood school. The other countries, you know, you’re worse than kids in countries that don’t you don’t even know existed.” [laughter] That’s why we are now, it’s very dangerous. I hope we can watch this one: This country, US, trying to, bringing PISA for every state, as PISA has a school program now. This is very scary.
And now, Asian systems do not take this very seriously at all. They look at the factors, they interpret in a different way. They said, “How come our children score so well but have no confidence?” If you haven’t enough of confidence, you cannot be creative. You cannot be entrepreneurial. That’s what they want. All Asia said, “If you are not interested in science, it’s like, less likely for you to become a true scientist. So, that’s what Asian countries’ worry about. That’s why they have this reform; they want to change it.
And this change has become extremely important when the “foggy Christmas” has come. [44:05]
Stay tuned for more about that “foggy Christmas” in the last of my five posts– or feel free to watch Zhao’s entire keynote via the video linked here if you cannot wait for that fog to lift.


_______________________________________________

Schneider is a southern Louisiana native, career teacher, trained researcher, and author of the ed reform whistle blower, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who In the Implosion of American Public Education.
She also has her second book available on pre-order, Common Core Dilemma: Who Owns Our Schools?, due for publication June 12, 2015.



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Yong Zhao's NPE Speech, Transcribed-- Part IIn "Common Core"
Yong Zhao's NPE Speech, Transcribed-- Part IIIn "Arne Duncan"
Yong Zhao's NPE Speech, Transcribed--Part IIIIn "Common Core"
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Weapon of Mass Instruction

*Disclaimer my notion of educational is broad.  The classical music in the background of Looney  Tunes, the friendship and kindness themes in My Little Pony, Phineas and Ferb and others could all be considered educational.

       My family and I rarely watch TV but my kids spent a weekend at their grandparents.  They watched a program called Uncle Grandpa.  My kids were watching it because it's animated and funny.  As I watched I realized it was a program that really had nothing to recommend it.

       Children's brains are different from adult brains.  Cells in the brain grow dendrites whenever we learn something new.  Children can grow dendrites much faster and denser than adults but only when they are learning.  For 30 minutes my children sat in front of the television and learned nothing, no dendratic growth.

     In the United Kingdom all programming aimed at children must have an educational component. The average IQ of school children in the UK is 12 points higher than the average IQ in the United States.  This is not a coincidence. It's directly related to using the time that children use to consume media to help them grow their knowledge.

       Preschool age children watch 2 hours of TV per day and children age 8 to 18 average 4 hours per day.  I suspect much of the TV time it put in by our most vulnerable children who do not have access to other activities.  This is the group we are working so hard to reach in our classrooms.  I propose it's time to take education out into the homes and daycare centers in the United States.

       If a company makes programming aimed at young people under the age of 15 they should be required to teach them something while they entertain them.  As we grapple with the issues of engaging and educating such a diverse population we need to use every resource at our disposal, TV is one such resource.

       The Department of Education could oversee and coordinate TV curriculum so our students don't receive a diet of random facts.  It would give them something useful to tackle since the parents, teachers, admin and governments are beginning to take back their authority over the curriculum in their states.  Television crosses state lines and would seem to be interstate commerce so it would be reasonable for the to turn TV into a tool of 'Mass Instruction.' It would be good to give the Department of Ed something to do as long as they don't screw it up and make TV as deadly dry as they attempted to make school.

One of my favorite programs for young children is: http://www.amazon.com/Cyberchase-Totally-Rad/dp/B000BITUA2/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=teachersandco-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=C66LT7HZMCL6355Y&creativeASIN=B000BITUA2

Education is a Relationship and Integrity is Vital for Healthy Relationships

       Here in Nashville we have a church group which has a unique ministry to the homeless.  They help people who do not have enough income by allowing them to work in their Contributor Program.  The homeless people are trained and vetted.  When they have completed the training they are allowed to purchase papers from the organization and resell them.  Many of the articles are secular and are a venue to raise awareness of the difficulty facing homeless people.  It's a good thing.  I usually buy a paper every couple of weeks and place it on my dashboard.  I have learned many things from the homeless writers and I had become friends with my regular vendor.  She has been able to lift herself out of poverty and return to her home town.  So right now I don't have a regular vendor.

      I saw a woman at the mall with a Contributor paper cover that was new to me.  I found change to purchase from her.  She took my money, took a paper out from behind the Contributor paper which was not the Contributor and dropped it on my seat.  I requested my money back and she ignored me but I was persistent.  She told me it was the Mexican version of the Contributor.  It wasn't. She walked away across the parking lot.

      Of course, I was angry at first but then after a little while I realized that she had given me the topic I needed to talk about today, INTEGRITY.  She does not realize it but she broke a relationship.  If she had sold what she claimed to be selling she could have built a relationship and had a repeat customer.  She could have made several times the amount of money she stole from me today. Instead she sold her integrity for $2.  Really there is no amount of money that is worth a good name. Unfortunately, some corporate people in America don't understand the value of honesty and doing the right thing.

       I think one of the basic problems we are having in Education is that we as parents are attempting to manage relationships with people who have shown they have a lack of integrity.  Outside profiteers and reformers have unfairly criticised our schools and our teachers.  They claim they can do a better job. They have hired inexperienced teachers and stolen part of the wages from these women to generate higher "profits".  They have over crowded their classrooms. Of course, they have underperformed the regular public schools yet public funds continue to be paid out to ASD and others.

      A few of our politicians accept money from profiteers and make laws that favor reform.  People get ensconced in power positions in school systems and government and are insulated from accountability and oversight by the people.  They are freed to make decisions against the will of the people who are funding education through their tax dollars.  It all seems so bleak sometimes I could lose hope but I have to remember this is America.  America is unlike any other place on Earth.

       I have been heartened by the parent revolts in New York and other states.  I have watched the impact it has had on Pearson Stock.  I have heard the politicos and pundits attempt to convince parents why they should cooperate with the status quo but the parents know best for their children. And Companies are learning that a values can hurt the value of their stock.

You can't make this stuff up.

       Parents know that making 8 year-olds test until he/she cries is not okay.  They recognize that holding Ms.Teacher accountable and placing all of the pressure on one person is disingenuous.  Parents recognize they should have input into their schools and school/education policy.

       Most parents will tell you their local school is doing a good job.  Families are beginning to recognize the lack of willingness to share power in higher levels of policy and the lack of integrity that is seeping into our systems.  And they won't stand for it.

      American parents are getting involved to insure there is transparency, shared decision making, and integrity in our public schools.  Glad to see signs of life returning to American democracy through reform of the reform movement.  Whether you choose to become involved in politics, run for school board, write a blog or opt out, thank you for caring enough to help us all save our public schools.

       If you are a parent who is choosing to opt out you may be wondering what you could do with your child while they are out of school to help them enjoy learning something new.  I am including a few links to some of out newest learning toys and concepts we have played with this weekend:
http://www.amazon.com/SparkFun-Makey-Standard-Kit/dp/B00B6KS77Q/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=teachersandco-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=PJOY6IHB356C3O6R&creativeASIN=B00B6KS77Q
There are hours of mind blowing Makey Makey projects on Youtube.com to watch for free also.

To test conductivity of pencil lead, fabric, conductive and non conductive play dough for squishy circuits and other things:
http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Digital-Multimeter-Voltmeter-Ohmmeter/dp/B00B7CS3UY/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=teachersandco-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=57PP2JR5EXFC77Y6&creativeASIN=B00B7CS3UY
        This kept my kids busy for a couple of hours.  We earned that Ticonderoga pencils, which are generally our favorite, are not very conductive. Two non brand pencils turned out to be the best to draw workable circuits

If you just want to get them started with programming I recommend Scratch to begin.  Here is a guide for that: http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Program-Scratch-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593275439/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=teachersandco-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=D2D34SEE573IQX56&creativeASIN=1593275439

Have a great week,
Amy

Feels like a Revolution

       Today we are going to talk about the revolt in New York.  It was not mentioned on TV or radio.  At this point though we know the internet is our best resource for news.

       Parents have become frustrated over the tests, practice tests, and test driven curriculum.  We have managed it at home by supplementing the learning with trips, extra curricular curricula, and encouraging our kids to do their best in school.  The reality hit home for us when after yet another round of practice testing my child came home and told me how much he hated school.

       My son tests well and quickly.  I have taught him to treat the tests as a game.  This mindset helps him do his best without being stressed out.  He finishes quickly and goes over his answers a second time.  When he has finished his testing process he usually has time to read a chapter or two in a sci-fi or fantasy book but not this year.

       This year my son was forced to sit and stare at the wall when his practice tests were completed.  It was painful for him and caused him to hate school and testing.  While googling for solutions we learned about the national opt out movement.  Parents are opting their children out of annual tests even in places where they are being told they cannot because these parents have rediscovered another foundational piece of a free society.  Free people have a choice.  You don't have to do the most expedient thing. Often there are many paths to choose from if you take a minute to consider.

       Parents and teachers discussed the issues on line about the powerful forces which are trying to dismantle our public schools.  Public education is a bedrock of our free society but profits are on the line.  Rupert Murdock said there is $300 billion dollars in the public schools in America and Wall Street continues to have meetings about privatizing public schools.  These discussions are always about money and not about pedagogy.

       We recognize the politicians can have trouble saying no when big money makes a request because big money gives big campaign donations.  The destruction of our schools seemed unstoppable until someone noticed that it was data driven.  We can stop this nightmare by depriving them of data.

     Last week the State of New York gave the annual test.  This test is not considered valid unless 95% of the students take it.  Over 100,000 parents opted out,  invalidating their tests.  We are waiting to hear about the test in Ohio which also had a large number opt out.

       There is a parent revolt under-way.  You can follow it on Opt Out of the State test on Facebook. Opt Out is a Public Group. We were able to get the administration in our school to agree to stop forcing our son to sit and stare.  We evoked the Tennessee State law which went into effect this summer. You can read the law here: https://gallery.mailchimp.com/cd7c62a3844b03a156d2bc105/files/pc1013.pdf.  In order to get traction father had to CC the 8 sponsors of the bill in the Senate.  If the school holds to it's agreement our son will test this year.

       Every family has to make a decision about what is best for their child, family, and community.  Whatever decision you make we at TeachersAndCompany support you and wish you the very best.

Play will find a way!

        I recently spoke with an administrator who was telling me about an outcome which surprised him. Some of his teachers were seeing greater engagement of students when programming, such as the hour of code, was brought into the classroom.  I have heard other adults express similar surprise over makers classes, 3d printing classes, and other things.  What is the common factor that is causing kids to want to learn?  Authentic-Organic learning is occurring.

          The teacher is engaged in the learning process.  The topics are new to her and many of us who are over 40. She is undaunted. Even though she may use a resource from the internet, the lesson is designed by her.  It is not scripted.  She must plan the lesson, find the resources, tie it to the curriculum. Sounds like a whole lot of work.  Why would any teacher do that?  She does it because it's fun for her and it's fun for her students as well.

          This is the moment she signed up for. She is using this moment in her classroom as a canvas. It is a moment of joy and PLAY.  Great things are happening right now.

         The teacher likely does not have a degree in coding/ programming so she has to be willing to be vulnerable enough to share with the student that she may not know everything about the subject.  They can figure it out together.  When they hit problems, everyone engages to solve it. 

          Sometimes, once the students have the fundamentals they are allowed to explore the programming/ maker environment and self direct their learning in a process called play.  Play is the first form of self directed learning and the most important job of a child. Play is the most powerful learning engine known to humanity. When a child learns through play, learning is fun and memorable.

        Unfortunately, play has become rare in school because it is very hard to script.  It's difficult to generate profits for textbook and testing companies by 'creating play'. Inventiveness and creativeness is tough to measure on a commercialized bubble sheet test but these traits are vital to creating success here in the US. 

        So much has changed since my parents were teaching.  When the commercial achievement tests first came into the market it was considered unethical to teach to the test.  Now we spend weeks of the school year teaching to the test through multiple commercial practice tests, score conferencing, and a month of review before the TCAP.  When I was a student if a teacher did this level of prep I know the principal would conference with her.  Her high power prep would skew the scores of her students so no one would know what part of the education was retained in long term memory.  Students were given time every day to go outside and play when I was young unless the weather was poor.  Sometimes we evened played and explored in the classroom. 

         Finland seems to have revived the best parts of the former US educational philosophy.  Last weeks article touched on Finland's remarkable success through educational freedom for teachers, civil rights for student and play.  Here is a link: http://teachersandcompany.blogspot.com/2015/04/finland-school-experiment.html

        When my parents were teaching the only nations that scripted teachers were over in the Eastern Block.  Teachers here were trusted to develop the class curriculum and were trusted by the parents as professionals.  Now there are profits to be made.  The cost of education is higher without offering attractive to pay to professional teachers and without the joy of learning through play. 

        I have seen the power of play and I know play is natural to children.  The makers/coder events give me hope that authentic-organically grown learning is not a museum relic.  PLAY will find a way!

         http://www.amazon.com/The-Red-Rubber-Ball-Work/dp/0071599444/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=teachersandco-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=5BT6EMCS7QLEGZZN&creativeASIN=0071599444

Finland School Experiment

      Some of our charter schools are failing with the schools they have taken over in Tennessee.  Instead of closing the school and allowing the ASD to reopen it with another charter could we try something new?  What would happen if we took one of these schools and created a lab school based on the methods of Finland has developed?  Since the 1960s Finland has revolutionized their schooling to become the best in the world.  When queried about their success one of the Finnish Administrators said, tongue in cheek, that they "look at what America is doing and do the opposite." What might this experimental school look like?

      Lets take one of the schools that is not performing and test the Finnish theory of education.  Staff the school with teachers who have a minimum of masters degree in fields related to education. All teachers in Finland must have a masters in order to teach. I know six teachers with Masters Degrees who have been dismissed in the past two years.  We can pull from the talent that has been lost.   Hire administration capable of servant leadership and write a compact for the school that balances power.  The principal's relationship to teachers should be like a coach striving to encourage teachers instead of seeking to weed them out. The title for this position may be something that helps communicate the levelling of the power construct in this school.

       Immediately hold staff development which builds connections and trust, not seated training but team building exercises.  The Finns hire professionals and then trust them to do their jobs.  Trust is the bedrock upon which Finnish education is built.  In order to build on trust first trust will need to be established.  We can assume the teachers in this school want to self improve. For people who reach Masters Level in this current climate, the desire for self improvement is a fairly safe assumption.  

      Treat every person in the school as if they are valuable and worthy of respect.  All of them are helping to make learning possible including the custodian, office workers, and cafeteria staff. Use positive intervention strategies for student behavior. Plan the schedule so that students have class for 45 minutes to an hour and then a 15 minute break.  The faculty should decide how to transition the students to less direct oversight during breaks.  During these breaks students should be able to go to the bathroom, library, water fountain, hang out in the hall and chat with friends or best of all play.  Managing freedom is a skill set people learn through practice.  These 15 minute breaks are seen as a civil right in Finland and brain breaks are proven best practices.

      The schools I have read about in Finland have a positive, laid back culture.  Language used is positive and affirming. Everyone in the school should agree to use positive language and to avoid labels.  When teachers or students call one anther ugly names even in secret it effects the climate of the school. Communication should be about ideas and concepts instead of people.

       Instead of a monthly faculty meeting there should be a half day professional development for teachers to pool their expertise to work on pedegogical problems.  Envision it as similar to a Reading Recovery meeting.  One or two teachers share lessons they taped and other teachers watch and write notes. Prior to the lesson the teacher comments on the issues she is having so the other teachers can pay careful attention to those areas to make suggestions. After the tape is complete the teachers share something positive they noticed and something they suggest to help the teacher handle the hard to teach student(s) or subjects.  Teachers are not rated or berated during these reviews.  Everyone cooperates to improve one another.  The other two hours can be spent on other topics, students or ideas to help the school function well.  The faculty can decide how to best use this time.

      There should be classes and clubs on social skills/manners and mindfulness to help students lives run smoothly plus a wide range of other clubs for children to join.  A broad curriculum which includes informal, high interest learning is valuable. It also matches the reality of information flood we have today as opposed to the information drought which matched the old school house model. Information is readily available through a smart phone,  We need to teach children how to find and use this vast store of knowledge and to discover their unique areas of giftedness.  We cannot afford to waste a single brain,

        Club's may occur midday to allow a brain break but this would be determined by faculty.  Faculty leadership in school and high interests clubs are part of the Finnish system.  Finland is considering an initiative to put these clubs in the middle of the day.

        In order to match the ages this school should serve an age range from 7 to 11 or from 2nd to 6th grade. The arts, technology, and makers learning should be accessible as well as core courses of reading, writing, and mathematics.  Finland has no school uniforms so the faculty would need to decide how to transition students to this level of freedom when many of them have been wearing uniforms for so long.  Uniforms are worn in fast food restaurants and prisons but not in schools in Finland.

       Everything in this school needs to be geared for the success of students.  Soap should be available for students to wash their hands and the building should be clean and well maintained. No junk food or high fructose corn syrup should be available in the cafeteria.  Filtered water should be accessible for them to drink.  Lessons and breaks are geared for the developmental stage of the child.  If additional services are needed to help student struggling with poverty, mental health issues or learning issues these should be available. 

       Allow the test to run for three years without annual testing or annual teacher reviews. Ten percent of in class work can be maintained for the teachers,administration or others to assess the progress of a student. At the end of the term test the students to measure growth.  If these modifications are enough to produce results above the old scores run it for another 3 years.  When that is successful expand the program to other former charter schools.

What would you add to this plan?  Would you like to see it implemented?  Please leave a note in the comments below and please subscribe to follow teachersandcompany.blogspot.com.

This book shares some first hand perspectives of students who move to join the top secondary schools in the world: http://www.amazon.com/The-Smartest-Kids-World-They-ebook/dp/B0061NT61Y/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=teachersandco-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=X7R4DHPSHDLAQXIS&creativeASIN=B0061NT61Y

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KEY FEATURES OF THE FINNISH EDUCATION SYSTEM
All teachers must have a master's degree before they start teaching.
Compulsory schooling starts at seven with voluntary play-based kindergarten for younger children.
No national testing, inspections or school league tables. The government looks at an 8 to 10 per cent sample of pupils' work to check on performance.
Pupils transfer to either an academic or a vocational school at the age of 16 after nine years of compulsory schooling.
No university fees for home or EU students. Pilot of fees for overseas students from outside the EU.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/are-finnish-schools-the-best-in-the-world-2289083.html