NON-TRADITIONAL EVIDENCE

2009-10-12T08:12:00.002-04:00

As educational leaders we are constantly looking for “evidence” that we are making progress toward achieving our goals. I was especially aware of the need for evidence this past week. There were two Cornerstone School Review Teams looking for evidence of effective literacy instruction. One review team was at Davis Elementary School and one review team was at Eagle Ridge Elementary School.

The Cornerstone Review Teams are led by out-of-district reviewers, but the remainder of the team membership is MCSD educators. The Review Teams spend three full days in the schools. The Teams visit every classroom, talk to teachers, talk to parents, talk to students, observe the physical environment in the hallways and classrooms, and review samples of student work. They leave no stone unturned.

The evidence the teams gather is mostly qualitative data and not quantitative data. As a trained researcher, I am delighted that qualitative data have again found a respectable place in educational research. But, I digress and the debate between qualitative and quantitative data is the subject for another blog.

I was present for the Cornerstone Review Team’s oral summary report at Eagle Ridge on Friday. A written summary will follow the oral report. The oral report highlights just the major findings and recommendations. One parent told the Review Team that she knew something was different at Eagle Ridge because her child came home talking about “schema” and making “connections” such as text to text. She thought her child had invented the word “schema”.

This parent’s comment is “evidence” that we are making an impact in our Cornerstone schools. That a student knew the importance of “schema” and “making connections” are evidence that literacy instruction has changed at Eagle Ridge. We may be able to stage evidence at a school, but we cannot stage evidence outside of school. This parent’s comment is evidence of effective literacy instruction outside the school house doors. This is non-traditional evidence.

Do we have non-traditional evidence that we have engagement centered classrooms and/or standards-based classrooms? Do we have non-traditional evidence and not the usual school-based evidence?

Well, I want to report some incredible non-traditional evidence that MCSD is making progress in implementing standards-based classroom instruction. This evidence was reported this morning by a Sunday school teacher.

I teach four- and five-year –old children on Sunday. Every Sunday, I ask the children to share one thing they did last week. One of my students piped up and said, “I cannot remember everything we did, but I remember what my standard was this week. It was counting by 2s, 5s and 10s!” And, then the student proceeded to tell the activities that helped her learn the standard.

This student was from Britt David Magnet Academy, but I suspect that all schools have examples of non-traditional evidence that we are making progress in achieving our goals. Do you have examples of non-traditional evidence you would like to share?

AUGUST SCHOOL VISITS

2009-09-02T12:19:00.001-04:00

August is my favorite month to visit schools, but it is probably the principals’ least favorite time for me to visit. As an educator not housed in a school, the first day of school is not as exciting in an office setting as it is in a school building. So after my first full day of school visits, I felt that familiar happiness and exhaustion that I experienced from being in a school building for over 20 years.

I was amazed that all the NCLB sending and receiving schools had quickly adapted to the loss/addition of students and teachers. All students were sitting in classes and teachers were teaching. There were no complaints of shortages of textbooks—yet! (I am still holding my breath on that issue.)

But more importantly, there was evidence of an increased number of standards-based learning units throughout the district. After leaving a school site, I would browse through the school’s learning units posted on Rubicon Atlas. I left a few notes to teachers and many responded and were glad that others had noticed their work.

Remember, designing engaging, content appropriate, rigorous work for students is the work of teachers. It is what teachers do. This work is the foundation of a standards-based classroom. I hope everyone takes time to acknowledge the work of teachers by browsing through Rubicon Atlas. To access the software program, simply go to MCSD’s homepage, click the Staff tab, and then click the link for Atlas Rubicon Curriculum Mapping.

Conversations with Connell

NON-TRADITIONAL EVIDENCE

AUGUST SCHOOL VISITS