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Don't miss ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com and Mark's new book, The 5-Minute Teacher: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom

Real change takes courage and leadership

For decades I dwelled in a school district that was cemented firmly in outdated teaching methods. Sure, we got new technology -- a mobile laptop cart here, a few new desktop computers there -- but the pedagogy remained the same. I probably don't have to tell you that the philosophy was to get kids to pass high stakes tests at all costs.

So, each year brought more workbooks, more ill-conceived online reading and math tutorials and a steady stream of district-wide test scores that were, at best, pedestrian.

I rode this ride to mediocrity yearly, until I realized that I had to make change, regardless of the path my district took. Enter results-only learning, and the miraculous transformation it brought. Meanwhile, my school district forged ahead, no change in sight.

True Leaders

I recently worked with some true leaders at a school in Coppell, Texas. These are people who are ready to make major change. From superintendent to building principal to classroom teacher, they are embracing results-only learning -- tossing out archaic traditional methods, in favor of a progressive, student-centered, digitally-enhanced classroom.

They are even altering the way they evaluate learning -- discarding traditional points and letter grades, in favor of narrative feedback. The courage these educators have, leaving behind what most schools in America can't escape -- the chains of workbooks, worksheets and, yes, even grades -- is unparalleled.

So, this is where it begins -- in the great state of Texas. Educators in one school will pilot results-only learning. They will begin a wave of change that might eventually turn into a tsunami.

All it took was real leaders and courage. Well done Coppell!



Don't miss ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com and Mark's new book, The 5-Minute Teacher: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom

Is Education Reserved for the Wealthy?

Special to Role Reversal
Lael De Boer

Far before your student ever receives their high school diplomas, they are dreaming of getting in to the perfect college with its academic reputation, beautiful campus facilities, and amazing athletic teams. The acceptance letter used to be the only worry clouding that dream, but now the piggybank is beginning to

overshadow this concern with an even greater one: How will you afford college?

Photo credit: Phase3Profit.net

College tuition and expenses have risen drastically over the past thirty years. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average yearly tuition has risen from $9000 to the current price tag of $21,657.  While tuition has risen greatly, the average amount of financial aid remains below $8000. This gap between the expensive bills and the available aid is creating a generation of college graduates with enormous college debt and high school students without much hope.

Those with mutual funds and mansions may be able to afford the rising costs, but as we have watched the cost of a college education rise more than more than ten times what it was 35 years ago (Bloomberg), the rest of us are beginning to wonder if education is becoming unreachable for the average citizen. 

Preserving Your Chance at Higher Education

For those of you who have been depending on student loans to pay for college, the latest events in Congress should be of great concern to you. Until July 1^st, interest rates on student loans remained at 3.4%, but due to the inaction of Congress, loan rates just doubled to 6.8%. This additional burden is placing higher education further out of reach for many.

Education Week reports that student advocacy groups are looking for a one-year extension of the lower rate, but this is only a short-term fix. For those of us who want to see long-term change, it is time to get involved in the political scene, even if it is simply sending a letter to your representative urging them to take action on this issue. Politicians need to start moving towards a comprehensive solution.

Still, college and exorbitant bills are approaching quickly for many, and parents and students are desperately searching for ways to make it more affordable. With the new interest rate in mind, the best way to pay for college involves avoiding loans. Chelsea Watkins outlined some of the best steps for funding a college education without creating debt in a recent interview. The most important points boil down to being prepared, being educated on what is available, and putting your best foot forward.

1. Start Accruing Money Now – No matter where you go to college, having money saved up will help when those bills arrive. However, instead of simply saving for college, start accruing money by placing your college savings in accounts that will grow that money. Similar to how a college loan would cost you more in the long-run through interest payments, placing money in accounts like 529s, Roth IRAs, and Dividend Paying Whole Life Insurance will make you more money overtime by gathering interest, meaning you’ll end with more money than what you started with. 

2. Understand Financial Aid – The amount of aid that colleges and the government will provide depends greatly on your EFC and the college’s % of Need Met. Your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) is the amount of money that the family is expected to pay for their student’s education. This number is calculated by examining the students and parents’ income and assets. Your “need” is than determined by taking the Cost of Attendance for an education institution and subtracting your EFC. Colleges vary in the amount of need they meet. Attending an institution with a higher % of Need Met means that you will receive more financial aid and will pay less out of your own pocket.

3. Put Your Best Foot Forward—Colleges determine their financial aid packages around a variety of factors besides need. Students already know that grades and their entrance exam scores affect their acceptance into college, but should remember that these factors also affect their financial aid awarding. Colleges also examine the strength of students’ applications. Doing what you can to ensure a stellar application and entrance essay will make colleges want you, thereby making them offer more aid in order to secure your

Lael De Boer writes for Launch Education, studies English Language Arts and writes everything from research papers and literary analyses to creative fiction. She is an avid proponent of proper English grammar usage and has become a keen editor from years of academic proofreading.

Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com

Hey, Michelle Rhee, I Want Answers!

Hey, Michelle Rhee, I've just about had it with your ill-conceived, unfounded, poorly-researched rhetoric, which the likes of CNN, Time Magazine and many other opportunistic media are all to happy to promote.

You are the former chancellor of Washington D.C. Schools. You demand 50K for public appearances, and you like to call yourself an education reformer. Yet, in my humble opinion, you are one of education's biggest enemies, and you owe teachers and children nationwide some answers.

Michelle, you vilify public school education, in general, and teachers, in particular. You rave about standards and accountability, when your own service record is spotty, at best, and detestable, at worst. Let's not forget that you are a Harvard graduate whose training is in policy-making -- not in education.

It's time for answers

Rather than dealing with bureaucrats, magazine reporters and news broadcasters, who know little if anything about effective teaching practices, Michelle, I want you to answer to someone who has researched and written about best practices in education for many years.

I want you, Michelle Rhee, to defend your quests to eliminate teacher tenure, while championing test scores as a way to measure teacher effectiveness. And, Michelle, I want you to stop making excuses for your past and tell the truth. Stop blaming hidden test results for your failings in D.C. Stop making unproven allegations about the so-called bad teachers you fired. Stop bringing up mythical foundations that can fund outlandish teacher raises.

Most of all, Michelle Rhee, stop telling America how poor our test results are, without explaining that we test in ways that no one else in the world tests. Instead, why not let America know that if we remove the disabled and the poor -- students who have far bigger problems than bubbling in A, B, C or D -- our scores suddenly soar to Number 1 in the world? Why don't you put your Harvard degree and corporate money behind solving the real problems that our children face daily? Is it because blaming teachers is just easier? Is it because you simply don't comprehend the gravity of these issues?

What do you want?

So, Michelle, what do you really want? From where I sit, it looks like you want your face on magazines and on TV. It looks like you want to fly around the country (first class only), looking much more like a politician than an education reformer. It looks like you want to make a lot of money -- hundreds of thousands a year in salary and fifty-thousand-dollar appearance fees. It looks like you want to bash teachers. It looks like you aspire to public office -- maybe even president one day.

Sadly, it doesn't appear that you want to improve education or to help kids.

So, Michelle, I suggest that you change your agenda. It's clear that you are a powerful voice. People are listening. In the long run, though, what real change will you make? Will you get hard-working public servants fired? Will you take money from public schools by sending their students to private schools? Will you make sure that kids hate learning by having them tested into oblivion? Will you have teachers evaluated, based on how students with autism, mental retardation and emotional disturbances perform on a standardized test?

Look in the mirror

Michelle, will you, 30 years from now, be able to look into the mirror and say, "I made the world a better place for children."

Or will you sit alone atop piles of money, knowing that, in spite of your high profile, your money and your Harvard degree, you didn't do a single thing to solve the real problems children face and that you alienated America's most important public servants?

I want answers, Michelle Rhee. Are you prepared to give them?


Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com