Dangerously Irrelevant

Shelley Owen commented yesterday that a teacher said to her that “[technology] is not in our contract.” Wow. It’s one thing to say as an educator, “I understand I need to do this but I need more help and/or support.” It’s another to say, “That’s not part of my job.” I don’t know the specifics of the situation, but I do know this:

The longer you pretend as an educator that technology is not core to how we learn and teach these days, the more you highlight your lack of relevance (and the more likely it is that you will be replaced by someone else who understands this).

Image credit: Resist

there will be those who say that schools without 1:1 resources just can’t engage in this sort of [textbook-less way of teaching]. And, actually, I’d agree. And I’d say to those schools: “So what are you doing to change things? What are you doing to bring 1:1 computing to your kids? Why aren’t you letting students bring the technology they already own into the classroom? And how are you changing and reallocating your resources to take advantage of technologies that prove over the long-haul to be more cost effective and less redundant than textbooks and printing?” I’d ask the English Department: “Why are you buying novels and anthologies that by-and-large are available for free online at places like Project Gutenberg, Open Library, and Google Books?” I’d ask the Math Department: “Why are you beholden to a textbook company for math questions? Use your hard-earned knowledge and post your own questions on a class blog; let the kids formulate questions; shake things up a bit.”

Shelly Blake-Plock via http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-engagement-shelly-blake-plock-teachpaperless-edchat

Ray Bradbury perhaps said it best: “We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”

Rethinking learning and teaching is being bothered by something important and real.

Ryan Bretag via http://www.ryanbretag.com/blog/?p=2981

[Warning: Long post ahead]

Yesterday I took the ACT college entrance exam for the first time. At age 44.

It all started with Ira Socol’s blog post, which argued that if politicians think that the standardized tests they are espousing are so important, they had better be able to pass those tests themselves. I then sent these tweets:

Iowa legislators & @terrybranstad: Are you brave enough to do this? bit.ly/xFGZNz #iaedfuture #didn‘tthinkso

— Scott McLeod (@mcleod) February 8, 2012

Iowa legislators & @terrybranstad: Could you pass the very tests you espouse? bit.ly/xFGZNz #iaedfuture #didn‘tthinkso

— Scott McLeod (@mcleod) February 9, 2012

Neither Iowa Governor Terry Branstad nor any state legislators responded (surprise!) but Dr. Jason Glass, Director of the Iowa Department of Education, said that he would take the ACT if I would too. The good folks at ACT said that they would be happy to administer a retired test. And that’s how I ended up in a small room at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines with Jason and 8 students who took the exam for practice.

How was the experience?

I took the SAT when I was a kid so the ACT was new territory for me. I’ll break out my thoughts by test area…

English. The English test was primarily a test of grammar, sentence formation, and paragraph flow and structure. I was asked many questions about punctuation and phrasing and word choice (e.g., who or whom or whose or who’s). Occasionally I was asked about spelling (e.g., its v. it’s) or whether a particular sentence or paragraph should be inserted, deleted, and/or moved elsewhere in a reading passage. The focus was primarily on writing composition. At times I felt like I do when I’m helping edit one of my students’ doctoral dissertations! With the caveat that I’m not a writing expert, I felt that this test did a fairly decent job of assessing whether students could identify grammar errors, poor wording, stilted sentence flow, and other technical mistakes in written passages.

Math. I know how to do a number of advanced statistical procedures, including linear regression and hierarchical linear modeling. However, I still thought that this would be the hardest test for me since I haven’t done any geometry or trigonometry since I took those high school courses almost 30 years ago. Most of the test focused on algebraic and geometric concepts. There were a handful of trigonometry questions, plus I was surprised to see a question on logarithms. I correctly completed more problems than I thought I would but – probably due to lack of day-to-day immersion and practice – was correct about the pacing. I had to pencil in last-minute random guesses for several questions because I simply ran out of time. My biggest concerns about the math test relate to the fact that much of what is assessed is math that – and I think I’m safe saying this – most of us will never use again (how many of you have needed to calculate the cosine of an angle recently? how many of you have needed to determine the formula of a circle on a standard coordinate plane?). This is a curricular issue more than an assessment issue since the ACT draws off of the math courses that most high school students take. Smarter people than I have weighed in on what math courses high schoolers should take and I’ll defer to them before I reveal too much of my ignorance. I know some of the arguments about ‘inculcating habits of mind’ and ‘more students might be turned onto higher-level math and science’ and so on. It just bothers me a great deal that we’re herding many, many students through math classes that are largely irrelevant to their future life success (most high school students don’t get much probability and statistics, for example, even though that’s what I think they’ll need most often beyond foundational numeracy). My other big concern about the math test was that the problems generally were either decontextualized pure math problems (students: who cares?) or pseudocontextual word problems (students: who cares?) of the type that Dan Meyer rails against regularly. There wasn’t much on the math test that I think would be of interest to typical high school students outside of the artificial environments of classes and testing. [Note: I'm happy to be proven wrong on any of these concerns, so have at it in the comment area.]

Reading. 4 multi-paragraph reading passages pulled from 1 fictional novel and 3 non-fiction essays or books; 10 questions per passage. Could I pull out essential details from what I read? Could I infer authors’ intent? Could I decipher meaning and voice? Could I make reasonable conclusions based on the text? A classic test of reading comprehension. Yes, I could do these things. This was the test on which I scored best.

Science. This test had 7 passages, each of which contained one or more often-interconnected tables, charts, graphs, maps, or diagrams. Most of the passages described various scientific experiments and most included additional narrative text. This was the hardest test for me, despite having taken numerous advanced science courses in both high school and college. I am comfortable with electrical, genetic, geological, kinetic, chemical, and other scientific terms and concepts and, as a professor, regularly spend time deciphering research studies and policy reports that present information in complex ways. The challenge for me was not understanding the material but rather navigating the sheer amount of information presented and answering the questions within the time given. I easily could have used another 10 to 15 minutes. Like for the math test, I had to hastily pencil in some random guesses and did worst on this test. I am very impressed by any high school students that score well on this test. I’ll also note that ACT admits that the science test doesn’t directly assess scientific knowledge or skills (although some familiarity with scientific concepts and terminology helps for comprehension purposes). Instead, what the test assesses is the ability to decipher various ways of presenting scientific information and to then make appropriate inferences and conclusions. That’s a worthy goal but I wonder if renaming the test to something like ‘Information and Data Analysis’ might be more accurate.

Writing. We didn’t get to take the writing assessment, primarily because of ACT’s desire to do same-day scoring of our results.

How do I now think about the ACT?

Jason and Governor Branstad have proposed legislation requiring every Iowa high school student to take the ACT. Here are some of my thoughts about the exam and its desirability as a statewide mandate…

The issue of time. Time is an issue for any assessment. Students shouldn’t have unlimited time to finish but neither should they have inadequate time. The ACT is intentionally designed to be an assessment that sorts, sifts, selects, and ranks participants. Having now taken it, I wonder how much of that sorting and ranking function is accomplished by benchmarking time of completion to those students who are quicker at computation or faster readers. This is different than benchmarking to difficulty of task. I have a feeling that many students might be more successful if they simply had more time to navigate the assessment and show their understanding.

Cognitive complexity. I confess that the exam often was more difficult than I thought it would be. Despite being exposed beforehand to some practice questions, the overall experience was more demanding and draining than I expected. I didn’t take any practice exams (which might have helped with my pacing) but did spend a few hours reviewing some math formulas and familiarizing myself with the other tests.

Content of the tests. With the exception of the math concerns that I expressed above, it’s hard for me to contend that the skills tested on the ACT aren’t worth knowing. Students and citizens need to be technically-competent writers. Students and citizens need to have knowledge of at least some more-than-basic mathematical concepts. Students and citizens need to be able to comprehend complex texts and information displays. And so on.

I think we can do better. Despite being more impressed with the ACT than I anticipated, I still left the exam wanting more. Although my overall experience was positive and I learned a lot about the exam, I still have the same disposition toward it that I had before. Unlike many school and university assessments, the ACT doesn’t assess too much factual recall. I think that’s good. The exam does, however, focus heavily on procedural knowledge (and provides a variety of contexts in which students can show that knowledge). Occasionally it assesses – in a fairly-limited bubble test way – some application, synthesis, analytical, or inferential skills. But for the most part, the exam does not get at higher-order thinking skills in any substantive, applied, hands-on, performance-based way. Even the writing assessment (from what I can tell from ACT’s materials and what I’ve read about it) can be successfully completed in fairly rote, formulaic ways. If we’re going to ask every student in the state to take a college- and career-readiness exam, it should be an exam worth taking. Despite its long history and deep roots, I’m not convinced that the ACT is it.

What might be some alternatives? Although I’m fairly statistics-savvy, I’m not a psychometrician. And although I know a lot about incorporating data-informed practices into schools, I’m not an expert in large-scale and/or high-stakes assessments, particularly those used for college admissions. I have a generalized interest in these topics but do not live in this space on a day-to-day basis. All that said, I look at learning environments like those provided by the New Tech Network or the Big Picture Schools or the Expeditionary Learning schools or the Science Leadership Academy and I want to see more of that for our students. Those schools – and states like New Hampshire – are working hard to assess students with performance-based assessments rather than (or at least along with) bubble tests. Students have the chance to be innovative and creative. They have the chance to do inquiry-based, interest-based, hands-on work. They are able to show that they are critical thinkers and problem solvers. And then I hear about tests like PISA, the College and Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA), and those given by other countries - tests that purportedly focus on higher-level cognitive skills and give students opportunities to show not just what they know but what they can do with what they know. And I want that for our students too. As it’s currently designed, does the ACT get us there? Nope. Might the ACT be part of a more holistic, multiple-assessment strategy for getting at college- and career-readiness? Perhaps. But it’s not enough by itself. Many hopes are riding on the PARCC and Smarter Balanced assessments that are being created right now. We’ll see if they can fulfill their promise.

Concluding thoughts

I’ll close with a few additional thoughts about the experience of taking the ACT as an adult several decades removed from initial college entry and the proposed participation mandate for all students…

Try it (again). I think it behooves us as adults – particularly those of us involved in education delivery, educator preparation, or educational policy- and decision-making – to be fairly familiar with what we’re asking our youth to do. Many of us still think that schooling and testing and learning and being a child or adolescent are like they were when we were young. They’re not. Despite our general inclinations to believe that our own time in school was the educational golden age worth returning to, we must recognize that the scale, scope, complexity, and demands of course content, curricula, assessments, and culture all have increased dramatically over the years/decades. If you’ve never shadowed a high school student throughout her entire school day, try it. I think you’ll be surprised. Similarly, I encourage you to retake a college entrance exam like Jason and I did. I believe you’ll find it worthwhile and illuminating. And then see if what we’re asking of our youth is what we really want as parents, communities, and citizens.

You’re so brave! I was struck by the sheer number of comments that Jason and I received that expressed disbelief that we would do something like this. Typical statements included variations of ‘You’re so brave! I could never do that!’ and ‘You’re willing to report your score publicly? Really?’ and ‘There’s no way in hell I’d ever take that exam again!’ and so on. I’m still mulling over what it says about us, our schools, and our society when we’re willing and even eager to have our children submit to experiences that we’re not willing to engage in ourselves as adults.

Mandated participation. Like some states, the Des Moines Public Schools has all of its students take the ACT. I asked Roosevelt High School’s principal what that experience was like for lower-achieving students. She said that a great many of them left the exam utterly humiliated. Jason was less concerned about that statement than I was, saying to the press something along the lines of ‘Far worse things will happen in life to those students than sitting through a 4-hour exam for which they’re unprepared.’ I, however, am greatly empathetic toward those adolescents. Do academically-disengaged students really need yet another formal reminder – this one with state and/or national, not just local, weight behind it – that they’re not up to snuff? How is kicking them while they’re down an incentive toward college or career readiness?

Still searching. Jason and I received a very kind offer from the Council for Aid to Education to also take the CWRA. I’m going to take them up on it and am excited about the opportunity. I wonder if I also can take PISA? I’m on an assessment quest. What else should I investigate or take?

The media. Lesson learned: No matter how much you emphasize that you’re focused on learning about and better understanding the substance and process of the college entrance exam that you’re publicly taking, the media and others will inevitably focus on your results. Jason and I both scored better than we anticipated. If you really must know, Google it.

If you’ve read all the way down to here, I appreciate your engagement and will await your comments and feedback. Thanks!

Image credits: Iowa Department of Education

[cross-posted at Education Recoded]

Leslie Pralle Keehn, a Social Studies teacher here in Iowa, had her students read The World Is Flat and then asked what ‘classes’ would help prepare them for 21st century jobs. Here are their responses:

I love how none of these are disciplinary silos (which, I’m guessing, is how her students experience most of their school days). What do you think about her students’ responses?

A local school district here in Iowa is proposing the social media policy below for its employees. I have multiple concerns about it but am curious how others feel. What do you think is okay? What do you think is troublesome?

The school board will take another look at this policy in a few weeks, so any input that you can provide would be most welcome. I’ve given each item a letter for easy reference (e.g., E, H, X). Thanks!

—–

SCHOOL DISTRICT EMPLOYEE SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

1. Expectations for the use of personal social media

District staff should:

1. Refrain from accepting current school district students as “friends” on personal social networking sites.
2. Refrain from providing personal contact information to students.
3. Be aware that people classified as “friends” have the ability to download and share your information with others.
4. Remember that once something is posted to a social networking site, it may remain available online even if you think it is removed, and it may be far-reaching.
5. Set and maintain social networking privacy settings at the most restrictive level.
6. Not use a social networking site to discuss students or employees.
7. Not post images that include students.

2. Expectations for the use of educational networking sites

District staff must:

8. Notify your supervisor about the use of any educational network and discuss with your supervisor the need for notification to parents and other staff.
9. Use district-supported networking tools when available.
10. Be aware that all online communications are stores and can be monitored.
11. Have a clear statement of purpose and outcomes for the use of the networking tool.
12. Establish a code of conduct for all network participants.
13. Not post images that include a student who does not have permission from a parent to have his/her image displayed.
14. Pay close attention to the site’s security settings and allow only approved participants access to the site.

3. Expectations for all networking sites

District employees should:

15. Not submit or post confidential or protected information about the district, its students, alumni or employees. You should assume that most information about a student is protected from disclosure by both federal law (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and state law (Iowa Code Section 22.7(1)). Disclosures of confidential or protected information may result in liability for invasion of privacy or defamation.
16. Report, as required by law, any information found on a social networking site that falls under the mandatory reporting guidelines.
17. Not use commentary or post pictures or video deemed to be defamatory, obscene, profane, or which promotes, fosters or perpetuates illegal discrimination of any kind. Exercise caution with regards to exaggeration, colorful language, guesswork, copyrighted materials, legal conclusions and derogatory remarks or characterizations.
18. Not identify yourself as a representative of or spokesperson for the district, unless you have been approved to do so by the superintendent or the communications coordinator. This includes using school logos, mascots, photographs or other such graphic representations or images associated with the district.
19. Not create an alias, false or anonymous identity on any social media.
20. Consider whether a particular posting puts your professional reputation and effectiveness as a district employee at risk.
21. Be cautious of security risks when using applications that work with the social networking site. (Examples of these sites are calendar programs and games).
22. Run updated malware protection to avoid infections of spyware and adware that social networking sites might place on your personal devices (a computer or other device not issued by the school district).
23. Be alert to the possibility of phishing scams that arrive by email or on your social networking site.
24. Anyone who wishes to establish a social media account for specific school district offices, initiatives, schools or programs must first contact the communications coordinator. Social media may be used for school-related purposes only with the approval of the communications coordinator. If you have questions, would like to start a social media initiative on behalf of a district entity, or have content you would like posted to the district’s Facebook page, please contact the district communications coordinator.

Dear Iowa legislators,

I am pleading with you to not pass an education reform law that includes retention of 3rd graders.

4+ decades of unanimous peer-reviewed research studies show that retention of elementary students results in short-term academic gains that disappear completely in later school years. What you get for that now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t test score bump is incredible damage to students’ self-concept, substantial increases in students’ dropout rates, and significant reductions in students’ future life success.

If you read them, the handful of recent non-peer-reviewed research studies that are being cited in favor of this proposed legislation actually reinforce – rather than rebut – all existing studies: short term test score gains that wash out in later years, accompanied by no mitigation of long-term, negative dropout rate or life success impacts.

Please realize that it doesn’t matter how many safeguards are put into place before retention occurs. The issue is the retention itself, not the procedures that lead up to it.

The proposed interventions in early grades for struggling readers are desirable and necessary. But, plain and simple, retention hurts kids. It has no proven long-term benefit and many long-term harmful consequences. If you want to ensure that students don’t leave elementary school illiterate, hire a personal tutor for academically-struggling 4th graders. It would be cheaper than paying for their repeated 3rd grade year.

Third grade retention is not a policy unknown. It’s an issue for which we have decades and decades of research and data. Please make the educationally sound decision. Please make the morally right decision.

I am hopeful that you will not sacrifice the future of Iowa students and citizens on the twin altars of short-term test score gains and political talking points. Please contact me at any time at 707-722-7853 or I am happy to talk with you about this important issue.

Thank you.

Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D.
An Ames resident (and education professor)

Image credit: Bellevue Elementary School

BEFORE

Math Establishment: Who’s Dan Meyer?

Other: Some crazy young punk educator with radical notions about how we should teach math to kids.

Math Establishment: No worries. His ideas won’t go far…

NOW

Math Establishment: Who’s Dan Meyer?

Other: Some crazy young punk educator with radical notions about how we should teach math to kids.

Math Establishment: Wow. This guy’s got some following. And we can see him, hear him, read him for ourselves. Let’s invite him to be a featured speaker at the national conference.

Could this happen in the past? Sure, theoretically. But it was much, much harder. So probably not.

On the Web we can write (and podcast and video and Tweet…) ourselves into existence. Teach our children, please, how they can be Dan Meyer too.

Image credit: in order to exist online

[UPDATE: We're all approved! Woo hoo!]

Just thought I’d give a quick update on our new online School Technology Leadership courses and programs.

We’ve got one last step in the University of Kentucky approval process. It should go smoothly about 2 weeks from now and then we’ll be completely and officially official. In the meantime, applications continue to come in; we have seen a great deal of interest both in America and internationally.

If you’re new to our courses, our 15-credit online graduate certificate allows educators to go deep-deep-DEEP on ISTE’s National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A). If you’d prefer an online Master’s or Ph.D. with an emphasis in School Technology Leadership, we have those programs too. All courses are offered at in-state tuition rates. We are aiming for at least one national and one international cohort to begin this fall. The application deadline for all programs is May 15.

ISTE and others are helping us recruit so we are thankful for their assistance. If you’d like to help us spread the word (hint, hint), here’s a blurb:

The University of Kentucky has launched its new online School Technology Leadership graduate certificate, Master’s, and Ph.D. programs. Participating educators will be deeply grounded in ISTE’s . Deadline for Fall admission is May 15, 2012.

If you’re interested, see the links below. And if we’re not exactly what you’re looking for, check out options from ISTE and Johns Hopkins University, Kennesaw State University, Leading Edge Certification, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), Intel, and others. There are 200,000+ school administrators in the U.S. alone. Most of them need a lot of help when it comes to technology, so find a program that best fits their needs and get ‘em started!

Additional info about the STL programs

• Flyer
• Overview
• Graduate certificate
• Master’s (or Ed.S.)
• Ph.D. [for which we expect a VERY competitive admissions process]
• Admissions requirements and application info [Fall deadline is May 15]
• Questions? Contact Dr. Justin Bathon, CASTLE Co-Director

Here are two quotes for you:

Economically disadvantaged students, who often use the computer for remediation and basic skills, learn to do what the computer tells them, while more affluent students, who use it to learn programming and tool applications, learn to tell the computer what to do.

Neuman, D. (1991). Technology and equity. Available at http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-5/equity.htm

AND

Those who cannot claim computers as their own tool for exploring the world never grasp the power of technology… They are controlled by technology as adults – just as drill-and-practice routines controlled them as students.

Pillar, C. (1992). Separate realities: The creation of the technological underclass in America’s public schools. MacWorld, 9(9), 218-230.

Twenty years later, these quotes still ring true. What is your school doing to close the technology usage divide (not just the technology access divide)?

Hat tip: Miguel Guhlin and Solomon, Allen, & Resta