Recently, I had the fabulous opportunity to hear a keynote address by Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish educator and scholar, who was both incredibly knowledgeable and incredibly funny.  He has a laundry list of credentials: a Master of Science from University of Turku, a PhD. from the University of Jyvaskylä, and a Teacher’s Diploma from the University of Helsinki. He served in the Ministry of Education in Finland, as the Senior Education Specialist for the World Bank in Washington, DC., and as the Lead Education Specialist for the European Training Foundation in Torino, Italy.   He even received First Class Knight of the White Rose of Finland from the President.  He is currently a visiting Professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is how he became available to educators in New England.

Why is this relevant?  Because Finland is #1 in the world in all aspects of education – math, reading, science, etc. -- (although he admitted Finland doesn’t care about that; they only care that they are better than Sweden.)  Rather than proposing that other nations follow in Finland's path, his book Finnish Lessons documents how Finland achieved success without going through the difficult and controversial educational processes typical of the United States -- in other words, without implementing competitive practices such as school choice, school report cards, and test-based accountability.  

The United States is not doing education wrong, however.  Salhberg said that Finland and all the other developed countries regularly copy the educational ideas that come out of the United States and implement them in classrooms most often in very similar ways.  Salhberg cited the technological advances and concepts such project-based learning, interdisciplinary teaching, STEM, and collaborative learning.  What he reminded us of was this: the United States is significantly struggling in the other social domains that ultimately make us educationally non-competitive.  We do not fully recognize or acknowledge the tight relationship between poverty, health care, and education, for example.  According to Salhberg's research and expertise, Finland is # 1 in education because the country is also #1 in the world in other key ‘social’ factors such as the empowerment of women, health care for children, low rate of poverty, and the percentage of people reporting satisfaction with life.  In Finland, for example, both parents get paid child care leave after the birth of a baby because of the importance Finnish society places on the nuclear family.  Free, state-sponsored child care is available to working mothers.  And so on.  

Thus, underlying the success of the Finnish system is a constitutional commitment to every child’s right to great education, as well as a strong social safety net that has reduced child poverty in Finland from its peak in the 1970's – about 22%, (near the current U.S. rate) – to just 4% today.  In the United States, as is true in most countries, socioeconomic status is truly one of the keenest predictors of a child’s success in school.

 

My take-aways were these : 

1. When it comes to the best educational practices, Sahlberg said everyone in the world is copying the United States (perhaps a slight exaggeration on his part, not mine!)
2. When our educational achievement (our y axis, or the dependent variable) is plotted on a grid against the equality of key social factors in our society (our x axis, or the independent variable), we fall below those countries with whom we most want to be recognized and competitive. (See the chart above).

He labeled the "high achievement/strong equity" zone  ‘heaven,’ and used the Led Zeppelin soundtrack ‘Climbing the Stairway to Heaven’  to close his presentation.  

His book is titled Finnish Lessons: What the World Can Learn from Finland.

There’s a Lot to Like about Common Core

So much has been said and written about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS); and, as with any new and controversial idea, the public is left with the task of separating the truth from the hype -- on both sides.  I like the Common Core, however.  I’ve ‘met’ the standards, and there isn’t one I don’t like.  I contend that the best of our country’s teachers have been teaching common-core-style for years.   

To illustrate, I picked two examples, somewhat randomly, from the English Language Arts CCSS.  Meet “Read closely to make logical inferences” and “Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text.”   I wouldn’t mind going to work with either one because they are more authentic and more demanding than some common educational practices in the recent past. 

Let me explain.  As the English Department Chair and a strong curriculum leader in my past, I cringed when I saw students taking reading quizzes.  ‘Where does Of Mice and Men take place?’ ‘List the main characters in Romeo and Juliet who are dead at the end of the play?’ ‘In Cather in the Rye, why does Holden go to New York?’  Questions of this nature measure either compliance or memory, not comprehension.  The students have either read (or at least read the Cliff Notes) … or they haven’t.  They either remember the intricate details or they don’t.  

The Common Core State Standards for Language Arts demonstrate to me just how far we have come from a “Trivial Pursuit” style of learning in this new century.  I also like the CCSS’ potential to affect changes in instruction – particularly to change the level and depth of the deeper questions we ask.

One argument against Common Core states that the emphasis on close reading strips children of the joy inherent in reading.  Studying the text ruins the experience.  The opponents ask if it isn’t important to help children develop a love of reading … and not just read for information or to evaluate, critique, and compare?’  The ‘just’ is my emphasis because the argument isn’t either/or – either you read closely or you enjoy what you read. 

Let’s look at the first CCSS above and consider “Jack and the Beanstalk,” a story with which most people have some familiarity. Typically, a teacher might want to assess whether or not students comprehended the story: ‘What did Jack get when he traded the cow?’ (Magic beans.)  ‘What did Jack find at the top of the giant beanstalk?’ (The ogre. ‘What is an ogre?’ might be a logical follow-up question.)  ‘What was the first thing Jack stole?’ (A golden egg.)  ‘The second thing?’ (The hen that laid a golden egg every day?) ‘The third thing?’ (The golden harp.)  And so on.

Common Core, however, expects teachers to change their style of questioning and pursue concepts which are not obvious or can’t be found through skimming the text -- concepts which require close-reading.  These questions require kids to both reread and to read between the lines.  A good Common Core question asks, “If Jack already has the hen that lays a golden egg each day, why does he go up the beanstalk for the harp?”  I would contend that as a young reader I would have been much more fascinated by the ‘why?’ than the ‘what?’  Asking me to reread and go back to the earlier pieces of the story for a closer look at Jack would not have ruined it for me.  It would have given it ‘dimension.’

Another argument against common core is that it is too often expects students to fill in the missing pieces when a text is not explicit. ‘How can they do that?’ critics complain.  Kids can’t know what isn’t there.  I once read this example about building bridges in America and it resonated with me.  The first paragraph told about building the Brooklyn Bridge, a

suspension bridge, across a large expanse of water, with its pylons under water.  Another bridge crossed the very expansive Mississippi River; and another, ridiculously high in the air, crossed the Rio Grande.  Each paragraph gave details about how the bridges were built.  

In the second CCSS above, we see that excellent readers sometimes need to connect a series of ideas to arrive at the author’s purpose.  In this example, in each case, the bridge was built despite the difficulties each unique setting presented.  So, the author’s purpose was not “to show how hard it is to build bridges” but “to show how American ingenuity overcame obstacles to get the job done.”  There’s a subtle, but important difference.  It’s our job to make sure our children have opportunities to talk about and refine their conclusions. 

Because I’m in the business, I frequently read and think about the CCSS, which expect kids to think deeply and problem-solve.  I know the standards are challenging, for students and teachers.  But there isn’t one I would dismiss as nonsense. 

[If you would like to read the CCSS yourself, click HERE.]

Budget Season is in Full Swing

To date, this year's budget season has been both challenging ... and rewarding.  The challenges have been coming quickly to grips with the existing line items, from personnel to paper clips, and understanding the needs behind any new requests.  The rewards have been realizing how caring and supportive of staff and children the Board and the Litchfield community have always been.  I appreciate that the community wants to be both conservative with spending and generous in support of kids' needs.  The administrators and Central Office staff have been thoughtful.  I ask a million question, all of them beginning with 'why?' and they are still thoughtful.

The budget supports current staffing and benefits (77% of the budget) and fixed costs such as utilities and transportation (13%).  The remaining 10% supports programming, curriculum, materials, and supplies.  In addition to meeting our contractual obligations, here are the three priorities of the 2015-2016 budget: 

First, a new Math curriculum for grades K - 5.  

We are investigating a Common Core aligned program that is rich in differentiation materials and teacher and parent resources.  Common Core is not the demon so many groups paint it to be.  It is a rigorous set of standards that expect hands-on learning, complex problem-solving, and communication of ideas.  As with any new change, it's what you do with it that counts.  Litchfield’s previous math program was aligned to the requirements of the old CMT with 26 different content strands each year.  We’ve come to call that approach ‘a mile wide and an inch deep.’   The new Common Core State Standards require far fewer concepts per year and a much deeper level of understanding.  The new requirements also add ‘math practices’ to the core content expecting teachers and students to change their old strategies and incorporate more hands-on problem-solving, more conversation about how and why an answer is right, and greater fluency and facility with number sense.  The math practices expect students to persevere if a multi-step problem is difficult.

Second, the technology to support a new Math Curriculum.  

Any math program worth our investment will support this new Common Core math content and a student-centered instructional approach.  Any worthwhile program will also offer rich technology supports such as pre- and post- assessments, online skills work with opportunities for immediate feedback, teacher resources for differentiation at all levels, SmartBoard-ready lessons, and online parent supports.   We’re looking at programs which offer computer-adaptive activities that look like games, but are individualized to each student’s ability.  They repeat skills the child is struggling with until they are mastered… or escalate the skills until a child is being challenged.  The data is readily available to teachers and paraprofessionals.  We've looked at one program which when parents scan their child's homework from a device, an instructive video opens re-teaching the lesson.  The same videos are available through online links.

Finally, retaining the class sizes at the elementary schools and the diverse program offerings at the high school. 

At the elementary schools, class sizes average at or below 20.  Caseloads in Special Education are also very manageable at about 12 - 15.  We are expanding pre-school for 3’s and 4’s, but keeping classes at or below 12. 

In a small high school such as Litchfield’s, class sizes are much more variable.  Several factors play with simple arithmetic:  number of students who elect a class, weighted classes (AP, Honors, and Academic); heavily-enrolled core classes (band and chorus), and specialty courses with only one section, called singletons (AP classes, Tech-Ed, World Languages, art).   

This is easier to see by example.  Imagine this year’s junior class, for example, with 84 students.  Simple division would yield four English classes with 21 students each.   But, there may be only 12 juniors who elect AP Language and Composition and 48 students who want Honors English.  The schedule then becomes further complicated when, of the 48 students taking Honors English, 20 are in Band and cannot take English during that particular Band block.  If 14 of the 20 Honors/Band students are also taking AP US History, another singleton class, an extra section of English may now be needed to cover the inflexibilities caused by selecting these three classes in combination.  Litchfield is committed to providing programming which does not cause a junior to choose between AP US History and Band.  We do the best we possibly can in honoring students’ individual program needs through flexible scheduling and recently through the flexible (asynchronous) scheduling of a few virtual high school courses.

The Board of Education budget is understandably a collection of static numbers with a bottom line.  But, more poetically, it is the foundation on which we are building our future through the education of our children.  So side-by-side with our analysis of the figures, we should remember our accomplishments throughout the district and celebrate our children and teachers at work.  Ours IS a people business, and this budget continues Litchfield’s tradition of supporting the individual growth and development of every child.  Simply put, it’s what’s best for kids.

To view the budget presentation in easy-to-read slides, click HERE.

Introduction to the Litchfield Community

I have had the most memorable introduction to Litchfield in the past two weeks, and I am so grateful to the community for the warmest of welcomes.   On Friday, January 16, the Intermediate School students and I met for a ‘town meeting style’ assembly for which they had prepared a large set of interview questions.  Those questions, some of which I’ll answer below, serve as a perfect means of introducing myself to the Litchfield community. 

To open the meeting, I told the students a little about myself as a child and how lucky I was to have a caring and creative mom.  I shared with them a story my mother used to tell my sister and me about “a little red house with a little brown chimney that had no windows and no doors and a star inside.”  My mother had always made the story seem like going on a magical adventure to find this house, and then she would take a red Macintosh apple out of the icebox (red house, brown chimney, no windows and doors) and cut it crosswise in half.  There was always a star inside.  She told the story to remind us to be interested in the world, not bored… to see things differently and to think about the world creatively, rather than always doing things rotely and routinely. 

As I was sitting at my desk, writing this introduction, I received in my email this picture taken at lunch at the Intermediate School.  It's message mean a great deal to me, and I will always return to it on tough days.

After my story it was time for the kids to raise their hands, come forward to the microphone, give their names, and ask their questions.  I had a great deal of fun and was so proud of their interests.


Robert came forward and asked the first question: Why do we have so many snow days?
While kids like snow days, most adults do not.  Here’s what happens, Robert.  Sometime between 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning, I will receive an email from or talk on the phone with Mr. Jack Healy, who is Litchfield’s Director of Public Works.  Road crews are already at work, sanding or plowing, and reporting in to Mr. Healy about the conditions on miles and miles of roads in Litchfield.  At 4:15 a.m., I join a conference call with weatherman Mr. John Bagioni and all of the area Superintendents.  There are at least a dozen of us.  We hear the latest weather forecast, and everyone shares their town’s road reports because teachers will come from many different places to get to work.  We begin to talk our district’s needs, and we listen to what others are thinking.  Then, about 4:45, after everyone weighs in, we end our conference call; and I call Mr. Ed Drapp, who is Regional District 6’s superintendent.  We think about inexperienced drivers at our high schools and your bus drivers both navigating slippery roads and sharing the roads with less careful drivers who may slide into them.  We make the same decision; and in the end, it will always be about student and staff safety.

Sebastian wanted to know: Are you going to make changes to the school or the specials? Today, Sebastian, I met you and many of your teachers for the first or second time.  I have only been in Litchfield for eight days. I want to continue to visit your schools and talk to your principal and teachers … and the staff and students working in the other two schools as well.  I need to listen and find out what’s important to you.  Staying in touch with the schools is how I will focus on what you and your teachers need to be successful every day.  It's not my job to come here and start changing things around to suit myself.  My job is to make sure that all of the people in charge -- from the teachers in your schools to your parents and our community, including, of course, the members of the Board of Education -- always keep their focus on one important question: What's best for kids?

Maya asked a seriously formal question: How did you get your job?
With a smile I told Maya it was a long process.  I saw the advertisement for a new superintendent online; and the very first week I saw it, I applied by sending in a very detailed application with my resume, references, and college transcripts.  I made an effort to reflect your community in my application.   At the time, I was the Superintendent in Orange, Connecticut; and while I loved the teachers and students there, I missed working with a high school.  And Litchfield is such a beautiful community with wide open spaces and a terrific school system.  There won’t be as much shopping here; but it is more like the small town where I grew up, so it feels comfortable.  The Board of Education called me for an interview, and I answered tough questions for an hour.  Then they called me again, and I answered even tougher questions for an hour and a half.  Finally, they traveled down to Orange where they met with the people with whom I was working to uncover what those people thought about my commitment to education and my leadership abilities.  In the end, the Board offered me the job as your superintendent… and, I gladly accepted.

Maya’s card also asked: How many family members do you have?
I have a small family, Maya; but we are very close.  I have two children who are grown up. My son is 39 and he works as a digital photographer and graphic artist for a large advertising firm in Greenville, South Carolina.  My daughter is 37 and she stays at home taking care of my youngest grand-daughter who just turned five years old.  She is a curious little girl with an interesting way of looking at everything around her.  She is crazy for horses and dinosaurs.  My son-in-law is in the Air Force.  He repairs jet engines and ‘teaches drill’ to men and women serving in the Reserves.   I also have an 18-year-old grand-daughter, who is a freshman in college and already involved in several civic clubs that do volunteer work and contribute to the community.  She loves school, especially Spanish, social sciences, and government.  She runs 5K races for fun, and enjoys reading, too.  In the middle, I have a 13-year-old grandson with red hair, who loves soccer and plays outdoor or indoor soccer all year long. And, he likes his computer games, too!

Effie asked: Do you have any pets? Did you have pets as a kid?  I have always had pets.  My father liked English setters and he even raised a litter of puppies.  My two favorite dogs as a kid were Zippy and Bessie, both were black and white setters.  Now, I have one dog, Harley, who is a poodle and cocker spaniel mix, because somehow I became allergic to dogs and he is hypoallergenic.  We also have four dwarf Nigerian goats.

Mikayla asked: What are you looking forward to as superintendent?  Are you excited?
I’m very excited and look forward to coming to work every day.  I love what I do and I love education and making a difference.  The best moments are the times like these when I get to meet with students and teachers and talk about what’s important.  However, there is a lot of email and paperwork, and right now, I’m trying to learn the budget and meet with as many people as I can, so it’s try to try to do everything at once.

To answer Ashlyn's question, what's my favorite thing about being a superintendent?
So far, Ashlyn, meeting and working with people -- kids, teachers, volunteers, parents, community members. At the end of the day, I like to feel like I've made a difference.

Emily and Gwen’s questions work well together:  What made you a superintendent and how many years have you been a superintendent?
To do back to my mother’s story, I was always curious and interested in every challenge and adventure.  I always wanted to try the next thing and test myself.  I was a good teacher in Suffield and East Granby, but I wanted to help other teachers and I became a department chair at the high school in Canton, which is very close to you, and I supervised nine teachers.  Then, because of the volunteer committees and projects I was working on, I became interested in curriculum.  I went to school and got my 092 license and became Canton’s first Curriculum Director and Assistant Superintendent.  When I realized I wanted even more challenge and responsibility, I went back to school again and earned my 093 to become a superintendent.  I was the superintendent in Orange for three years before coming to Litchfield.  The main reason I took on all those changes is that I always wanted to try the next step. 

Ava asked: What was your favorite things to teach in English?
I taught high school, so the books I loved may not be familiar to you.  So many books, it’s hard to choose. I taught a lot of different courses in high school.  I loved teaching a very complex books called Behind the Scenes in the Museum.  Another one of my favorites was Ragtime, which is actually written off the beat, just like ragtime music is played.  You know how when you are clapping to music, you usually clap with the beat?  Well, ragtime music is syncopated or off-the beat, as if you were clapping exactly when everyone else wasn’t.  Well, the author wrote the book off-beat.  Just when you think you know what to expect, he does something else.  I loved teaching about Romeo and Juliet, and how the problem was really that the kids could not communicate with their parents and went to their friends instead.  I loved teaching The Bean Trees… so many books, but I’m sorry they aren’t books you know yet.

Jake asked an interesting question: What would your second choice for a job be other than a superintendent?
I would be a writer.  I try to be a writer even now in my spare time.  I write a lot of short stories; and have written three novels, but none of them is ready to be published.  Someday, I’ll go back and finish what I started, but it takes more time than I have right now.  When I retire, sometime in the future, I’ll finish one or all of the novels and send them out to a publisher to see what happens.

We were out of time, but here are a few of the questions I would have loved to answer:

Deanna wrote: What was your favorite subject in school when you were a kid? I loved everything about school; but I became an English teacher because I loved reading and writing.  I was very good at science, but I didn’t really understand it.

Bella asked: Who inspired you?  My parents did.  My mother graduated first in her high school class, but never went to college because she had been raised to go to work.  Her father worked in a factory and she became a waitress and then a secretary.  One interesting thing about my mother is that she could play the piano extremely well.  She could hear something and play it.  When she was 10 or 11, she traded doing housework for her piano teacher in return for lessons.  My mother also painted clock faces when we were kids.  She was an outstanding artist.  She and my father raised us to go to college.  They also talked about politics and issues at the dinner table and expected us to be thinkers.

Ellen wrote: What were you like in elementary school?  I tried to be very perfect and proper.  If I made a mistake writing, I wouldn’t erase it.  I would start over on another piece of paper.  (We didn’t have computers.)  I always wanted A’s on my report card and was upset if I didn’t get one in a subject.  But, I was also a little clumsy and awkward.  I sometimes did embarrassing things, such as falling off my chair or skinning my knees at recess.  Sometimes I got in trouble for things that I thought were funny, but annoyed the teacher.  One time I took a friend’s hat and hid it in my desk.  The teacher thought I was stealing it and made me stand in the hall facing the wall, which was a common punishment in my school days.

Daniel wanted to know: Was it always your dream to be a superintendent?  No, I wanted to be an airline stewardess.  I romanticized that they were beautiful, adventurous women who traveled the world.  My father said 'NO.'   I was going to college and that was that.

To summarize a few other immediate concerns: 
No, Tommy, I have no plans to make you wear uniforms.  I went camping when I was a kid, Alex, but never as an adult.   I would love for you to have more technology, Aiden and everyone else who asked the same question; so I’ll work on that issue with the staff and the Board. 
Yes, I do have to work at home, Diana; and no, I have no real trick up my sleeve to being a good superintendent, Erin, other than listening to people and always remembering to do what is best for kids.  Patrick, I have no immediate plans to decrease the amount of homework you get; but it is the kind of issue a district committee can study if enough people are interested.  I do have some favorite memories, Madelyn, like the red house with a star inside; and I write about my memories all the time, so invite me to come to your class and I’ll share another one with you. 


Thank you to the students and staff at Litchfield Intermediate for this opportunity to say hello,