Making Sure All Kids Have Access To A College Education

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Kati Haycock is one of the nation's leading child advocates in the field of education. She currently serves as director of the Education Trust. Prior to coming to the Education Trust, Haycock served as executive vice president of the Children's Defense Fund, the nation's largest child advocacy organization. A native Californian, Haycock founded and served as president of The Achievement Council, a statewide organization that provides assistance to teachers and principals in predominately minority schools in improving student achievement.

Later this month, the US Senate will act on a matter of grave importance to America's future: whether to preserve full funding for the Pell Grant, which has for decades made it possible for American families of modest means to send their children to college and for college graduates to earn teaching credentials.

Without full funding, the maximum grant will be reduced from about $5500 per year to $3000, or even less, with devastating effects on students and families. Especially now, when both parents and teachers have been focusing like never before on preparing students for college, it will be a crushing defeat if the federal government turns its back on helping students and families with the costs of post-secondary education.

By raising your voice now, you can help send a strong message to the Senate about maintaining support for Pell. Tell them our children's minds are too important to waste.

Click here to send a note directly to your Senators: http://action.edtrust.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6690

More Choices For Schoolchildren In Florida

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New measures that would greatly expand the choices parents have when it comes to educating their children are headed to Florida Gov. Rick Scott for his signature.

The bills, recently passed by the Florida legislature, will make it easier for existing, high-performing charter schools to grow. The need is there. Last year, more than 37,000 children were turned away from charter schools due to a lack of space.

The legislation also would allow children in low-performing public schools to move to high-performing public ones in any school district within the state.

Parents of children with disabilities are hailing the legislation, as it also would expand the number of students with disabilities who can obtain funds to send their children to private schools. It's estimated up to thousands more students could become eligible for this benefit.

The measures now heading to Gov. Scott follow the enactment earlier this year of legislation that also will help improve Florida's schools. Those measures strengthened teacher evaluations, eliminated the policy of laying off teachers by seniority rather than by quality and put in place a performance-pay system that rewards excellent teaching. Principals also will have more say over which teachers to hire.

The previously approved legislation took important steps to boost transparency in Florida schools. It required districts to publish teacher ratings by school. Names won't be used, but the information will help parents make informed decisions about which school to send their children to. Parents also must be notified when their kids are placed in a class with a teacher who has received an ineffective rating.

With these key education reforms becoming a reality in Florida, policy makers across the country will be looking to the Sunshine State for lessons and guidance on how to improve schools nationally. We at StudentsFirst hope to help.

Teaching To The Test?

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After co-founding the youth focused non-profit "VIBE Foundation", Julian became the co-chair to the Sacramento Youth Commission and Youth Liaison to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. Julian Nagler graduated from a California High School in the class of 2010, and now lives in Washington, DC.

When I think of great teachers I've had, I think of my high school AP Government teacher, Mr. Meegan. I remember walking into his class for the first time. I knew him by reputation alone, and I was eager to see what was in store. He was known as one of the most challenging teachers at our school but retained a loyal following of students who admired his ability to make an AP class feel like a free-flowing conversation. On that first day, he made it very clear that his one explicit job as our AP Government teacher would be to equip us with the knowledge necessary to pass the AP Government Exam, a feat required to earn the college level credit. I remember thinking to myself "How can people like this guy so much; he literally just told us he will be teaching to the test all year?" Fortunately, it wasn't long before any doubt I had faded away. Mr. Meegan had a way of hitting on all the necessary exam points without giving off the impression of following any pre-scripted lesson plan. His class was predominately lecture-based, yet it encouraged spontaneous conversation on the topic at hand.

With Mr. Meegan, students felt a sense of mutual respect between teacher and student, something that is far less common than one might think. He never assigned busywork, so we respected his assignments. He never pressured us into conforming to his personal political views, rather he encouraged us to support our own. What he did do was teach us how to pass the AP Exam without ever seeming to "teach to the test." This is what I found most interesting about his style of teaching -- he was able to fulfill his job responsibility of making sure we could pass an exam while turning it into one of the most interesting and open classes I've ever had. To me, that is the teacher's golden key -- get the class interested, get them involved, and get them educated.

What Makes A Great Teacher?

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Courter Shimeall is currently pursuing a dual degree in law and public policy at Ohio State. Prior to being a student, he taught middle school English for two years in Watts, California, and then worked for Teach For America in recruiting for several years. Courter stays active in issues regarding educational inequality. He is an alumnus of the College of Wooster (B.A.) and Loyola Marymount University (M.A. Ed.). He currently lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife, Angela, who is a public school teacher.

It's a question we either hear or ask often: "Is s/he a good teacher?" And even though we’ve all had "good" or even "great" teachers, my hunch is that we rarely think about what it actually means to qualify as a "good teacher" in the eyes of students, former students, teaching peers, and parents. So in honor of teacher appreciation week, I've reflected on just what makes our best teachers so great.

Involvement, effort, and dedication

When I reflect on great teachers I've had, or on great teachers with whom I taught, there's one thing that unites them all: they were involved. Whether it was coaching, running after school programs and clubs, or attending concerts and games, some of the most beloved and best teachers I've known were ever-present in their students' lives.

This ever-presence is even more important for the actual inside-the-classroom component of education. Of course, most of our teachers were physically present on a regular basis. But I'm thinking specifically about the ones who came early and/or stayed late; the ones who were clearly dedicated to their craft; and the ones whom I saw in the back of other classes observing peers to improve their own approach. This kind of effort communicates tacitly yet clearly that a teacher is dedicated to his or her students.

Perhaps more importantly, these were teachers who were leading by example. The involvement, the effort, and the dedication are great examples to students of positive work habits and how to take a professional approach to one's craft. Students who have teachers who are present and who work hard know that their teachers care about them, and almost always reciprocate the effort and the focus.

Accessible curriculum

We can all remember the classes we dreaded. Canned curriculum. Worksheets with matching or word-finds. Not to say that this wasn't okay every once in a while, but it fails to engage students as a general practice.

Contrast the above with the teachers who actually engaged you in the curriculum. The beauty of this is that there's no one way or "right" way to do this. It's the high school history teacher who tells stories about the Punic Wars that are so vivid and so engaging that you feel like you can actually see the battles unfold. Or the English teacher who always connects the material to his or her students' lives; whether reading "To Kill a Mockingbird", "Always Running", or any other great piece of literature. Or it's the science teacher who leads her students in preparation for a robotics or engineering contest.

In some way or another, the best teachers I've had and observed find a way to engage their students in the curriculum they teach. Invariably, the approach is practical, interdisciplinary, and fluid. And invariably, the kids always love going to class.

A fundamental belief in students

For the most part, what makes or breaks a student is a general sense of self-confidence and, specifically, the confidence to overcome challenges and reach for more. And if I think back on the most important characteristic of the most influential teachers I've known, it's that they believed in their students.

This comes through in a number of ways. For example, some great teachers communicate this belief verbally. It's no surprise that students who hear encouragement before tests, are actually told that they’re smart, and are actually told how capable they are end up becoming people who believe in themselves. And for those who don't believe in sappy praise, I've seen great teachers communicate this through their actions, taking the form of the teacher who pushes you to write one more rough draft when you thought you were done, or the form of the teacher who consistently assigns the most challenging work. Actions often speak louder than words in the education profession. And teachers who push their students to get better communicate that they believe in their students enough to make them better.

This is obviously a less than scientific analysis. But in reflecting back on those teachers who helped you get to where you are today, I'm willing to bet you'll remember that they embodied at least a few of the above characteristics. The reflection has also helped me realize once again just how important it is that America has a diverse pool of strong teachers, so that every student -- from the suburbs, rural America, or an urban environment -- has the opportunity to experience what it's like to have a great teacher.

High School Student Reflects On Lessons Of A Great Teacher

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Sarai Reed is a senior at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. She was recently awarded the Stephen Joel Tractenberg scholarship to attend George Washington University in the fall.

I've never been a fan of journalism, but unfortunately I signed up for four years of it when I landed in the Literary Media and Communications Department at my school -- Duke Ellington School of the Arts. I made it through the first two years as a staff writer on our school paper by the grace of God, considering I'm highly indisposed to strict deadlines. By the beginning of my junior year, however, things changed when we got a new journalism teacher. From my impressionable, 16-year-old standpoint, Mr. Oyedeji -- fresh off the boat from the U.K. and dressed in American Apparel and Chuck Taylors -- was a revolutionary. He, of course, referred to himself modestly as just another "softly spoken brother."

In his first week with us, Mr. Oyedeji (affectionately called "Mr. O") entreated the class to participate in a small group activity. He divided the class into four groups and gave mine the task of going into the hallway to discuss a topic he assigned us. We had 10 minutes to create a lesson plan and come back and effectively teach the class about the assigned topic.

We scampered eagerly out of the classroom to perform the task, but when we returned, we were met with some difficulty. About a third of our audience was disengaged and silent; another third was distracted and chatty; and the remaining third had so many questions and thoughts to share it was pesky.

Mr. O hardly intervened as we struggled to hold the attention of the class. When our frustrated group was about to throw in the towel, Mr. O had each of the other groups reveal their assignments. Each one had been put up to the task of impeding our short lecture by being under engaged, overly talkative or heckling us with questions and comments. For those few moments, our class truly understood the frustrations and obstacles a teacher is subjected to and we’ve had close to perfect harmony in our classroom ever since.

We've since done away with our outdated school paper and upgraded to a glossy magazine that the entire department can be proud of. Mr. O is always telling us that if our writing is nothing else it ought to be clever, cool and meaningful. In a lot of ways, he exemplifies his own words of wisdom: he's clever, cool, and the two years I spent in his class will always mean a lot to me.

Ed Reform In Indiana

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Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels put his signature on a new law this weekend that will ensure teachers get high-quality evaluations, rather than working under a weak evaluation system in which they go without the objective feedback every professional needs and wants.

The new law also spells out that teachers who demonstrate they are effective in the classroom can receive higher compensation. In other words, excellence will be rewarded rather than ignored.

The law brings an end to the archaic practice of laying teachers off by seniority rather than quality. In the past, when layoffs have occurred, the last teacher hired was the first fired regardless of teacher effectiveness. The new law says those decisions must be made around the quality of the teacher's work, not just his or her length of service.

State lawmakers also have approved legislation that will provide lower-income students additional school options by allowing them to attend private schools. Importantly, private schools that participate in the program must administer the same accountability tests given to students in public schools to ensure that public dollars are spent wisely.

Another approved bill also is designed to expand the number of high-quality public charter schools created in the state. Charter schools are public schools that operate with more flexibility than traditional public schools and that are open to all students in a district regardless of their neighborhood.

StudentsFirst is proud to have attended the signing ceremony this weekend to support this great achievement in Indiana.

Thank You Teachers

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Today marks the start of Teacher Appreciation Week, and we here at StudentsFirst want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the educators who have shaped our lives and who continue to work so hard on behalf of kids every day.

Great teachers are critical resources in this country, and all of you deserve our appreciation for the essential work you do. You are helping future astronauts, doctors, artists and fellow educators find their own paths to success. Along the way, you are diligently teaching kids to become great readers so they can engage in our information-rich society and become informed citizens through books, newspapers, the Internet, and more. You are helping them learn their multiplication tables and master fractions -- key building blocks for higher-level math skills children need to know in a modern economy. And you are igniting their passions in fields like science, writing, and history.

You teachers are the most important educational component of a child's school day. Sure, text books matter. So does the state of our school buildings. But those things don't have nearly the kind of influence on student learning as you have. Simply put, there is no other school-based factor that is as closely linked to student success as teacher quality.

Given how critical your role is, and how hard you are working, we are fighting to save great teachers during this difficult time in our nation's economy. Across the country, school budgets are being slashed and reductions in force are imminent. More than 160,000 teachers are expected to lose their jobs this year. What's more, that's not happening in a way that values your work. Instead, in most places, the teachers hired last must be the first ones to go during layoffs, regardless of their impact on student success. That kind of thinking says the quality of a person's work isn't even worth examining. That kind of thinking says all teachers are interchangeable.

We know that's not true, and we know we can do better as a nation. That's why we're working hard to save great teachers and make sure outdated practices like last in, first out are overhauled. We also must elevate the status of the teaching profession in this country by reforming the evaluation system you work under. It's demoralizing to work in an environment in which you're observed infrequently and go without the feedback and professional development everyone desires and deserves. Evaluations should be fair and objective, linked to student success and a clear set of expectations around what good teaching looks like -- not arbitrary opinions on the matter.

Similarly, school compensation systems are outdated and don't reward excellence. You earn small salary increases in lockstep and based on your length of service or degrees earned instead of earning sizeable raises for demonstrating your impact on your students. Teachers who show they can help students make academic gains and who teach hard-to-staff subjects in hard-to-staff areas must be compensated appropriately. That's not happening in most places today.

In the 21st Century, with so much critical work ahead of us, a fairer more sensible way of hiring and retaining, evaluating and compensating teaches is badly needed. We must elevate teachers by recognizing and rewarding their great work. Thank you for working with us as we pursue these important goals. We couldn't do it without you.