Last In, First Out Hurts Kids

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Angela taught in Columbus City Schools where she enjoyed a short tenure as a kindergarten and first grade teacher; due to the "Last In, First Out" policy, she was forced out after two years. After leaving Columbus, she got a job at one of the best elementary schools in the greater Columbus area.

As a teacher affected by last in, first out policies, the current education debate really resonates with me. I taught for two years in Columbus, Ohio. Toward the end of my second year, I signed a contract to come back for another year. A few weeks later, however, I got laid off. It was a shock. I was so disappointed in the system. It let me down, my principal down, and worst of all, it let the children down.

I taught at a school where nearly all of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch. My school needed teachers who were passionate, determined, and willing to do anything for their students. It needed teachers who referred to their students as "my kids." I always found myself using that term, because they were more than just students to me -- and I was more than just their teacher.

Last in, first out, or LIFO for short, dictates that senior teachers get to stay when there are reductions in force while new ones have to leave. What frustrates me most about using seniority, instead of teacher quality, to make these decisions, is it can support educators who shouldn't be teaching. Teachers who consistently do not produce student gains should not be responsible for educating the young minds of our society. This is a backward policy. We should be focusing on providing children with an excellent education, not on supporting teachers who continue to let students down.

Every year around this time, particularly in low-income communities where LIFO hits hardest because so many schools rely on new teachers, teachers are informed that they are being laid off. Many of these teachers are talented, and determined educators who are the hardest working people in their schools. And many are teachers who want to be in low-income communities helping make sure every child get a good education. But they aren't given that choice. Instead, they are forced to leave the profession or find a job elsewhere -- sometimes in a more affluent community. I wanted to stay at my old school. I wanted to grow as an educator and continue helping to improve a community that wanted me to be there. I wanted to show my students the power of learning and education. But I didn’t get that chance, and my students were the ones to suffer.

Now, a year after I was laid off, I am teaching in a wealthier school district and I have grown as an educator. If not for LIFO, I would still be teaching in Columbus and would still be helping my kids pave a positive future for themselves. I spent most of this year worrying about whether or not my current one-year contract would be extended. Luckily it was, for one more year anyway. So next year, my fourth year as a teacher, I will again worry about my job status. Oddly enough, I won't be worried about my status because of my actual performance. I'll be worrying because of arbitrary seniority rules.

Many of our social problems are deeply rooted. For things to improve, we need change within our education system. Our public education should exist to provide an equal opportunity for all no matter where people live or what they look like. LIFO stops this from happening. We need to start advocating more for policies that best benefit students, which will in turn benefit society as a whole. Getting rid of LIFO would be a great first step.

The views presented on our guest blogs are the views of the author and do not ne cessarily represent the views of StudentsFirst. We thank all of our guest bloggers for their thoughtful perspectives.

Our Most Valued Asset

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Since January 5th 2010, Esteban Bullrich has been the Minister of Education of the City of Buenos Aires. Among other positions previously held, he was Minister of Social Development of the City of Buenos Aires, a National Congressman, and a Parliamentary Advisor. Minister Bullrich holds a graduate degree from the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University. He is married and has three children.

The importance of having well trained teachers who are passionate about their jobs and are effective in instructing children is widely known. A study published by McKinsey in 2007 shows that student performance is strongly linked to the successful recruitment, training, and support provided to teachers in the classroom.

In Buenos Aires we value very highly the efforts made by our teachers every day to empower students to become the future leaders of our country. We provide all our teachers with proper training, and we are working hard to establish evaluation systems that ensure our teachers are fairly and consistently evaluated. We hope these evaluations will allow us to identify and reward those teachers that are excelling at improving student performance and will provide necessary assistance to educators who need help.

An important part of developing a highly effective teacher base is recruiting academically strong individuals to pursue careers in teaching. To help achieve, this we have implemented the "Se Maestro" (Be a Teacher) campaign. In this campaign, rather than focusing on benefits and salaries, we focus on the social aspect of teaching. We are encouraging young men and women to support our students and our city's future, thereby establishing themselves as critical pillars of our society. Along with this campaign, we are continuously working to strengthen the social prestige of teachers in Buenos Aires by providing them with constant training, fair salaries, job stability and good work conditions.

As part of our effort to measure, evaluate, reward, and help teachers, we recently carried out a pilot test of a teacher evaluation program that we called "My best class." This is a program that is carried out differently than other evaluations that have been traditionally carried out in Buenos Aires in hopes of learning more about teachers' needs and providing help. Holding frequent and effective teacher evaluations is of extreme importance, as it is the only way we can identify where our teachers are lagging and figure out how to help them improve.

Teachers are the cornerstone of our education system. Because the future of our country in an increasingly competitive world depends on them, we place the highest importance on providing them with the resources they need to improve their skills.

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.