Lighting My Own Torch

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I watched the Oprah Winfrey episode with Michelle Rhee back in December of 2010. As I sat on my couch avoiding a looming homework assignment, I felt inspired more than ever to be a part of this movement. So, I went to the website and I joined Student'sFirst. I was definitely going to be a part of the first million to sign up.

Now what? I am the Chief Executive Officer of WFH Inc. (Wills Family Household) and while the title decorates my name quite nicely, the pay... Well let's just say I do it for the love. I can't donate thousands of dollars and when exactly was I planning on advocating for yet another cause? Somewhere in between tomorrow’s dental appointment, next week’s homework assignment and the weekly chore of cleaning the house. Let's not forget the church events and the play date scheduled for this weekend. It seemed impossible. That was until last week.

I received the email that Michelle Rhee would be attending a forum at Spelman College and the topic being discussed was: "Is Education The Shared Civil Rights Issue of Our Time?" This was perfect. My "friend in my head" would be in my city. Michelle Rhee would be on a panel discussing topics near and dear to my heart, education and children. I had to be there. But how? I have class on Thursday nights and we were scheduled to have an in-depth lecture on developing Individualized Education Plans (IEP). I'm seeking a degree in Early Childhood/Special Education for g oodness sakes. I can't miss this class of all classes. I need to know this stuff. After days of debating it over in my head, I took the matter to my professor. To my surprise, she was really supportive. So, it was settled. I would be at the forum.

When I got there, I said and watched the clip of the movie "Waiting for Superman" as if I'd never seen those scenes before. That feeling is back. This time it's more than inspiration. How can I describe it? I'm moved. I'm excited. I'm anxious. I'm overwhelmed. I like this feeling.

Three speakers opened our minds and filled us with knowledge about today's education crisis. Civil rights activist Lonnie King urged the viewers to go out to the small and large towns of rural Georgia and knock on doors. He believes that those folks want to see a change. Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, President of Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia told the audience that they could get involved by using their own sphere of influence. The last speaker was Michelle Rhee. She said if we are going to make education the civil rights issue of our time it's okay to show a little more outrage.

Panels are great for informing people and getting the conversation started. What happens though, when we leave the forum? Are we really taking away something valuable that will spark a fire within us, or are we more concerned with the pictures we have in our cameras to commemorate the event?

So, as I sit here reminiscing on words of wisdom from last night, I still have that feeling. Moderator Charles Black offered a moving anecdote during the discussion. He says that oftentimes when asked, "Why don‚t you old folks past the torch?" His response is, "Light your own damn torch." As parents, teachers and activists, we should heed his advice. We should feel outrage. We should do whatever is necessary to make education the great equalizer.

Education As A Civil Right

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The numbers tell a sad story about how our country is doing educating low-income minorities.

Less than half of black male students graduate from high school, and what happens to them later terrible. Nearly three-fourths are jobless by the time they’re in their twenties. The problem starts early. By fourth-grade, when many other kids are devouring "Harry Potter" books, only 12 percent of black male students are reading at grade level.

President Obama said last week that education and inequality in the American school system was the "civil rights issue of our time." We at StudentsFirst agree.

StudentsFirst CEO and founder Michelle Rhee will join a discussion Thursday on the topic of education as a civil right at Spellman College in Atlanta. She will be joined by local civil rights leaders such as Lonnie King, who was arrested alongside Martin Luther Kin Jr. for trying to integrate a lunch counter Atlanta.

More than 50 years later, the nation is still struggling to live up to Dr. King’s dream of knocking down barriers to equality. Among those are laws and policies that ought to be changed to make sure our education system better serves all American children and especially low-income minorities, who are more likely to be stuck in failing schools.

Change is hard. It sometimes means adults, many of whom are kind, caring individuals, might have to receive intensive professional development or even have to leave our schools. No one likes to make those kinds of decisions, but our kids’ lives depend on it. Simply put, there is not one single school-based factor that is more important to a child’s education than the quality of the teacher in the classroom. You can renovate buildings, shrink class sizes and build computer labs. It won’t matter at all if you don’t have good systems for recruiting, hiring and retaining excellent teachers.

More than five decades after the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education, ruling separate but equal was not equal, our nation has still failed to live up to its promise. We can and must do more. Our kids deserve it.

Georgia Ends "Last-In, First-Out" (LIFO) -- A Georgia "Helicopter Parent" Weighs In

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Deirdre is an Atlanta parent who volunteered with the Atlanta Public Schools and is active in Georgia politics and education reform. As an adjunct professor at Georgia State University, Robinson School of Business, she is committed to sharing her expertise in business and investing in her students.

After many years as a "self-proclaimed helicopter parent," I have some guilt and a lot of passion for reform. My daughter attended an elementary school in the Atlanta Public Schools, and over the past ten years I have been an advocate and volunteer for the system, raising needed funds to support uniform and enrichment programs. My mother, aunt, uncles and friends have taught in the public school system.

Today I am "helicoptering" for all of our children, who need the best teachers Georgia has.

Yesterday Georgia lawmakers showed true leadership by voting yes on Senate Bill 184. The new law will eliminate seniority-based lay-offs in public schools, ensuring that schools can keep effective teachers and remove ineffective teachers from our classrooms in the current budget crisis.

Why is this good for students and families in Georgia?

The most effective teachers may or may not be the most senior teachers. Finally we will be able to judge each teacher as an individual professional!

Had legislators allowed ineffective teachers to stay in the classroom while effective teachers were laid off, we would have guaranteed that an optimal learning environment would not exist moving forward for Georgia's schools.

I hope that after this important step, now Georgia will go even one step further to adopt a process that rewards excellence in teaching, borrowing successful performance and evaluation models from other industries. School systems should determine teacher effectiveness through a combination of performance evaluation, attendance, classroom management, experience and extra school responsibilities. With the end of seniority-based lay-offs, schools could then do everything possible to make sure that teacher stays.

Change is almost never perfect. It is messy, complicated and essential. But by taking the emotion out and bringing common sense into the education reform debate in Georgia, state leaders have put us on the path to real change.

We will improve teacher quality in Georgia. We will elevate teacher effectiveness and stop the blame game. There is no such thing as a perfect educational system, but waiting for perfect would have taken a very long time, and our children were out of time.

Thank you to Georgia legislators for ending the "last in, first out" policies in my state.

A Closer Look At Progress In Washington D.C. Schools

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Harvard researcher Paul Peterson has taken a close look at improvements in D.C. public schools during the first three years of mayoral control, when StudentsFirst founder and CEO Michell Rhee served as schools chancellor. Peterson highlights strong gains D.C. students made on a federal test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Peterson also notes that there are other measures by which D.C. schools are doing better, such as a drop in teacher absenteeism for example. Research clearly shows teacher absenteeism has a harmful effect on kids' learning.

To read more, click here: http://bit.ly/dOhwAt

Lessons From A Bronx Middle School

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This weekend's New York Times magazine cover story offers a close-up view of a Bronx middle school trying to transform itself into a place of excellence. In the piece, Principal Ramon Gonzales discusses the training he gives to new teachers -- visiting their classroom several times a week and providing coaching and instruction that inexperienced educators need but don't always get in their first year or two. That kind of mentoring pays off.

The article shows how hardworking teacher Emily Dodd motivates a struggling student to come to school and improve academically. Dodd is clearly the kind of teacher principals hate to lose. It's a point worth making as seniorety-based layoff decisions are being made nationwide in these tough economic times. It makes no sense to show teachers to the door based on how long they've been in the building. It would mean some of our best teachers will leave our schools, and maybe the field, and it would mean all the work Gonzales does helping new teachers would be wasted.

Click here to read the full New York Times magazine article.

What Leadership On Education Can Do For Kids - Florida As A Model For Success

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Jeb Bush was the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2006. His aggressive reforms in education set a tone of urgency to improve Florida's public schools, acting as the foundation that today's legislators built upon with last week's legislation. He remains active in education reform serving as chairman of the Foundation for Florida's Future.

Florida's new law to modernize the teaching profession – the Student Success Act – is based on common sense reforms, backed by both research and bold leadership. Great leaders result in successful students in our public schools. Anyone who has had a great teacher can attest to that, but research confirms what we already knew intuitively. Students with great teachers learn more than students with ineffective teachers – up to four times more!

Given that, Florida legislators this year crafted a bill that maximizes learning by rewarding those who are integral to the process — and everyone benefits. Students will gain the knowledge and skills to succeed in school and life beyond the classroom. Great teachers will finally gain the financial recognition for their incredible efforts to ensure every student learns a year's worth of knowledge in a year's time. Florida's taxpayers will get a better return on their investment in education and an educated workforce will attract investment that produces high wage jobs and ultimately prosperity. It is a win-win-win.

The new law requires an objective measure of teacher effectiveness, based on state standardized tests that measure student learning. Fifty percent of a teacher’s evaluation will be based on whether students' have more knowledge and skills at the end of the school year than they did at the beginning. These evaluations combine a healthy balance of student learning data and valuable peer feedback to aid all teachers as they develop professionally.

Additionally, under this bill the policy of "last-in, first-out" is ended. No longer will schools faced with staff reductions be forced to disregard effectiveness in the classroom and give pink slips to new teachers first. In the future, teacher retention will be based on effectiveness in the classroom, not simply years served. Florida can now ensure the best teachers remain in the classroom.

For the first time in Florida, teachers will be evaluated, paid, and retained based on how much their students learn. Under the law, Florida’s most effective teachers will be rewarded for their excellence in teaching. Rather than ignoring a teacher’s effectiveness, the salary schedule will now reward it. Teachers who are rated as effective and highly effective will earn raises that build their base salaries.

Teachers accepting the most challenging positions in low-income or failing schools will earn more. So will teachers of high-demand subjects, like math and science. Our greatest, most fundamental challenge is to prepare all students for success in college and the workplace. All children, regardless of race, family background or language barriers, can learn.

By establishing meaningful annual teacher evaluations, an innovative pay structure and modernized contracting, Florida is now in a prime position to attract and retain the best educators. A skilled workforce of educators will provide the high quality education our students need to succeed.

The Student Success Act is a major victory for Governor Rick Scott in his first year in office and culminates more than two years of work by dedicated and bold leaders in the Florida Legislature. Their perseverance in the face of fierce opposition is a model of principled leadership for lawmakers around the nation.

Many states across the nation are considering similar proposals to modernize the teaching profession. Every state is faced with a choice: continue the status quo or join Florida in creating a dynamic and highly-skilled workforce of educators.

The Road To Success In Florida - A Great Example For Members Who Want To Make A Difference

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Last month we congratulated Florida for passing one of the country’s most aggressive education reform packages. The Student Success Act implements several measures that put students first. Read our previous blog post, "StudentsFirst applauds Florida's passage of breakthrough education reform legislation", for highlights of the new law.

Just before the final legislative vote, hundreds of members in Florida -- including parents, educators and other concerned citizens -- responded immediately to our call to action. Members rallied together so that state leaders knew exactly where they stood, as constituents, on education reform.

Members showed up in record numbers to the state Capitol to testify before the Senate and House Committee. They participated in panel discussions and shared their stories and support for the bill through persuasive editorials. They stayed up-to-date with our online state action center and through this web tool, they sent more than 900 letters to state leaders urging them to vote in favor of critical reforms that benefit kids.

Matthew Minnick, a law student at Florida State University College of Law, testified before the Florida State House and Senate. After several years of teaching, he decided that his passion was to help kids through challenging system-wide practices that negatively impact schools. He plans to use his law degree to bring education reform to millions of students.

“Being able to testify in front of the House and Senate,” he said, “I watched my dreams become reality. I could see the expression on the faces of the people who got to hear my story -- all of our stories -- about why it is so vital to pay teachers based on merit, not on years spent teaching and I knew then that I was making a difference.”

Jean Morris taught for 43 years and is an active StudentsFirst member who also testified.

“Listening to fellow educators voice their concerns,” she said, “I understood where their fears were coming from, but know as things progress they will realize this legislation was a step in the right direction to improve public education for the students of Florida.”

Florida isn’t the only state with passionate StudentsFirst members itching to make a difference.

How can you get involved?

Right now, we are in the midst of launching active campaigns in many states. We will keep you up-to-date about the progress of reform in your state and what you can do to make your voice heard in support of reform. Here are some things you can do now:

• If you live in one of these states, visit your state action center: Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan,Indiana
• Tell your friends to join the movement.
• Visit our Save Great Teachers page to find out the risk of losing great teachers in your state and to take action.
• Contact us at kenzie@studentsfirst.org if you want to be a leader in your area.

We need you to help us show legislators that Americans support policies that put an effective teacher in every classroom, provide more quality school choices for families and allocate resources in ways that drive student achievement.

Your voice is important, and we can’t wait to hear it!