Brutal Heavy Lifting (DO the RIGHT Thing)

Editorial

En route to the ‘Top’

The carrot is tantalizing: a share of $4.3 bil lion set aside in federal stimulus money to help a handful of states revamp failing schools.

But some in Michigan’s educational estab lishment are balking at the stick: more charter schools, expanded alternative teacher certifi cation, and teacher reviews tied to student performance.

If Michigan is going to win, or even compete for, the federal Race to the Top dollars that are being dangled in front of states, it will need to embrace reforms that have confounded the state in the past.

It’s well worth doing, no matter whose hide gets a little tanned in the process.

In a way, Race to the Top is a shrewd fol low- up to the No Child Left Behind reforms rolled out by former President George W.

Bush. He believed his landmark education act would incentivize states to embrace reforms through the enforcement of tough standards.

He learned pretty quickly that the education establishment could be bullheaded in its recal citrance.

Enter President Barack Obama and his administration, which puts the proposition more bluntly: Enact reforms, or be left out of key federal funding.

Race to the Top requires states who even apply for funds to align their schools with fed eral guidelines. It’s an attempt to change pol icy in a lot of states in a short time.

In Michigan, as in most states, the primary opposition is expected to come from teachers’ unions, which have opposed most such re forms in the past.

But Michigan Education Association presi dent Iris Salters says her organization hasn’t decided whether, or how, it might oppose changes to help the state qualify for the federal money. Her union, Michigan’s biggest for teachers, is working with the governor and the Department of Education to figure out what the state needs to change to compete.

Some of Salters’ concerns are reasonable and ought to help shape the state’s efforts. But if MEA leaders are primarily interested in preserving the status quo, state policymakers will have to move forward without them.

Salters, for example, points out that open ing up broader alternative certification might make it even harder for the 9,000 teachers the state graduates each year to land jobs here.

That may be so for teachers in some fields, but many districts have trouble recruiting good math and science teachers, and alternative certification might help there. Salters cautions that those who’ve mastered specialized con tent areas can’t be presumed to have mastered teaching them, as well. But no one proposes putting wholly untrained instructors in class rooms; reformers simply want to rethink the requirement that every teacher have an educa tion degree.

Salters also says the Race to the Top re quirement to tie teacher performance to stu dent performance is limited to a single test (in Michigan, probably the MEAP), and she ques tions whether that would serve educational purposes. But nothing in Race to the Top pre vents the state from going further. Michigan could create more sophisticated ways to mea sure student achievement. The MEA would do better to help shape those measures than it would to oppose the idea.

The MEA has historically opposed the ex pansion of charter schools. One of its objec tions has been lax oversight. Race to the Top could be seen as an opportunity to tighten that oversight, a long overdue reform, so the expan sion does not come with a downside.

If the MEA is savvy, it could use Race to the Top as a way to help put its own mark on re form.

If it doesn’t, state officials should stiffen their spines to oppose union obstruction. The federal money, and the reforms that are tied to it, are too important to Michigan’s future.

MSNBC

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Co-Operation

The Evergreen Cooperatives—a network of worker owned cooperatives in Cleveland—strive to include people in the creation of jobs and access to wealth who would otherwise be excluded. It goes way beyond just putting people back into a job. After six months, all employees of Cleveland's evergreen cooperatives start contributing to their ownership fund, and the businesses are driven by stakeholders but by the worker/owners.

This is a great example of "There You Go!" Cooperatives have a long and rich history in the development of civilization. Empowerment of an individual in a cooperative doesn't neccesarily equate with success. Although if the Organization is an active Learning Community, one that always strives for the realization of the truth about themselves as individuals and the world in which the cooperatives operate, then such endeavors have a fighting chance to make a sustainable diffeence.
These kind of communities have incredible potential to change the course of life for this Planet, as all things are connected and the concentricicity of such actions can be the gift that never stops giving.
What generative thoughts come to mind when you see this video. I would really like to hear them.

Productive Chaos: Produces Real-World Thinkers and Doer's (Whom have a Passion for Learning)

Big Picture: A Better School Model?

by Sarah M. Fine
November 16, 2009

The Big Picture Learning Company structures high schools around the belief that kids learn best when they are doing what they love. In the world of American public education, this is nothing short of radical.

It is a chilly Thursday morning in Rhode Island and the Met School’s Media and Performing Arts Center is hopping. Eight seniors huddle in a corner of the black box theater, conferring excitedly. In a sound studio nearby, a shaggy-haired sophomore with headphones scrutinizes a computer screen full of musical notations.

I peer through soundproof glass into the Center’s conference room, where a group of colorfully dressed students sit around a seminar table. Clearly, something important is happening. Two students talk animatedly to the group, gesturing at a hand-drawn chart on the wall. The others hunch over their notebooks and scribble to keep up, and one girl trains a camcorder on the speakers. The teacher, a grandfatherly African-American man at the head of the table, watches the goings-on with a faint smile.

The Met, short for the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center, is a state-funded school district that serves roughly 700 students in six small schools across Providence and Newport, Rhode Island. It also functions as the prototype for the Big Picture Learning Company, a 14-year-old nonprofit that works to promote the Met’s design and philosophy. To date, Big Pictures Learning has helped to open more than 60 public and charter high schools around the U.S., most of which serve at-risk teens and all of which follow a project-based curriculum. The organization’s innovative approach has earned it a reputation for excellent alternative schooling as well as grants from funders such as the Gates Foundation.

Curious about the scene unfolding in the conference room, I turn to Mike, the tireless 10th-grade “advisor” with whom I have been tagging along for a day and a half. He explains that the kids sitting around the table are a group of interns working for Music One, a company devoted to fostering youth talent and creating positive-themed music. The company’s director, Terrell Osborne, comes to the Center two days a week to teach the group about the music business and to mentor them as they compose and work on their own music.

Mike points to the girl with the video camera, one of the 15 advisees that began working with him last year as a freshmen and will remain with him until they graduate. “Angela’s an amazing kid,” he says. “She’s one of the lead singers in the music video project that the group is doing, and for her individual project she’s making a behind-the-scenes documentary about the process.” Angela, a slender African-American with a radiant smile, catches sight of us through the window and waves energetically with her free hand.

Real Work in the Real World
The masterminds behind Big Picture Learning are Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor, educators with a zeal for what they like to call “disruptive innovation.” The two met in college and lived parallel but separate professional lives until they were given the opportunity by the state of Rhode Island to open an alternative public high school in Providence. There, they strove to build a model that realized their shared beliefs about education: first, schools should stay small; second, learning should be individualized and relationship-based; and third, traditional schools spend far too much energy trying to keep students in their seats.

“I have always thought it’s hysterical that inside the school building we work really hard to make lessons that look and feel real, when all the while, the real world is going on outside — and it’s filled with history, social issues, work issues, scientific exploration, math, writing, technology and everything else,” Littky writes in his book, The Big Picture: Education Is Everybody’s Business. “Why don’t we just step back outside?”

Accordingly, Big Picture Learning schools push students to pursue “real work” whenever possible. Academic classes, which occur only three days a week, emphasize depth and practical application. Instead of taking biology, for example, 10th grade students at the Met spend one afternoon a week working with education specialists at the zoo. Back at school, their advisors support them in documenting the skills and knowledge they gain from this work.

Assessment at Big Picture Learning schools is equally unconventional. Four times a year, students prepare and deliver 45-minute “exhibitions” in which they share their work with a panel of students, teachers, administrators and parents. Students are evaluated on the quality of their work as well as demonstrated progress toward their individualized learning goals, which are determined at the beginning of each year. For the most part, feedback comes in the form of lengthy narratives rather than numeric grades.

The real real work at Big Picture Learning schools takes the shape of an intense four-year-long internship program. During their fall semester, freshmen undergo training to prepare them for the rigors of working in the professional world, learning everything from telephone etiquette to resume-writing. At the same time, with the guidance of their home advisors — teachers who “loop” with them throughout all four years — they reflect on their skills and professional aspirations. “We want to get kids in touch with themselves,” explained Washor in a recent interview. “We help them figure out what they love and then we support them in pursuing that.”

By the middle of their freshman year, the students are ready to get to work. Literally. They interview with one or more of the school’s local businesses partners until they land a position to which they report on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the school day. Teachers spend these days tutoring students who are between internships and doing site visits in order to help their advisees prepare rigorous presentations about their work. Some students change internships every few months, exploring different careers and developing a range of professional skills; some find a niche where they stay for all four years of high school.

Students With Passion
Angela, the ebullient 10th grader with the video camera, describes herself as a Media One “lifer.” She comes out to greet Mike and me after her meeting has ended, and when I ask about her internship she answers with unabashed pride. “I got involved with the group last year as a freshman,” she says. “Back then I just did it after school, but as soon as I got in the recording booth I just fell in love. I knew this was the internship I wanted, and I’m sticking with it. There [are] so many opportunities and so much to learn!”

Angela’s enthusiasm echoes what I observed earlier this morning, when Mike and I drove off-campus to observe some of his other advisees at work. Our first stop was a martial arts dojo, where two students — a brother and sister — were learning karate and business management. They were in the middle of an intense warm-up session which involved coordinating their breath with their movement. After completing a difficult sequence, Mike’s advisee Rafael turned and flashed us a thumbs-up. “Rafael’s focus has completely changed since last year,” Mike said afterward. “He used to be all over the place but now he’s way more on the ball, even when he’s doing math.”

Not surprisingly, Big Picture Learning schools tend to attract unconventional learners. For some, like Rafael, the incentive to leave the traditional system stems from a need for more individual support and a more hands-on curriculum. For others, traditional schools do not provide enough of a challenge. “I got straight A’s in middle school, but I was bored because I had to sit through classes all day long and just do nothing,” says one of Mike’s other advisees. “Now I take classes at Brown University and I work at the attorney general’s office for my internship. It’s hard but way more fun.”

Littky emphasizes that the Big Picture Learning model is designed to ignite all students, regardless of skill level, with a sense of passion and purpose. “Ask anyone to name the single word that comes to mind when you say ‘high school’ and the answer will be ‘boring,’” Littky says. “My goal is to make sure our kids love what they’re doing.”

It certainly seems that they do. Back in the Media and Performing Arts Center, one of the other students from the Media One program, a petite Latina girl with dark eyes, joins Angela in the hallway. “This is my collaborator, Margi,” Angela says, putting her arm around her friend. “We sing together, and this year we’re learning to produce our own stuff — you know, how to write and record music and the business side of it.” Margi, short for Marginez, shakes my hand firmly and asks if I would like to go to the recording studio and hear her and Angela perform a song. Like so many of her peers, she is poised, confident and excited to share her work. “Of course,” I say, and the two girls lead the way.

Making the Grade
The design that Littky and Washor came up with has been successful on many counts. Overall, Big Picture Learning schools see 92 percent of entering freshmen graduate as seniors — an astonishingly high number compared to public schools serving similar populations. 95 percent of graduates are accepted into college, many becoming the first in their families to pursue a higher degree. One of the nonprofit’s recent initiatives involves supporting all graduates through their transition to college and beyond, and this year, in partnership with the Roger Williams University, the Met is even piloting its own internship-based college program.

Just as impressive is the satisfaction that students and parents express when it comes to Big Picture Learning schools. On the Rhode Island School Accountability for Learning and Teaching Survey, the Met led the state in categories such as attendance, parent involvement, school climate and safety, and quality of instruction. Many of the organization’s other schools, notably those in San Diego, Oakland, Detroit and the Bronx, have achieved similar results. A few, such as the campuses in Denver and Chicago, have struggled to establish themselves due to leadership turnover and unsympathetic local school-boards.

Given its overall success, it seems odd that Big Picture Learning would fall off the map when it comes to making national headlines — but it does. Washor explains the phenomenon as partly ideological and partly practical. “We’re a philosophy and a practice, not a brand like Green Dot or KIPP,” he says. “We don’t spend our energy trying to market ourselves… and not all of our schools look alike. There are distinguishers that make a Big Picture school a Big Picture school, but we let each campus respond to the needs of its community. We’re not about one-size-fits-all for kids, and we’re not about it for schools either.”

Another factor that explains Big Picture Learning’s absence from public dialogue is that the schools’ standardized test scores, though acceptable, tend not to be as uniformly high as those at charters like KIPP. In the 2008-09 year, 85 percent of the Met’s students were proficient in English and 55 percent were proficient in math. “We’re not known for our scores,” admitted Arthur Baraf, the principal at one of the Met’s six schools. He and his colleagues have been working to revise the Met’s approach to math, which has proven difficult to integrate into the school’s model.

When asked about the subject of standardized tests, Littky emits something between a growl and a sigh. “Could I do things to make our test scores go up? Yes. Do I believe that it’s worth it? No,” he says. “We have all kinds of data to show that our kids are thriving, and we’re doing as well or better than local schools.”

Littky is known for being particularly outspoken, but the fact remains that the philosophy of Big Picture Learning stands in opposition to the movement for high-stakes testing and universal standards. “We’re about standards, but not standardization,” Washor explains. “We don’t think it’s realistic or productive to ask all kids to follow the exact same curriculum.”

Washor’s comment gets at one of the most controversial aspects of the Big Picture Learning model: students do not graduate having followed the same curriculum or even having built the same across-the-board skills as their peers in traditional schools. Their education aligns them more with the professional world, where adults have deep expertise and facility in some areas and only perfunctory knowledge of others. This anti-uniformity, or what one teacher at the Met calls “productive chaos,” represents a radical revision of what education should mean — and a marked departure from the ideal that most schools around the country are striving to realize.

“I care way more that a student is excited to go deeper in her exploration of the history of women in her native country than I do about that student’s ability to answer every question on a standardized U.S. history test,” Littky writes in his book. “Who wants a standardized kid, anyway?”

For both its champions and its critics, the Big Picture Learning model raises important questions about the purposes of education. Which is more important — depth or breadth? Can an “equal” education look different for different students? What constitutes the “success” for which schools attempt to prepare their students? While there are no easy answers, these questions are a critical part of what the late reformer Ted Sizer called “the conversation that is reform.”

The only thing about which I feel certain, as I listen to Angela and Margi pouring their souls into their music, is that the Big Picture Learning model sets teenagers on fire in a way that few schools do. A cluster of students has gathered to listen and a few who know the composition mouth along with the refrain: “Slow Down/ What is life worth living for/ If you never get the chance to see what lies before you?”

Angela and Marginez and a few of the others linger in the recording studio after the performance, describing the process of composing the song and asking me about my job. “What are you writing about? Why did you become a journalist? How do you take notes so you don’t forget what people say? How do you like the Met?” Nobody is forcing these students to talk in turn or to ask probing questions; it comes as a natural outgrowth of their respect for each other and their curiosity about the world.

From WHY to HOW (Disruption 101)

"Disrupting" High School Failure

Can you legislate graduation rates?  Today, the Washington Post editorial board called on the state of Maryland to raise the compulsory age for school attendance, essentially using state law to require students to stay in Maryland high schools until the age of 18 (it is 16 now).  The move, following on the heels of a similar policy adopted by the Montgomery County Board of Education is in direct response to the latest data showing a growing dropout rate in Maryland.  The full editorial can be found here.

Eduflack is all for any measure designed to improve high school graduation rates, but can you really legislate the problem away?  And if so, why just raise the dropout age to 18?  Why not require by law that every student stay in school until they earn a high school diploma or reach the age of 21?  Why not mandate a high school diploma in order to secure a driver's license or buy a beer?

We don't take such steps because such a "stick" approach to high school reform simply doesn't work.  Despite the best of intentions, requiring an intended dropout to stay in school for two extra years rarely results in that "a-ha" moment when he finds his calling in high school, puts himself on the illuminated path, earns his diploma, and leads a successful life.  It leads to two more years of resentment, coupled with two years of wasted resources at the school and district level.

Talk to anyone who has succeeded in high school improvement efforts, and you will hear that the secret to true high school transformation is not about maintaining the current course.  To boost high school graduation rates, we need to make classroom learning more relevant to at-risk students.  We need to personalize courses, connecting directly with students.  We need to bring real-life into classroom learning, through internships, speakers, and any other means that link high school with life.

As part of its efforts to invest in meaningful high school reform models, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has regularly touted the successes of the high school reform model offered by Big Picture Learning.  While the Gates model for high schools has shifted over the years, its praise for Big Picture has been unwavering.  But the Big Picture model has been one of those "best kept secrets" in education policy.  Those intimate with the details are true believers, but many are unawares of what the Rhode Island-based organization is truly doing in schools across the world.  (Full disclaimer, Eduflack worked with Big Picture's founders on their October policy event.)

Last month, Big Picture held its coming out in Washington, DC, educating the policy community on how the Big Picture model fits with the current call for school improvement and innovation.  Touting the need for "disruptive innovation" in school improvement, Big Picture leaders focused on the importance of a student-centered curriculum, a close relationship with teachers, and real world internships to best serve those students at greatest risk of dropping out.  And working in more than 130 schools, Big Picture knows of what it speaks.  More than eight in 10 BPL schools receive Title I funding, while 66 percent of their students are eligible for free and reduced lunch.  Such measures are usually the early markers of dropout factories and graduation problems.  But at Big Picture schools, more than 92 percent of students earn their high school diplomas (compared with 52 percent nationally).  And 95 percent of their students are accepted into college, the first step toward achieving the President's college-educated Americans goal by 2020.

The true measure of Big Picture's effectiveness, though, may best be found in what others were saying about them in DC a few weeks ago.  According to Congressman George Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, "Big Picture is engaging students in discovering the level of context they understand, and how they apply it, and how they appreciate it, and how they can connect it to the next task in education, life, and experience."

And Harvard Business School Prof. Clay Christensen, the author of Disrupting Class and the godfather of the concept of "disruptive innovation" said: "I think that the Big Picture schools are about as great an example of integrating opportunities to feel success with the delivery of curriculum as exists in America.  By knitting together the delivery of the content they need to learn, with projects that allow them to use that they learn and feel successful, they've just done a wonderful thing; and I think it is a beacon for all of us."

High praise from two who know a little bit about the topics of school improvement and comprehensive reforms.  So how does it translate back into what our states and school districts are looking to do through Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation to improve our schools and reform those so-called dropout factories?  Big Picture co-founder Elliot Washor summed it up best as part of their October event: "In our quest to improve public education, we often overlook the importance of the student perspective.  Based on our experiences, students thrive in high school when they see the relevance to their current interests and future plans.  Every student can earn a high school diploma with the right classroom and practical instruction."

The data is there, and folks like Bill Gates and George Miller have recognized the benefits and impact.  Perhaps there really is more to high school improvement than increasing the compulsory age for school attendance.  Relevance and an increased focus on the students surely can't hurt.

MOVING the INNOVATION NEEDLE! (Threading the Eye Informs our Understanding))

Elliot Washor

Co-Founder of Big Picture Learning

Posted: October 28, 2009 11:50 AM

(Click on Elliot Washor for More Innovative Insights)

GOING, GOING, GONE!

The president has indicated that "dropping out is no longer an option," signaling his intention to ensure that all young people obtain a high school diploma so they can earn higher wages, contribute to society, and lead happier lives. He is right to be concerned: About one million students leave school every year without a high school diploma, mostly because of academic problems, disinterest, behavior, and family issues. So, how do schools have to change to reduce dropouts?

One of the most significant changes actually runs counter to a growing trend in education. In order to keep students in school, schools must provide experiences where students learn out of school. Students don't have enough opportunities in the daily school routine to pursue significant and enduring learning where they are treated like adults by the adults they will soon become.

Many students -- even those with good grades -- are bored and disconnected from what goes on in schools. They do not see schools as the place where they can do the learning they want and need to do when and where it makes sense to them. Robert Epstein, former editor in chief of Psychology Today has observed, "In America, most teens face a level of restriction in their daily lives that would not be tolerated for hardened felons. As a matter of fact, a recent study demonstrated that teens today typically have 10 times as many restrictions as adults, twice as many as active duty Marines, and twice as many as convicted felons." It is these restrictions placed upon youth while they are in school that prevent them from having the productive learning experiences that past generations have had.

To understand this view on the dropout crisis, consider what essential conditions need to be in place for all youth to experience productive learning. Here are the questions students might ask about those essentials:

~ Relationships: Do my teachers care about my interests and me? Can I work with and
learn from adults who share my interests?

~ Relevance: Do I find what the school is teaching to be relevant to my career interests?

~ Choice: Will I be able to choose what, when, and how I will learn?

~ Challenge: Do I feel sufficiently challenged in doing this learning and work?

~ Practice: Will I have an opportunity to engage in deep and sustained practice of those
skills I wish to learn?

~ Play: Will I have opportunities to explore and to make mistakes without being chastised
for failing?

~ Authenticity: Will the learning and work I do be regarded as significant outside of
schools?

~ Application: Will I have opportunities to apply what I am learning in real-world contexts?

~ Time: Will there be sufficient time for me to learn at my own pace?

~ Timing: Can I pursue my learning out of the standard sequence?

Unfortunately, schools are not designed to offer these essential conditions for learning that youth crave and which figure in nearly every decision to drop out, including those students who stay in school but drop out psychologically. These essential conditions for learning are much more easily provided if schools take advantage of the world outside of schools, where young people can find adults who are doing the work they wish to do in order to develop the habits and practices they will need as thoughtful and productive adults. When students learn outside of school, time is more abundant and flexible. Practice and play focused on relevant and authentic work comes more naturally.

So, what are schools to do? Schools need to engage students with adults in and outside of school as a core part of the student experience. They need to treat students like adults who make real choices about their lives. Young people need to "drop back in" with the understanding that their teachers and mentors are with them, supporting and monitoring their learning when they are out learning.

The variety of ways to engage and bring students into the adult world include internships, service, shadowing, travel, courses on a college campus, field trips, obtaining a certification for work, entrepreneurial and social ventures, and taking a year off to work. These experiences can also be supplemented by connecting youth virtually to people and places around the world.

So, while we absolutely agree with the spirit of the president's statement, we would like to advocate for a focused effort to change schools so students can engage with adults outside of school throughout their high school experience in order to obtain the kind of learning -- and conditions for learning -- they see as essential while also staying connected to their schools. Dropping out, of course, should never be an option, but pursuing great learning opportunities should be, and schools should energetically support these choices and engagements as part of every student's learning portfolio.

Elliot Washor, Ed. D., is Co-Founder of Big Picture Learning, a global leader in education innovation with more than 80 highly successful schools throughout America, the European Union, the Middle East, and Australia. Washor is working on a book about leaving to learn.

The DEVIL is in these NUMBERS

14 Pontiac Teachers face layoffs

By DIANA DILLABER MURRAY

Of The Oakland Press

Fourteen more teachers will be laid off at Pontiac High School and Pontiac Middle School because enrollment dropped by 800 students more than projected, from a total of about 7,200 last year to 5,968 this year.

    The unexpected drop in enrollment of 800 students more than projected — the greatest majority at the high school and middle school levels — means the financially struggling Pontiac school district will lose $6 million of its $7,500-per pupil state funding, said Jumanne Sledge, associate superintendent of organizational development and human services, in a report to the Pontiac Board of Education Monday night.

    The district also is faced with the additional state cut planned for all Michigan school districts of $160 per pupil and the possibility of another $127 per-student cut still in the works.

    Besides more layoffs, the district plans three other “bold steps” to reform unapproved staff spending and unapproved overtime practices that have cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years, said Sledge.

    The new layoffs are in addition to a workforce reduction of an estimated 76 teachers, who were laid off before the semester began as part of a district restructuring. Eight schools were closed to right-size the district to enough buildings to educate about 9,000 students instead of 20,000.

    Sledge said the staff reductions will still maintain studentteacher ratio at teacher contract requirements, but save $780,000 this year and $1.9 million next school year. In addition, some principals in buildings where there is more than one will be moved to other district positions to avoid the cost of hiring new people to fill those jobs.

    The administrative adjustments are expected to result in a cost savings of $650,000 in the district’s budget.

    Sledge said the district also is looking at possible changes in expenditures for alternative education. The district has a contract with a private entity for $650,000 to operate Bethune school.

    In order to lay off the 14 teachers and follow union contract rules, the board had to approve the layoff of the least senior persons all the way up to the teacher actually targeted for lay off and then recall all those not being laid off. This means 14 teachers will receive only layoff notices and 86 teachers will receive both layoff and recall notices.

    The greatest impact will be at the middle and high school. Sledge said there were 442 students fewer at the high school for an enrollment of 1,756, instead of the projected 2,200, and close to 50 fewer at the middle school, where enrollment is just more than 800 instead of at the projected 950.

    Pontiac Education Association President Lance Davis said Tuesday that he and district human resource officials were going over the list of names. The board actually approved the layoff of 16 teachers, but the expected recall of two physical education teachers reduces that number to 14.

    Davis objected to the number of layoffs after the meeting Monday night. He estimated the district only needs to lay off as few as six or a maximum of eight teachers in response to the enrollment decline.

    “Missteps are being made at the detriment of the students and teachers alike,” Davis said. He said the problem of declining enrollment wasn’t created in one year and can’t be fixed in one year.

    “The teacher layoff is a drastic measure that will have a negative impact on the dispensing of education. It seems the target to try and balance the budget continues to be aimed at the teachers union and not looking at other areas.” Davis said.

    Sledge said with lost of funding and declining enrollment, the district has to do things differently. Other cost-cutting measures are planned in addition to the layoffs.

    “We have to pause and say do we hem and haw or do we pay attention to the handwriting on the wall and do something different?

    “If we continue down this path, we will be extinct,” he said, referring to the history of the school district funding programs and operating buildings for more students than are enrolled and borrowing from the emergency fund to do it. The emergency fund was depleted by the end of the 2008-2009 school year, auditors reported recently.

    The “bold steps” recommended by Sledge and his team include revising or eliminating activity that has been the norm in recent years.

    One step will be to eliminate the practice of allowing employees to write $250 checks for miscellaneous items, which cost the district $15,200 this year before it was stopped Sept. 1, $300,000 last school year and $252,000 in the 2007-2008 school year.

    Another step is putting a moratorium on all overtime. Employees have been working overtime and then turning their hours in. Now the only overtime that will be paid is that which is pre-approved by supervisors.

    “This has made some people uncomfortable. But we can’t pay overtime for what people are expected to do in their regular hours,” Sledge said.

    The third step is employees can no longer arbitrarily create purchase orders on their own, a practice Sledge said he has never seen in another district in which he worked.

    Now employees must first request approval, then fill out a purchase order.

    Contact staff writer Diana Dillaber Murray at (248) 745-4638 ordiana.dillaber@oakpress.com.

HEAVY LIFTING: No MISDEED HOWEVER SMALL shall escape our scutiny!

DPS: Teacher pawned school laptop for $60

A teacher at Mc Coll Elementary has been suspended without pay after being accused of pawning a school laptop for $60.

The teacher told investigators that the cash was needed for a car repair, Detroit Public Schools officials said.

The incident follows a rash of thefts of more than 500 computers from the school district over the last six months.  

HEAVY LIFTING: BRING IT ON HOME!

DPS teachers contract nearly ready for vote

In an announcement with Detroit Public Schools emergency fi nancial manager Robert Bobb on Tuesday, Detroit Federation of Teachers union President Keith Johnson said negotiations are 99% complete on a contract that expired in June. Both said negotia tors could have a final contract next week.

Johnson is scheduling a contract vote for Dec. 5  or 6 at Cobo Hall. Neither Bobb nor Johnson would discuss particulars, including the possibility of wage and benefit changes.

TARGET Success!

At-risk students targeted

By LORI HIGGINS

FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

School officials across Michigan have taken a crucial pledge to keep struggling stu dents in school.

The goal? Keep these kids from giving up and worsening already troubling statistics that show a quarter of Michi gan students fail to graduate on time and 15% drop out.

Nearly 1,100 schools across the state — including all 172 schools in Detroit Public Schools — have signed on to a dropout challenge, according to information released this week by the Michigan Depart ment of Education.

But signing up is one thing. Actually doing something about the problem is another. The state has asked the schools to identify 10 to 15 stu dents who are at risk of drop­ping out.

The schools must then pro vide interventions and sup ports to those students that are proven to work. Among the steps being taken across metro Detroit: extra instruction for students who are behind, as signing mentors to students so they have positive relation ships with adults, easing the transition from middle school to high school, and improving teaching methods.

Though just 30% of the state’s schools signed up, the challenge has the potential to reach more than 16,000 chil dren who might otherwise drop out. And many educators say they won’t stop at just 15 kids.

“We’re not going to say to the rest that we’re not going to worry about you. We’re going to work with everybody,” said Keith Wunderlich, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for L’ Anse Creuse Public Schools .

HEAVY "Sifting and Winnowing" (Governor Granholm on Reform Frameworks: Race to the Top and More)

Governor Granholm on Race to the Top

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/gov/Gov224Full_301371_7.mp3

Flashpoint Governor Granholm on Race to the Top 11-22-2009

http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/21679638/index.html

Learning, Doing, Being: A New Science of Education

Learning, Doing, Being: A New Science of Education [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]

November 19, 2009
What Adele Diamond is learning about the brain challenges basic assumptions in modern education. Her work is scientifically illustrating the educational power of things like play, sports, music, memorization and reflection. What nourishes the human spirit, the whole person, it turns out, also hones our minds.
I listened to Adele Diamond's interview and you can too. There is a podcast on the link posted above. Adele is a Nuero scientist whose studies confirm the absolute necessity of maintaining a Wholistic learning/living environment to engage and maintain a child's cognitive development.
As we know, the nourished Mind and Spirit are inseperable and along with a nourished body will allow for all children to grow into responsible creative individuals who are capable of solving the challenges facing them and life on this planet.
I would challenge you to listen to the podcast and comment on how we can get together to create and expand the kinds of learning communities that would foster these opportunities for all children.

"Fly Me to the Moon!"

Posted: Wednesday, 18 November 2009 3:38PM Metro Airport Explores Wind Power

Detroit Metropolitan Airport will further reduce its consumption of fossil fuels by producing its own wind energy at two locations on opposite ends of the facility. The Wayne County Airport Authority Board approved a contract with Michigan-based Southern Exposure Renewable Energy Co. to install five wind turbines at the airport entrance on Rogell Drive and at the South Cell Phone Lot on Eureka Road. Unlike the traditional, towering, three-blade, windmill-type turbines, the Windspire units, manufactured by MasTech Manufacturing of Manisee, are cylindrical, vertical-axis wind turbines that operate quietly while generating electricity for immediate use regardless of wind direction. At only 30-feet in height, they easily fit within DTW’s airspace height limitations. “We have calculated that the two units at the South Cell Phone Lot will, on average, generate 60 to 70 percent of the power needed for the lot’s overhead lights and to illuminate the sign,” said WCAA Director of Facilities and Infrastructure Ali Dib. “On windy days and during daylight hours, we will be feeding electricity back to DTE Energy’s grid.” The wind energy project is one of many environmentally friendly initiatives at the airport. DTW has been the world leader in recycling aircraft de-icing fluid for eight of the past nine years. The new North Terminal is programmed to harvest daylight and to automatically reduce lighting and cooling in terminal areas not in use. The North Terminal also supplies pre-conditioned air, 400hz power and underground jet fuel to each gate which reduces the need for aircraft engines to be idling and excess vehicles on the ramp. This is expected to reduce emissions of various air pollutants by more than 1,300 tons over the expected life-span of the building. The airport has installed a solar panel and LED lighting prototype at the North Cell Phone Lot and established more efficient electrical fixtures in the parking structures saving $79,000 in energy costs annually. In 1999, Detroit Metropolitan Airport received international acclamation for the creation of Crosswinds Marsh, a 1,000-acre wetland preserve constructed in Sumpter Township to replace airfield wetlands disturbed by runway and terminal construction. Described as “Michigan’s showcase wetland,” the preserve continues to provide spectacular habitat for a variety of wildlife and offers public access and educational opportunities for children. “Many other such initiatives are under way or planned for the future,” said WCAA CEO Lester Robinson. “We continue to look for opportunities to be a friend to the environment while maintaining one of the most operationally-capable airports in the world.”

Pontiac Schools Community Meeting 11-18-2009 (WOW! A True Learning Organization Experience)

Executive Briefings

Published November 2009

The Role of Curiosity in Learning

Dr. Bea Carson

When was the last time you asked a truly curious question? A question to which you had no idea what the answer was, a question that made the recipient say “hmm”? For many of us, the last time we were truly curious was when we were 5 years old — a naturally curious age.

Institutional Learning

Institutional learning begins with our education system and has much to do with silencing natural curiosity. We send curious 5-year-olds to school, and the first thing they hear is “sit down and be quiet.” Soon after that, we stick a piece of paper in front of them and tell them “know the answers or you fail,” which is repeated for the next 12 to 16 years. Then they enter the workforce and are told “know the answers or you’re fired.”

Institutional learning is a traditional means of learning, where experts have knowledge that they dump into the heads of the students, and the students are expected to regurgitate it. The problem with this type of learning is that it creates a dependent state.

Because most leadership training happens in a classroom — away from the real issues — it can only be a discussion of leadership, not a true learning experience. Individuals learn much faster from experience than from lectures.

Individuals feel anxious when they learn something new. It is critical for these feelings to be part of the learning experience. By including the feelings, the student gets to the meaning of the learning and makes it a part of their being. The student must be empowered in order to survive work and life experiences.

It’s no wonder most of us have forgotten how to be curious — forgotten how to ask truly great questions. There are no rewards for asking great questions — the rewards go to those with the answers.

With the rewards going to those who know the answers, why would we want to be the one asking the questions? Why would we want to go back to being as curious as a 5-year-old?

But for an organization to become a learning organization, it needs to break out of the rut of doing things the same way. It needs to be open to learning and exploring the possible. The first step on the road to becoming a learning organization is to encourage a culture where it is safe to ask questions, a culture where employees are free to question everything.

The Power of Questions

The power of questions is multifaceted. By asking questions, we can:

• Uncover information about the things we do not know.
• Express an interest in what another person has to say.
• Draw another person into a conversation.
• Make it clear that we are not making assumptions and are open to possibilities beyond our initial reaction.
• Allow us to uncover underlying causes rather than simply looking at the symptoms.
• Encourage multiple perspectives.

When we ask someone a question, we force him or her to listen to us. It is only through listening that he or she will be able to respond to the question. Because questions indicate that we care what the other person has to say, trust and openness increase. Perhaps most importantly, questions help us reach a common truth.

What raises the bar from a question just being a question to being a great question?

Great Questions

Many times when a great question is asked, there is a pause in the conversation, followed by the statement, “good question.”

Great questions come from a place of great curiosity. They come from a place of being open to the possible. Great questions make us think more deeply about a situation, uncovering the truth behind what was previously taken for granted.

Great questions can be very difficult to ask because they take us outside our comfort zone. Great questions do not need to be complex.

One of the keys to being able to ask great questions is to listen. To pay attention to what is not said — the nonverbal signals — as well as what is said.

When structuring any type of learning, organizations should harness the power of questions to allow individuals’ natural curiosity to uncover every aspect of the knowledge being imparted and to maximize communications.

Legislative Alignment (Now we're Talking) Race to the Top!

WHAT ALL THIS HEAVY LIFTING SHOULD BE ABOUT!

HEAVY LIFTING of the MINDSET (Daniel Pink)

NATIONAL Heavy Lifting MEET the PRESS (Arne Duncan) Sunday, November 15, 2009

ON EDUCATION begins at 19:30 of Video (PATIENCE PLEASE)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

LEGISLATIVE Heavy Lifting GOVERNOR GRANHOLM

Gov. Jennifer Granholm shakes hands as people gather at the state Capitol on Tuesday to rally for increased school funding. (ROD SANFORD/Associated Press)

Posted: Nov. 15, 2009

COMMENTARY

Education cuts put recovery at risk

Disinvestment in schools will discourage employers

BY JENNIFER M. GRANHOLM

This past week, superintendents, teachers and parents journeyed to Lansing to demand that the Legislature raise money for the School Aid Fund to prevent the deep cuts that will begin impacting our schools within weeks. I strongly support their efforts to prevent these cuts from happening. You don't need to have kids or grandkids in public schools to know that funding for education is vital to Michigan's economy.

Michigan is undergoing an unprecedented, historic economic transformation. The global manufacturing economy has shifted, and Michigan must accept the change and adapt. There's no time for denial, blame or finger-pointing; we must face this new reality head-on. What is the fundamental strategy for success in overcoming this challenge? Education, education, education.

An educated work force is the single most important asset we can have if we want to attract new investment and new good-paying jobs to our state in this knowledge-driven economy. Without action by the Legislature now, schools will have to disinvest -- laying off teachers and increasing class sizes. It has been estimated that these cuts could eliminate three thousand to five thousand jobs in our schools. The Legislature would justifiably do back-flips to bring a major employer with that number of jobs to our state. But so far, with an equal number of jobs at stake in our schools, the Legislature appears to be sitting on its hands.

The cause of this financial crisis in our schools could not be more clear. When our largest employers go bankrupt and citizens lose their jobs, state budget revenues plummet. It's particularly true for the school budget, which is funded in large part by the sales tax. When people don't shop during a recession, money for schools disappears. That's why our School Aid Fund is in deep trouble. Both of the state's nonpartisan fiscal agencies have issued warnings: There is not enough money to fund schools at current levels. The law mandates that when the money is not in the bank, school funding must be cut. But the story doesn't have to end there.

I have asked the Legislature to do two things. First, pass an immediate solution now. Second, work with me on long-term solutions to stabilize funding and reform our education system. In the short term, the Legislature can pass three targeted revenues to soften the blow to schools: freeze the personal exemption on the income tax at this year's level ($55 million), reduce special interest loopholes as much as we have reduced state government departments ($150 million) and tax loose tobacco and flavored cigarillos as we tax cigarettes ($35 million). These three, narrow measures would be a small price to pay to prevent devastating mid-year cuts to our schools.

Schools understand that they will have to accept some cuts this year. They will have to share services and consolidate. Teachers and administrators all must have skin in the game to channel every available cent to the classroom. But the additional deep cuts the Legislature is forcing on these schools cannot stand.

In addition to closing the gap in our School Aid Fund, the Legislature must act now to restore the Michigan Promise scholarship. In order to move our economy forward, we set an audacious goal of doubling the number of college graduates. The Michigan Promise scholarship, promised to almost 100,000 college students this year alone, has been a key part of that strategy. The Legislature eliminated it in the budget, making it much harder for Michigan students and Michigan families to afford higher education. I am asking the Legislature to raise the funds to keep that Promise. It is not too late.

Whether it's in our K-12 schools or in our colleges and universities, we must commit Michigan to educational greatness, not mediocrity. Every economist agrees that if we want a vibrant, diverse economy, we must have a skilled, educated workforce.

That's why I am joining with students, parents, educators and citizens across our great state to fight for a stable stream of revenue to ensure that goal is met. There's no more important issue in our state today if we want to promote economic recovery and more good-paying jobs in Michigan.

Jennifer M. Granholm is governor of Michigan.