President Obama Validates My Life's Work

So yesterday was a pretty big day for me.  First of all, has anyone seen anyone this good-looking in real life before?

Those three guys are okay too.

Anyway, it was kind of funny to see these famosos because it happened immediately following a major career high.


If you want to know why yesterday was so awesome, like tearfully awesome, you need to watch this video starting at 9:40.  And then imagine you are in a room full of people who you have worked with anywhere from the last year to the last decade.  People who helped you learn about the most amazing possibilities and who believed that a single small school in Northern California could be a model for the rest of the country.  Places like Manor, Texas:





It might just be me, but didn't that sound really compelling? And you know what? What he says here? This is really happening--not just here, but in schools across the country. And don't you want your kid in one of these schools? I sure do. So to all my @newtechnetwork friends, thank you for all the work you personally have done that led to this moment for us as a national movement. For my friends who have supported me while I travel so much, I hope this clarifies the urgency that pulls me periodically away from my family.  The more we can create this kind of community, the more hope I personally have for the future of all of our communities and preparing our kids for the world that will await them.

Even if you didn't vote for Obama, pretty cool, eh?

New Job Thing

Here I am.  Chellese, they need your photography skills, I look like I have paralysis. 

Almost Thou Persuadeth Me

I have to say that I simply love nuns.  I have never had an occasion to get to know them, but the ones I worked with in Spain were a delight.  Like, a REAL delight.

I can't really summarize an entire day of combining my three favorite things in the world:

• Progressive education
• Spanish
• Do gooder religious types

If they would have served a Spanish tortilla for lunch I think I would have thought I had literally died and gone to heaven.

A few points of interest:

1)  This particular order of nuns is focused on changing and improving families through education.  Isn't that awesome?  Yes it is.

So first they were really excited about that message.  Here they are, excited 

2)  They had great sense of humor and were so fun to be around.  They had a ton of questions and, did you know...that nuns call each other by their first name?? So it was like Monika, Edith, etc.

3)  They were happy, beautiful, and really focused on doing good.  I mean, I felt like they were doing some really special work in the world and it was a privilege to be a part of it:

I am going to start looking for nuns to hang out with them more.  Do you think there are any in Utah?

More Junior High Experience

Disclaimer:  I am just complaining here.  Boring to you non-educationgeeks

Me:  {sigh} I guess I will go try to get Casey registered at local junior high x

Me:  {in front office} Hi, we recently moved to the area and I still have not registered my son for 7th grade yet

Lady:  Okay, you need to go the counseling office

Me: {Returning after finding door locked} Actually, just like the other junior high we tried to visit, the counseling office is closed on the one day I can get here before school is out.  Sorry, we are just trying to adjust to such a big school system, we came from California.

Lady:  Uh, you came from California and you think THIS is a big school system.

Me: Yes.  Well I mean the schools here are really large.

Lady: {Getting on the horn} Yeah, counselor chick?  You have a parent up here who wants to register her son, and your door is locked.  Yes. Okay.  Sending her over.

Counselor:  {blah blah paperwork}

Me:  Great.  Okay, so do you have a paper that describes your mission, vision, or your educational approach or whatever?

Counselor (and now another counselor hovering): Uhhh....Well we do some GREAT stuff, we just don't write it down.  I mean, people come from all over the state to see the stuff we do!

Me:  Of course, that is wonderful.  Can you give me an example?

Counselor duo:  Welll....Oh I know!  We have this cool thing called *free time where kids can go get extra help if they want, or they can just play around and stuff, really motivates them to get their work done so they can play.  It is awesome.  Our principal is really data driven and we really help kids by allowing them to learn at their own pace--so it isn't IF they learn, it is WHEN they learn.  So teachers are really flexible in allowing them to make up work, get extra help etc.  We totally allow late work and that free time is their chance to get the help they need.

Me: {Actually that IS kind of awesome, I LOVE free time}  Oh cool, I get it, that is great, you really help kids if they don't get it the first time, that is wonderful to hear.  What about the first time around, you know, the first time the teachers teach the material?  What is their educational philosophy, or what kind of professional development do they get or.. you know?

Counselor duo:  Uh... I am not really sure what you mean by educational philosophy, but they go to trainings and stuff.  I mean, I always hear people say "Man that teacher has been around FOREVER" so we have really good teachers.  We also have really high attendance due to our new tardy and attendance policy.  He goes to district meetings and they are like handing out stacks to everyone of their attendance and like one page to him.

Me:  Oh really, what is your attendance rate?

Counselor duo:  Oh.  We don't know.  Wait here comes the principal! He might know.

Data-driven principal:  It's high.  Way high.  I don't know if off the top of my head.

Okay stop.  Collaborate and listen.  (Wait that line makes NO sense because you don't really need to collaborate to listen). 

If you are a non-educator and still reading, you might miss this subtlety, but I have worked with close to 100 principals in the span of my life and I have NEVER met a principal who did not know his attendance numbers within a few percentage.  Do you know why?  Because THAT is the number that funds your school.  Like literally, you get dollars for attendance.

Every high school, every junior high, every elementary school principal knows that number because it represents your success in keeping kids at school.  The attendance rate represents your ability to take kids out of poverty and change their lives, or teach second language learners to adapt.  The attendance rate is what separates a good school from a great school.  The attendance rate is almost the sole criteria for principals in low performing broken urban schools AND if you have a higher attendance rate than your neighboring schools, even in a high performing school district you know it.

And if you are data-driven, you doubly know it.

So here is the real quandry--did he lie?  Or did he really not know it?  And which is worse?

Sorry friends, I must record these moments as my personal journey through the public education system gets worse by the minute.

We are sending him to that school by the way. Why?  Because they have mandatory music class so I can be a Tiger Parent via sending him to high-performing, high-attendance junior high schools in my community.  I always wanted to be a Tiger mom I just don't have the guts.  Now I can let the school system at least force him to take the music classes and live in peace.

Plus I am going to formulate some good public comments for the school board meetings next year.  Can't wait until my travel slows down.


*Names have been changed to protect the innocent

Ah Gardena, my old foe

Come back in time with me to 1999.

No pics.

Casey was 9 months old and I had recently decided to start substitute teaching in Los Angeles.  Steve was teaching and out of sheer boredom I decided to sub a few days a week for extra cash.  $160 a day to be exact.

I attended a two-day substitute teacher training where I met a lot of out-of-work actors whose main goal was to be effective enough in the classroom to be requested as a long-term sub so they could earn $195/day.

I failed the two-day institute because the actors were all much better at the practice scenarios.  In fact at one point, one of the actors turned to me and said "You know what?  Don't actually do that with kids in a classroom" while I was acting out what I would do if a pager went off during class. Fortunately, all they needed at that time was a warm body so they let me sub anyway.  My first day that I called the sub system I excitedly put on my shiny shoes, got my "cool substitute teacher" kit together and showed up to change the world.

At Gardena High School.

In a drama class.

In which the teacher had already used her entire sick leave and was now taking unpaid leave because she had some kind of nervous breakdown during class and had stopped leaving lesson plans.

The classes were comprised of almost entirely females and I was woefully unprepared to handle cultural differences of city kids as compared with my own small--town mountain upbringing.  Some of the moments that I haven't completely blocked out:

• I asked a student to go to the office to take care of what I was certain was a dress code violation  but she refused.  What do you do when you ask someone to do something and they ignore you?
• I asked the class to open the book and start reading a play--let's act it out!  So a few participated while the rest of the students milled about, ignoring my instructions
• A girl got up and left class and when I followed her she told me she was going to call her grandmother. I suggested she go to the office but she ignored me.

Are you getting the picture here?  So after a terrible, embarrassing, and humbling day, I decided never to return to Gardena High School.  I appreciated the opportunity to practice my teaching skills with kids who would never see my face again and ran with my tail tucked between my legs. 

I got much better at managing groups of kids after practicing at several high schools and middle schools but never got the courage to return to Gardena. 

Looks like fear is still striking hearts at Gardena after 10 years:

Officials' reassurances fail to calm Gardena High School parents 

Second runner-up

You may remember when I posted about the most inspiring keynote ever, Wynton Marsalis.

Well, I saw someone who matched him: Bill Strickland.  So many ways to improve urban education yet so few make it happen.  If you saw Waiting for Superman they show him (for like two seconds) driving by a prison and he talks about most of his peers from high school are there now.

Melee in the Cafeteria

On a recent site visit (which I usually don't blog about out of respect for my schools but got permission from the director who I totally adore) I heard the following announcement come over the loudspeaker in a panicky voice:

"All teachers immediately report the cafeteria, there is a huge fight happening, all teachers we need your help now!"

As we approached the cafeteria, a multitude of police officers (who btw were using profanity and smoking themselves) came into break up the mob.  A teacher had already attempted to break up one of the three fights by mashing a cream-filled powdered donut into the face of one of the students.  He kept swinging so she broke her collar bone but 7 people ended up with a powdery white substance all over.

The main fight was started by a young lady who was fighting with another girl.  When the police came and attempted to detain the instigator , the perp's mother, who apparently worked in the cafeteria, attempted to knock out one of the police officers to defend her daughter.

Needless to say, her employment was terminated immediately.

As we walked away from the cafeteria, another announcement was made over the intercom system:

"All students immediately report to class, any students found in the hallway will be leaving with the police."

Good times.

Waiting for Superman

I have seen Waiting for Superman.

And you should too--because you ought to know what is happening in the public school system.  I wrote two reviews--my first impression was not that good because I wanted it to be exactly the message that I send too.

But after a week of work in the field, I have changed my mind and decided that this IS the message for now.

I can deal with part II once people fix this first set of problems.

Here is what the film brings up that you should consider:

1)  Tracking is devastating.  Tracking is the idea that if you come in with low scores as a 9th grader, you cannot take college prep classes.

2)  The teachers union may be keeping your children from having the best teacher possible.

3)  Children in high poverty areas are further handicapped by their schools, not helped.

4)  Children in high poverty areas do have parents who care about their education--they send kids to school and trust the school to be a source of hope for the future.

5)  There are people out there who know what to do to fix schools and you should hold your school accountable for those principles.

Here is a suggested step for each of those key points:

1) The first day your child enrolls in high school, make it clear to the counselor and principal that you are expecting that their courses will automatically make them eligible for a 4-year college.  Check in each year that they are getting those requirements met and if you don't know, ask the counselor.

2)  If your child has a teacher who is incredible who loses their job at the end of the year and is replaced by an another less passionate teacher due to budget cuts and union protection of tenured teachers, march down to your school board and make a statement loud and clear about your tax dollars going to a system that does not consider quality teaching a priority.

3)  Do not take it for granted that poor children stay poor because their behaviors at home and lack of expectations at home lead them to learn less at school.  If you live in a city with a poor school, stand up for the rights of the children whose parents do not understand the system.  The majority of poor parents do not want their children to end up in their same socio-economic station yet don't know how to get their children into a better school.  Vote for initiatives that support high quality teaching.

4)  Do a reality check-- has your child grown this year?  When you go to parent teacher conferences, and they show you student work, ask how your child has improved.  Do not take a simple sample of their work that looks on grade level as evidence that your child is learning, ask for a pre and post sample.  If they don't have one, ask for one in the next conference.

5)  Make sure you know where the school is spending money--what is their plan and does the money that they spend support the plan.

Okay and when all else fails, give me a call.  I might give you bad advice, but it will make me feel better.

School reform is what I do--and my fidelity to it does create a gap elsewhere, but it is ultimately is who I am.

Another Brick in the Wall

I know that a lot of you might think I am crazy about school reform, but I am not. When you spend all day on a particular topic and you read article after article after book after website after tweets and memes, of course you are going to sound crazy.  This is how I know I am not crazy:  I work with an incredible group of intelligent people who think exactly the same way about education that I do.  We could all go to the same school at different times in different rooms and come out with the same assessment--that is in fact what we do.

For those who do think I am insane, or at least read too much, it would not surprise you to hear that my husband said today "you don't even know what you are looking for."  I am sure there are those who would agree since most of my jabber sounds alll the same anyway.

I am pleased to say that I could articulate what I was looking for--but I think what he was really trying to ask me about is how I would know if I found it.

To answer his question because I know you are all so excited to hear my answer, I look for key words.  I don't care how they are put together or the meaning of the sentences, I look for buzz words, particularly for words that are subtly trying to buck the system.  Here is an example of a school that is NOT trying to buck the system:

BLANK school assists parents in their stewardship of developing the hearts and minds of children by creating a safe and nurturing environment of classical education that fosters patriotism, cultural literacy, moral virtue, individuality, self government, and excellence, thereby, inspiring a lifelong love of learning, leadership and service.


Those are words that mean something specifically to me as a reformer-though I love the idea of "lifelong" learning, it has become such a buzz phrase that unless it is with something provocative, my eyes tend to glaze over.  When I see patriotism and cultural literacy accompanied by moral virtue, I know they mean the canon, not multicultural literacy that we have anxiously been trying to embrace for years.

So here is an edgy, exciting mission statement to me:


The BLANK community will take responsibility for the well-being and growth of our students and staff. We will promote the qualities of explorers by encouraging knowledge, strength, persistence, diligence, imagination, resilience, courage, and enough faith in ourselves to take risks.

What do I like about this?  I love the word strength, persistence, and risk.  I love the idea of courage and resilience (read- you must fail and then bounce back).  I see those words and I hear that inside of that school they refused to pay homage to the "lifelong learning" and use words that kids might actually like--explorers and imagination.  I know that if a school like that lives up to its mission statement, my kids are going to be doing something cool.

I am going to explore this place tomorrow and see what I can discover about their fidelity to their own mission.

What words do you love about the mission statement at your kids school?

More of What I Do

Here is a little clip for your viewing pleasure.

Travel bad.  Reform good.

Tara, the Genius

Tara, you win the prize, which is a geeky education book.

It will be on its way in the near future.

It was genetics, and we were analyzing the scaffolding, good call.

Uh oh

Dear supe,

I toldya.  No RtT for Cali.

Congrats to the Landersons.

What I Do These Days

I haven't done a real post on what I have been up to for many moons.  At least two moons.

Why you ask?  The law prevents me.  I have been up to my ears in politics and I really had no idea what I was getting into when I was appointed member of the group that governs the charter of my kids' school.  It has been a totally wild ride that has occupied my thoughts, dreams, actions, and allll my time.  Currently our school has no principal which requires me to read an extra 50-100 emails a day since I am the executive responsible for the organization until we have an administrator.

If I did not have a job that occupied a significant portion of my time it would be so fun!  I love using my skills and knowledge acquired through working in education to benefit (I hope) their school. Why shouldn't I spend day and night fighting for this school; both to keep it open and to make it better?

But as it stands, I do have this job.  And I love my job.  And I must be loyal to my employer who really and truly takes care of me.  So as this year wraps up and I have no idea what happened to my plans of grandeur regarding Christmas preparation, I must refocus my efforts on the nation at large and the state of education elsewhere and spend significantly less time addressing the issues at the school that has the most immediate impact on my life.  I have the most supportive husband who though he thinks I am loco, believes in me and the choices I make.

I wish I could tell you all the lurid details of the painful decisions I have had to make, but in the end I am a Californian and here, we don't keep secrets from the public.  Which means I can't write them on my blog. Sound contradictory?  Welcome to my world.

Update for the People

Latest update.

The reporter was so beautiful I decided not to even bother fixing my hair. 

A New Haircut

Sorry to beat a dead horse but here is one more video that shows the district's side.

Does not include my reference to our 6th grade scores outscoring every school so it makes it sound like he has data and we have touchy feely, but at this point, maybe touchy feely will get us a few more supporters.

What do you think of my new haircut anyway?

Last Night

Wow.  The show of community was incredible.  Check out this site and click on the video to see it live.

Does it seem like the 60s?  My mom would be proud.

Incidentally, I didn't march, I just met people there since I was nervous about presenting.

A Job I Don't Want

Superintendent.

I understand what he thinks.

I understand that he does not support bilingual education if it means it brings down the average score of his API for the district.

I believe him when he says he has sleepless nights.

But I will agree to disagree with him and find it offensive that he stood in front of our teachers and stated that we are the only school in the district that asks lower level questions.  That is unpossible.

This business has to end pronto, I need to go back to my day job.

Why I Care

I have been spending a lot of time (maybe 30 hours this week?) in conversations, email, and presentations to help save my kids school, which admittedly is very low performing.

We might not even be around in a year or two.  So you can see that Steve is not really interested in me spending all my time on this--his main concern is that I am never going to stop and then my heart will break if it doesn't work out.  I am already done with this kind of work, I simply considered it triage for now.  He also wondered if I am fighting for what the school is or fighting for what I want the school to be.  Maybe some of both?

So why do I care if it really does not impact our family for much longer?

1.  Two-way immersion schools are the main way to provide literacy for kids who speak Spanish at home.  Many of these children come from homes with little or no education and then are placed in schools where they are learning to read, write, and speak English.  Research is clear that you have to be first fluent in your own language before transferring those skills.  Many people argue that this is America, we should teach English.  Agreed.  So teachers can either bang their heads against a wall and try to teach children who are to a certain extent doomed to fail. OR they can provide students with literacy in a language they recognize while ALSO providing a second language to a bunch of kids who speak English at home.  Win-win.  These same people who argue the point about English, btw, seem resentful of the Latino population "draining resources" from the public school system.  Note many of these same people are not complaining about the uneducated language-learning population keeping our grapes and strawberries down to a nice, low price.  Or that they are padding the social security funds because they use fake SS#s on which they never collect. 

2.  See #1.  Many community members complain about the language gap but do nothing about it.  Does anyone know the correlation between Hispanic English language learners and high school dropout rates?  They performing at a much lower level nation-wide than our black impoverished students, btw.  They also are populating our prison system.  So why take a gamble on this one?  Also, clear correlation between education levels and decreasing violent crimes in case that surprises you.

3.  See #2.  I want my property, my children, and my produce to be safe.  Literacy is one of the most important factors in increasing quality of life for the poor and if the people who have resources to fight for these issues really ought to do so.

4.  My children speak Spanish.  They understand it.  Is it to the level I would like to see yet?  No.  But when we read the scriptures in English and they don't understand a word I can say it in Spanish and half the time, it gives them a whole new perspective.  Their standardized test scores are high in Spanish AND English and it gives our family a uniqueness that others don't experience--the ability to tell inappropriate jokes in TWO languages. 

5.  The school art program, the PE program, the gardens, teachers who believe in their ability to solve problems and train them to do so, and a family community at the school that embraces the weirdness in our family is unmistakeably irreplaceable. 

6.  Incredible teachers and a good principal who is supportive of innovation, change, and improvement.  People like her are hard to find and even harder to keep.  If this district lets her go, it will absolutely be their loss.

7.  I am not crafty or talented in homemaking--my dwelling has always been a source of embarrassment to me because it is constantly in disarray.  Landee can testify that this is not a new lifestyle for me as much as I would love to blame my four kids and husband. Even hiring a maid would be an embarrassment because you probably wouldn't be able to tell.  We have improved over the years but still it is a struggle for me.  I am not particularly spiritual, obedient, patient or loving--but I AM good at this stuff--school stuff.  And if there is one area I can use to wear out myself in the work, it is in education.  Is this not a worthy cause?

Three Full-time Jobs

I have a job.

I have 4 kids.

I gotta keep their school open.


Someone get me a maid.

Journey and Stress

So I had a busy week of travel with a grand total of 11 airport stops from Sunday to Saturday. It was a great week professionally for me in which I had dinner two nights with one of my favorite teachers, two nights of brainstorming and creative planning with one of my favorite co-workers, and two nights out with one of my favorite schools. I had a great week because something we planned crashed and burned and we took the failure and made it amazing. That is always painful/wonderful.

But this is the serious part:

Some of you know that I am president of the Governance Council of the board of the kids' school (we essentially make sure that the goals are on track, I sign checks, the staff contracts and we evaluate the principal, etc.)

We are in a tight situation this week because, sadly, while I was out of town, the Superintendent announced that he has recommended that the school be closed (or possibly changed) as of the expiration date of the charter. Which is October 12th. I know, right?

So I have a meeting with the principal and the super (and some other person at the district) on Monday so we can talk about it.

It is a surprise. The reasoning is our test scores, which are low of course because it is a bilingual school. My kids are actually fine, they test probably a little lower than some of your children but they do great overall in both languages (both of the kids are in the top 20% of the country for native Spanish speakers, which sounds more amazing than it actually is because most kids taking that test are not literate in Spanish but anywho) and the kids at the school test well in 6th grade.

Research shows that in a bilingual model, test scores DROP at the lower grades and then pick up pace at about 6th grade. This is happening at our school yet the district claims we are not meeting our goals. We have steadily increased over the last three years and our 6th graders are testing higher than their peers at other schools in math. Do you know how rare that is?

I am extremely optimistic about this but professionally I HAVE experienced schools that were amazing and had good test scores get closed due to political garbage so I am a bit skeptical based on those feelings that are still burning internally.

I know that so many people just look at test scores to find out of a school is good but truly, sadly, deeply, the scores are simply a mark of your ability to read and answer questions. Too bad that simply isn't enough.

I won't go on and on but be advised that it is all I am going to think about for the next several days. I have three meetings scheduled and probably a lot of emails and phone calls.

I want to quote Martin Luther King, Jr. and point out that children of migrant farm workers and children of Ph.Ds go to school together and when in their native language, the field is leveled. Nowhere else in this county does that occur.