NEA Today, the journal for members of the National Education Association, had a great article in the March/April 2011 issue entitled "Just the Facts Please! Time to get real about education reform."  (available online for free).

The article addresses issues such as high-stakes testing, pay for test scores, charter schools and tenure and points out the facts about these issues. Everything is written in basic terms with examples given. You can also comment and join the discussion.

This is a great article to share with people who are confused about education reform and what's fact.

Related Articles:

Why Teachers Like Us Support Unions

Some Common Education Myth's Debunked

Incompetent Teachers or Dysfunctional Systems? Fix the system to support the teachers.

READ MORE - Just the Facts Please! The facts about "education reform" from NEA Today

(part of  #EduSolidarity   http://edusolidarity.us/ postings by teachers today, March 22nd)

Teachers and teacher unions have been getting lambasted in the press for a while now. It is completely unfair. Teachers work for students. That is their job. Unions work for teachers. That is their job. Therefore, unions work for students. Both groups exist to make sure that students are educated and that the educational system is the best it can be. 

Lately, politicians and rich people have been trying to push their own agendas for education. These people, who have never taught and, for the most part, never been to a public school, are trying to change education. Teachers know that much of what these “education reformers” are doing are bad practices and will not work. They are pushing for more standardized testing and programs that have been tried before and known to not work. They are attacking unions as being obstacles to education and protecting bad teachers. Those statements are not true. 

Unions are not perfect, nothing is, and there are problems with some, just like there are problems with any group. But, their purpose is to support public school teachers and public school education.

Here are some things that teacher unions do:

1. Protect teachers from unfair treatment (which is quite prevalent) by administrators. Protect teachers from personal attacks by administrators and make sure that their jobs are not based on politics or who they know, but on their qualifications.

2. Provide for a living wage (no teacher is getting rich) and fair benefits. We do not get free benefits - we pay for them (and quite a bit).

3. Provide for due process for the firing of a teacher - they do not protect bad teachers. If a school or district has proof of bad performance, a teacher can and will be let go. Due process is important to protect teachers from being fired for unjust reasons.

4. Protect students - provide for small class sizes, fight for funding for programs and supplies.

5. Provide programs and support to education - many unions provide local and national programs to help students and also work to find grants and funding for schools.

6. Lobby government to properly fund education and prevent sweeping cuts to education budgets.

7. Give teachers a voice in what happens in school. Remember, teachers, not politicians, understand what is best for our children. The unions make sure that the people who are in the classroom and truly understand what needs to be done to help our children, have a voice in education policy decisions.

8. Provide a sounding board for teachers and a community that they can collaborate with other educators to come up with ways to better themselves and education.

All of this leads to a better educational system which is better for students, teachers, and the community. When teachers and the educational system are supported, like they are by unions, everyone wins.

Side note: I worked as an engineer for 10 years before becoming an educator and never saw the need for unions. I was never in an union as an engineer, but our manufacturing employees were. The companies I worked for treated employees fairly, so why did we need unions? 


I also work part time as a paramedic for a large ambulance company. Our division was not union. Other divisions were. It was funny how we got the same, or a little better, benefits than the union shops. The company didn't want us unionizing so they kept us happy.


Then I became a teacher and realized that without teacher unions, teachers would be poorly paid (even worse than we are now), treated poorly and our schools would be in shambles because the group that always fights for public school teachers and systems is the union. The teachers' unions are a good thing and fight for teachers and students. They are needed. Especially now with politicians and rich people thinking they know what's best for students and constantly attacking the people who do know what's best for students - the teachers.

Related articles:
Some Common Educational Myths Busted
The Best Resouces for Learning Why Teachers’ Unions are Important
Incompetent Teachers or Dysfunctional Systems? Fix the system to support the teachers
Who’s Responsible for Failing Students and Failing Schools? Everyone!

READ MORE - Why Teachers Like Us Support Unions

I’ve been thinking a lot about school reform and how we can make schools better. I’ve read the arguments from educators and politicians, and even those corporate giants who seem to know more about educating our students than teachers do. I’ve seen reports of successful schools and failing schools. As a former engineer and project manager, I do believe that business has some things that can be used in school to improve things for teachers and students. I do believe that some business practices can be beneficial to education. I’m not saying that we should treat students as products, but I have some ideas of how to use some business models in education.

I really started thinking more about this topic when I read an article about “The High School of the Future” in Philadelphia. It was started in 2006 and dubbed “The Microsoft School” because the company had helped design it. Now it seems that there are some serious problems occurring there, with seniors not eligible to graduate because the school didn’t focus on the standards and basics. There was too much emphasis on being unique and different without any real substance behind it.

This got me thinking about what would happen if some other well known companies and some companies I’ve worked for, had a hand in designing a school and it’s vision and curriculum.

I started thinking about Google and how they offer a lot of benefits to their staff. How they give their employees time to work on projects that interest them. Now, Google is not the all-perfect company, but some of their ideas are very good and make good sense. I also thought of some other companies I’ve worked for, like SVGL (now ASML) and UTC (Sikorsky Aircraft) and some of the things they did that made them successful. I’ve put together a list of ideas from these companies and how they could/should be implemented in schools.

1. Open up the curriculum and time in school. Give students more chances to work on projects of their choosing. Let them explore what interests them. Give them resources and support them in their learning. More independent study projects and group projects. (Just like things happen in the real world.) For example, if a student really loves music, then let them apply that love and interest in their classes - science of music, history of music, write a song, etc. Many current curricula are too fixed and inflexible.
2. Focus on the essential questions, thinking skills and essential knowledge students need to know. Some facts are important, but memorizing is not needed. Working professionals can look up information when they need to (including doctors and engineers) so why can't students use other resources? We want them to be able to communicate, work as a team, solve problems, and find resources when they need to. We don't need them to be able to recall trivial facts.
3. Provide study lounges with a snack bar, computers, games and couches where students could work on their projects and have a safe place to be. Make sure these study lounges are available after school also.
4. Provide students with free healthy meals and snacks. Good nutrition is paramount to success in school. Provide free or discounted meals to staff also.
5. Provide services, like daycare, laundry, etc. to employees to help them be able to more focus on their jobs. Daycare could be helpful for teen mom’s and could also be used as a teaching resource for students who want to learn about early childhood development or who want to be teachers.
6. Give teachers a vision and the resources they need and then let them do their job. Support them, don’t attack them. Help them when they need it. If there is training available that could help them in their job - send them for it. For example, when I was promoted to project engineer at one company, they sent me for project management training as well as supervision training since I was now supervising other employees.
7. Give teachers time to work with their colleagues on solving problems, addressing student issues, working on lesson plans, and networking.
8. Get rid of, or at least limit, meetings. Most companies know that work does not get done during a meeting. Schools and teachers get meetinged to death. With technology, we can collaborate in real time at our own location, limiting travel. And, most meetings are just to give out meeting - that information can be given out by email instead.
9. Health clinics at schools for students and staff. Allow staff members to utilize school-based health centers as part of their benefits. Staff can get basic medical needs taken care of during the work day.
10. Open the school to visitors. Have tours for parents showing them what goes on in the building. Let parents visit any time they want so that they can see what their children are doing.
11. Provide after hours programs for students so that they can work in the afternoon. Give them a safe place to work and learn, even after school.
12. Have the curriculum and plan be open so that students who don’t do well in the morning could come in later and work later. (Flex time in the business world).
13. Tuition reimbursement for staff. Education requires teachers to get advanced degrees, yet there is no financial help from their employers. Google has tuition reimbursement and United Technologies has a scholar program that pays for school up front and even gives employees time off to study. I know that budgets are tight, but these companies realize that a highly educated workforce benefits them. The same is true for teachers. And, the better educated, and trained, teachers are, the more they can do for their students and schools.
14. Provide real, timely, and useful training to staff. Too many times, teacher professional development is minimal, useless, hard to apply, or some new fad. I’ve received excellent training from my engineering employers and they paid for me to take outside training if it benefited my job. Most teachers I know have to find free training (thank goodness for unconferences) or pay for it them selves. Staff should also be given opportunities to explore their educational interests and not just the Professional Development that the school says they have to take. Choice is very important.
15. Appreciate your staff - administration needs to create a fun, inspiring workplace where teachers feel welcome and appreciated for their efforts.
16. Innovation - staff, and students, should be encouraged to think outside of the box when it comes to education and activities. The curriculum can not be canned, or from a textbook, it must be a living, breathing thing that can change as the world changes.
17. Utilize your resources - two companies I worked for had employees fill out surveys with their hobbies, interests, and other skills they have. The company then knew who they had in-house as resources in different areas.
18. Utilize Quality Improvement systems in schools. Six Sigma, ACE and other systems provide a way to find issues and solutions to those issues. They go beyond test scores and truly look at what the issues are. Root Cause Analysis is one example that works to find the real cause behind an issues. For example, a student is failing a class. Why - poor attendance. Don’t stop there, look deeper. Why is the student’s attendance poor? What outside issues are causing this.
19. Get organized - Some of these quality systems also have programs to get the workplace organized and more efficient. Most schools are very inefficient in the office and clerical side of things. Supplies are not well organized, paperwork, and even standard processes, like the start of school, are not documented for future reference.
20. Be competitive - in some ways, schools are competing against private companies, private schools, and other “opponents” and they need to be competitive. Don’t wait for someone else to come in and tell you there are problems. Find the problems yourself, and then use your resources to find a solution. Be creative and innovative in how you improve things. Take chances and go for it.

These are just some of the ideas I came up with from businesses and business processes that can and should be used in schools. What about you? What ideas do you have?

READ MORE - Apply Business Practices to Education - great ideas that can help education

"Incompetent Teachers or Dysfunctional Systems?
Rather than blame teachers, we must ensure that teachers work within a highly functional system that
provides meaningful evaluations, high-quality professional development, reasonable class sizes, reliable
and stable leadership, and time for planning and collaboration."

This is the opening headline for an article by By Ken Futernick that was published in the October 2010 issue of Kappan Magazine

The article makes some very good points about teacher quality vs. the system they work in and how the systems need to be changed more than we need to get rid of teachers. Systems need to help teachers succeed, just like teachers need to help students succeed.

Another great quote: "Poor teaching results more often from poorly functioning systems than from individual shortcomings."

Read it for yourself and see what you think.

READ MORE - Incompetent Teachers or Dysfunctional Systems? Fix the system to support the teachers.

Last night I saw a Tweet from Gary Stager "garystager: @chrislehmann Why not make high school like a great college?"


I thought that this was a great idea! I know college was a great experience for me and I learned much more than just content. In fact, I feel that my undergraduate degree prepared me for anything I want to do in the future. Let me explain.


I went to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, MA. WPI is an excellent school, highly ranked, and offers an excellent educational experience. The school is small, with only 3,400 undergraduate students. But, the school is well equipped and well run.


The secret behind the school's success is the unique curriculum, called the WPI Plan, consisting of 4 quarters instead of 2 semesters, 3 large projects, and course curriculum that are mainly project based. Each undergraduate has to complete a Humanities Sufficiency Project, an Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP) and a Major Qualifying Project (MQP).


The Sufficiency is a 3 credit project and course sequence in the humanities which ensures that all WPI graduates are well rounded. Instead of students having to take meaningless core courses, they develop their own plan and sequence. I took a writing course to help improve my writing skills and then took a sequence of courses in US Government and Foreign Policy before doing my project on the political use of air power in the Vietnam war.


The IQP is a 9 credit project done in the junior year which relates science and technology to society. My group did a project on the Quality of Technical Education in the United States. As part of it, we did research on different programs, school systems, number of students taking technical majors (engineering, science, etc.) and then surveyed current engineers and scientists about their college education and what they thought was good and bad about it. We also looked at how well high school's were preparing students for these types of college majors.


The MQP is a 9 credit project done in the senior year similar to a Master's thesis. My group designed a Two-Stage-To-Orbit space craft. We had to do everything from project planning, to engineering design and analysis, to working with NASA (who sponsored the project) to get information and feedback. The project then had to be presented and defended in our department.


The project based curriculum helps students learn content and develop problem solving, communications, and teamwork skills. It also helps develop ethics and responsibility in the students. I found that my WPI education has prepared me for my career as an engineer, as well as an educator, and served me well in many capacities.


This plan stresses project based learning. Why? Because back when they developed the Plan (over 30 years ago) they knew that the only way to truly master subject area content is to apply it. They also knew that students needed to develop teamwork, communication skills, problem solving skills, creativity, critical thinking, and research skills (sounds like "21st Century skills" doesn't it?). WPI's symbol is the two towers of the first two buildings on campus. Lehr und Kunst. German for Theory and Practice, it's WPI's founding motto and the principle that still underlies the academic programs today. In class, in projects, and in research, students and faculty put knowledge into action to make the world better.

The projects are an integral part of the Plan. All classes are expected to use projects in their curriculum and the school has the three projects that all students must complete. The classes are taught by professors who are very dedicated to education, not just research. Each class is project based and emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving over memorizing data and facts.

I think that WPI was ahead of the game with their plan, considering this is the route that high schools and even middle schools are going. K-12 education is starting to realize how important these skills are and that project based learning is a great way to engage students while teaching them content and other needed skills.

I think that we can make more schools like WPI and do a better job of teaching our students the skills they need to know: teamwork, communications, problem solving, critical thinking, self-education and lifelong learning.

The students at WPI are given more control over their education by having the freedom to choose what they want to learn and how they are going to learn it. There are not a huge number of unneeded and useless "core" classes for students to take. Students create their own humanities program and their own educational plan. There is space in their schedule for them to take elective classes to explore new areas and topics. Students learn the basics and develop a fundamental literacy in each subject. Students do not memorize formulas and facts. They learn how to apply their knowledge to real-world problems and situations. For example, in Thermodynamics, we were taught the three laws of thermodynamics in depth. Then we were able to apply these to any situation instead of learning 10-15 different equations for different situations. This is in contrast to many schools who teach students every little equation for specific situations instead of teaching them the basics and how to apply the basics to any situation.

All of the learning, research and projects all have a purpose beyond just for class. Projects are all real-world applications or really are real-world projects. Student projects have included working to shore up the canals of Venice, design water systems for villages in Africa, developing medical equipment for disabled or sick patients, designing safety features for cars, and much more. This learning with a purpose gives meaning to what everyone is doing. This is very important in education.

WPI stresses teaching over research also and is very committed to the quality of the professors. Professors who have issues with their teaching or have poor reviews by students (each class has a evaluation form done by every student. These are taken seriously) are given support and help in changing and improving their teaching. They are not vilified. They are supported and helped and that means that they become better educators.

The WPI Plan is an excellent model for schools to use as a way to make education more personalized, engaging, relevant, and effective in preparing students for the future. The education there goes beyond preparing them just for the major they are in. The education prepares students for life. They are prepared to continue their education, adapt to new situations, and even change careers from engineering to education. It is truly a unique and effective way to teach and learn.

Related Posts:
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2010/04/great-educational-ideas-from-colleges.html
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/technology-in-use-in-engineering.html
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2009/10/wpi-open-house.html
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2009/04/project-based-learning.html
http://www.wpi.edu/News/Journal/Oct96/miracle2.html

READ MORE - Excellent Education Model - WPI's Plan