RIVETING RESULTS, LLC...

Getting High School Students To Read  and Enjoy Complex Texts!

From Chuck Cascio: In my ongoing search for unique, ground-floor solutions to the rapidly changing teaching and learning environment, I was fortunate recently to learn about Riveting Results, LLC, and its CEO Arthur Unobskey, a longtime teacher, administrator, superintendent, and education reform leader. Riveting Results (https://www.rr.tools) is a program that deserves significant attention from educators, business leaders, and anyone committed to meaningful education reform. I am pleased to present details about Arthur and Riveting Results’ unique approach to learning.

About Arthur Unobskey: After thirty years as a teacher, principal and superintendent, Arthur Unobskey partnered in Riveting Results. After building systems and structures to support his students’ daily progress, he wanted to provide middle and high school teachers with the specific tools that they needed to teach all of their students to read-and enjoy-grade level text.

Throughout his ten years as a middle and high school teacher, Arthur strove to engage every one of his students in deep and rigorous study. As an administrator in both urban and suburban schools, he built and supported teacher and administrative teams that analyzed formative data to determine which teaching approaches unlocked students’ potential, particularly for reluctant students. As a superintendent in Wayland, Massachusetts, he guided the district to embrace the needs of underperforming students, integrating best practices from Social Emotional Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching to improve student engagement and performance.

About Riveting Results, LLC: From 1994 to the present, Arthur co-founded, co-directed and served as the Board Chair for The Writers’ Express (now SummerInk), a non-profit summer writing camp for middle and high school students. During this time, The Writers’ Express developed an instructional model that helped campers from a wide variety of backgrounds find their voices as writers.

Arthur notes that at a time when 69% of entering 9th grade students read below grade level, Riveting Results' 9th and 10th grade comprehensive English/Language Arts solution transforms students' classroom experience. It enables teachers to accelerate their skill development so the entire class can read and enjoy the same rigorous, engaging books. Requiring minimal professional development, its software-based curriculum enables a teacher to seamlessly implement four high-leverage literacy activities that provide students with the precise practice and feedback they need for rapid and sustained skill development.

Arthur’s responses to questions delving into details about Riveting Results, LLC:

>>>What do you see as the major challenges in education today?

The hold that divisive local politics has on our public schools limits collaboration between researchers and educators, stymieing innovation. District leaders cannot risk the immediate fallout of giving different services to different children, a necessary feature of the randomized controlled studies that have led, in the medical field, to the rapid spread of effective practices. 

With no widely accepted “gold standard” for efficacy, impressive results from another district are met with skepticism. Curriculum committees often privilege programs and approaches that they already know even if they are not impactful. Those districts that seek to be innovative often turn to their teachers to do the impossible: create an in-house solution that is adaptable for all teachers and students while each of the teacher-curriculum developers simultaneously tend to the needs of 25 to 150 of their own students. In such a scenario, no one has the brainspace to effectively determine the impact of their work on student achievement.

>>>What specific "ground floor" education/learning issues does Riveting Results help address?

Recently, a groundswell of mainstream media attention has spotlighted how districts across the country are changing their instruction to incorporate a more structured approach, summarized as techniques that align with the rigorously researched “Science of Reading”. This change in reading instruction will result in more students learning how to read elementary texts. It is a very exciting shift. The media, however, has paid far less attention to adolescents and what literacy instruction they need. The structured literacy approaches used in elementary schools, no matter how systematically implemented, will not enable most high school students to read grade-level texts, shutting them out of the classes they want to take and that prepare them for college.

Text changes significantly between fifth and sixth grades. Students begin to see complex sentences, and by ninth grade, almost all of the text they see is made up of these types of sentences. They are longer, making use of clauses to link multiple ideas. When students see these new types of sentences, they trip over them. The ability to read fluently (smoothly and with expression), which they developed in elementary school with simple sentences, deserts them. Reading becomes laborious and students don’t have the leftover mental energy necessary to process the meaning of these sentences.

The literacy research of the past twenty-five years is overwhelmingly clear that middle and high school English teachers need to make fluency practice a consistent part of a larger literacy program. Fluency practice provides a bridge to complex text that enables students to read more automatically, become engaged and then dive deeper with subsequent research-based reading activities. But getting adolescents to read out loud is hard. And, how does a teacher with 30 students in a class give feedback so that each student can improve their fluency? How can teachers integrate fluency practice into a highly engaging reading and writing curriculum so that it does not feel remedial?

Programs that claim to provide fluency practice for adolescents use methods developed for elementary students that adolescents roundly reject. Commonly recommended choral or echo reading doesn’t work in a high school class because adolescents are much less compliant than elementary school students and will often fake participation. Current fluency software solutions that do track individual performance measure words read correctly per minute, marking students down for each mistake. Speed is not a good measure of fluency with complex text because it requires changes in pace and the careful emphasis of certain words. And, adolescents disengage from instruction that focuses attention on their mistakes.

Riveting Results makes practicing reading out loud joyful. Activities guide students to become comfortable with complex sentences and to notice the impact that their reading has on others. Teachers use the software to assign each of their students individualized fluency practice on the same section of highly engaging, complex text. Not only do students receive feedback on their recordings from remote scorers, but they share their readings with their classmates. The classroom community that emerges from this shared fluency practice enables each student to establish what Gholdy Muhammad calls “literary presence,” (Muhammad, Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy, p.28), the sense of agency that supports adolescents from historically marginalized communities as they dig into understanding complex text.

After approximately fifteen minutes of fluency practice, students develop an initial understanding of a particular section of complex text. Riveting Results’ software then guides students through three subsequent high-leverage literacy activities in which they work with a partner and their entire class to deepen their understanding of the text. Because they no longer have to provision activities or spend class time explaining directions to students, teachers can focus on eliciting their students’ best work, giving students’ immediate and actionable feedback, and harvesting student ideas for dynamic classroom discussions.

We are implementing our 9th and 10th grade comprehensive English Language Arts curriculum in schools in New York City, Maine, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Texas and California and are getting extraordinary results.

>>>Recalling your own life as a student, going back as far as you would like, what personal experiences did you draw upon while creating Riveting Results?

I believe that a classroom can be magical! The tension during a debate; the laughter at a peer’s wit; the grunts when a task is difficult; and, ultimately, the momentum when everyone is leaning in: a nurturing classroom is both raw and gentle. As an educator, I gravitated toward adolescents because they not only crave such a setting, but also respond to it by discovering that they have the agency to impact everyone around them.

At the same time, building such a classroom community, particularly a high school classroom whose students have widely divergent reading levels, cannot be done by a teacher acting alone. Teachers need tools to enable all of their students to succeed. Riveting Results seeks to provide teachers with those tools: beautiful, engaging literature and a set of practices, tested and refined for 30 years, embedded in software so that teachers can reach every student.

For more information about Riveting Results, LLC, go to https://www.rr.tools.

To contact Arthur Unobskey directly, email at arthur@rr.tools.

To contact Chuck Cascio directly, email at chuckwrites@yahoo.com

Copyright: Arthur Unobskey and Chuck Cascio, all rights reserved.

RACE IN AMERICA,

FEATURING THE THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES OF BRIAN ALLEN

FROM BRIAN: I am an ambassador of positive energy...people connector...mortgage advisor..former college athlete...casual triathlete.  I’ve lived a very fortunate life, growing up all over the country…Joliet, IL, the home of The Blues Brothers; New Jersey; Dallas; Houston; and Northern Virginia/DC.  It allowed me to nurture healthy relationships with a multitude of people and cultures.  I played college basketball for Penn State, and I currently work as a mortgage advisor.  More than the issue of race being a crucial topic today, the way it is being used to threaten our democracy is what is of utmost concern to me.  That is my reason for sharing my thoughts.

NOTE:   I will often use “Black” and “White” not because either term is a real human distinction, but because it is a real construct in our country. I personally prefer to be referred to as Black rather than African American because it is one syllable and simple.

“ME! WE!”

Why I Think Democracy Will Win

By

Brian Allen

Muhammad Ali, when speaking to Harvard’s graduating Class of 1975, was asked from the audience to recite a poem, and “Me. We.” is what he came up with.   This is known as the world’s shortest poem, but it does pack a punch.  (See what I did there?)

In explaining it, Ali said, “… what I gained was the ability to see the world in something like the way God must see it. To understand that there are no distinctions of any real importance in the affairs of men, that there is only one time and one place and one person and one truth. And that we are all contained in that time and place and person, and that the truth contains us all.”

Who represented “One World” more than Ali?  It is the message of community and togetherness, what Ali stood for, that inspired me to share my thoughts on where we are as a country in the two years that have passed  since George Floyd lost his life to police violence.  This was a time, like 9/11/2001, when this country was “We.”

From that tragedy, I learned that I had numerous allies (members of the dominant caste), who with sincere intentions, wanted to know how to do better.  COVID took away people’s ability to look away, to ignore, and to rationalize what happened to Mr. Floyd, and it is important that we stay vigilant toward anti-racism.  It is no longer acceptable to stay silent, or even neutral.  My message to the multitude of friends looking for guidance was to improve their racial intelligence, because it creates empathetic ears, which leads to ally behavior.  

In order to manage this overwhelming demand, I actually started a private Facebook group called “My Allies” to provide a safe space to ask questions and discuss things without judgment, and to share ideas on how to fight racism.  If we can’t talk about it, we cannot eradicate it.

The more sinister form of racism is the unseen, which produces outcomes detrimental to people of color.  That ranges from written policy/laws to silence in the face of racism…when good people do nothing.

The most disappointing or disheartening exercise for me, especially during the previous administration, has been with people who I know love me and would probably take a bullet for me.  It has been their inability or unwillingness to try to figure out why, on a daily basis, I was not only more aware of my Blackness, but also more afraid because of my Blackness for the first time in my adult life.  They know my even temper, empathetic nature, and open-mindedness.  Why, when I would suggest ways to understand it more, would I just experience radio silence?  Is it shame, embarrassment, or denial?  Whatever it is, I’m not going to give up on them, because they are me, and I’m trying to get them to “we.”

Understanding Racism and Institutional Racism

Whether it’s people I know, or talking heads on TV, one of my pet peeves is a lack of true understanding of racism, which is a subset of institutional racism.  The often-used definition of racism revolves around intent and looks like the person wearing a hood, burning a cross, terrorizing people of color.  That is the easy-to-see definition, popular until the decade I was born when it became quite distasteful to suburban America.  It made it easier for people to absolve themselves of “that” disease or to deny they are taking part.  It had to evolve and become less obvious.

ACTION ITEM: PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELF ON INSTITUIONAL RACISM, RACISM, AND ANTI-RACISM 

The FBI Criminal Behavioral Analysis

Within the FBI, there is a position called a Supervisory Special Agent in the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), agents who are trained in deception detection.  In layman’s terms, they are human lie detectors.  They use training, verbal, and nonverbal cues to determine whether a suspect is telling the truth.  They are a vital and very respected profession within the organization.  It is a process that takes 7-15 years to even apply.  

Think about all the knowledge you gained between 1^st and 10^th grade.  Then, take those 7-15 years of experience, and add 20, 30, or 50 years to it.  But, instead of using that talent to fight crime, you use that talent to avoid professional roadblocks, micro-aggressions, physical harm, or even death. That is the Black experience when it comes to detecting racism.  It’s not 100% foolproof, but you get the point.  By instinct, I can walk into a room and pretty much pick out the allies as well as the others  who may not have my best interest at heart.  Thankfully, in most cases the latter are few.  

Getting back to the FBI Profilers.  Yes, I have some basic knowledge on whether someone is being truthful, but I would not sit in a room, with see-through glass and tell a Deception Detector if the subject is lying.  So, it is probably best to leave racism detection to those who have the years of knowledge and experience.

Let me expound.  From American history, personal-lived experiences, and statistics, my every day latent fear of terrorism has a White face, not a Brown, or Middle Eastern one.  But that same lived experience precludes me from assigning a negative stereotype to all White faces.  

Those White teenagers who threw firecrackers at me in elementary school were offset by the big Texans with the cowboy boots, and big belt buckle, cursing out other adults with White faces who said something derogatory to me in a Dallas hotel lobby.  Before that I was trembling inside because I had heard “How they are in Texas,” and learned a lifelong lesson at age 11. 

The White teenagers who chased me down the street in their car in Houston, TX, when I was 14, were undone by the Taylor family, a White family who took me and my brother in as if we were their own, when my single father had business trips. The Taylors taught me how to water ski and to love Austin.

The White teenagers during my senior year in high school, who called me the N word, and told me to go back to Africa, and threatened my well-being, were immediately negated by the White faces of my high school friends, who without a word, waited on a bus stop bench with me, letting me know they had my back and were ready to rumble if those guys returned.  These lived experiences have given me a heightened ability to be able to recognize allies and enemies adeptly.

I try to explain it to my friends of the dominant caste by starting with my favorite definition of White Supremacy.   What I say goes something like this…  

“You could go your whole life without meeting a Black person and be very successful.  The same is not true for me; I could not go my whole life without ever meeting a White person and thrive.  In fact, any successful person of color has had to interact on a “10,000 hour” level to succeed in a White world.  Until I was 14, I went to all White schools all over the country, but still had to endure the N word, threats to my life, firecrackers thrown at me as a child, and multiple driving-while-Black incidents, so my life experiences have made me “racially bilingual.”  Because there has been no need for you to live in my Black world, there is a natural blind spot for you.”

Then I follow that up with…

“When George Floyd died, so many of my good friends came to me for answers, I had to go back to school to get my ‘Race Masters Degree.’  I was almost embarrassed at how much I did not know about race in this country…how much was intentionally left out.  So, if we all went to the same schools, and I, as a Black man, was embarrassed about how much we didn’t learn in high school, is it possible that there might be room for you to become more informed?”

ACTION ITEM: INSTEAD OF TRYING TO PROJECT YOUR IDEAL OF WHAT RACISM IS OR ISN’T, RECEIVE THE PERSPECTIVE OF THOSE WHO HAVE THE LIVED EXPERIENCE

 Who Is “Us,” and Who is “Them?”

“Explaining racism to a White person is like trying to explain water to fish.” – Tim Wise

“Race” is such a complex word because, as it applies to DNA, it is a manmade construct created in this country in the 1600’s, when the plantation owners realized they were far outnumbered by the enslaved.  They had to create a social construct to engineer a “White” majority with those who, before then, were no better off than the enslaved and only categorized by their country of origin…English, Irish, German, Italian.  

These indentured servants were given horses and guns and were motivated by fear that the Black and Brown people (“them” from earlier) were the threat, not the power elites.  The reality was that the slaves and the White indentured servants had more in common (economic insecurity) than the indentured servants had with the plantation owners.  

Tim Wise, author of White Like Me, is considered to be one of the foremost intellectuals on anti-racism.  If you listen to any of his lectures, he usually discusses “the greatest hustle” the wealthy used on the others who looked like them. My favorite heartfelt lecture from Tim can be found on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_IBE94hh9s

This hustle is still alive and well today. The plantation owners and power elites have been replaced by politicians and power elites, who seem to maintain a caste system motivated by power and White supremacy.  I’m talking about the 1% of the one-percenters.  Think Trump, McConnell, Graham, DeSantis, Gaetz, Holly, Cruz, and those that support their supremist agendas.  It’s business suits instead of the “Colonel Sanders” outfits.

If we had a better grasp of our history, those people who stormed the Capitol on January 6^th would see that they were being used by the power elites, just as those who stormed the Capitol in Wilmington, NC in the 1890s, and those who fought in the Civil War to maintain the slave states for those power elites who benefitted most.

People of color, like me, and pretty much anyone not of color I know would be the “us,” even though the economic net is much wider than it was in the early stages of our country’s founding.  I have no one in that highest tax bracket that I break bread with.

ACTION ITEM: INSTEAD OF LABELING SOMEONE A REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT…CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL, START DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THE 1% OF THE 1% VERSUS THE REST OF US.  VOTING RIGHTS. GUN LAWS. HIGH GAS PRICES.  ABORTION BANS.  WHO BENEFITS AND WHO DOESN’T?

Zero Sum Gain

The generations-long practice of divide and conquer as it applies to race is getting those of the dominant caste to believe that if consideration is given to the subordinate caste, then those in the dominant caste give up something, or a lot of something. To those fighting diversity or social programs, giving to the marginalized makes the piece of the pie smaller for those who are advantaged.  Diversity, in my opinion, would produce a bigger pie.  Of course, my opinion is based on studies on economics (larger tax base), neighborhoods (multi-cultural enrichment), and education (better test scores and social awareness) that have all shown that diversity produces positive outcomes.

I contend that the piece of the pie does not get smaller with diversity.  I contend the pie gets bigger.

ACTION ITEM:  START ACKNOWLEDGING THE MEGA-WEALTHY IS WHERE PEOPLE’S IRE SHOULD FOCUS, NOT INTERETHNICALLY. 

 Living With Grace – What if We (dominant caste) become Them (subordinate caste)?

I’ve been under the tent long enough to know one of the major motivating factors of the extreme right movement is the fear of becoming the “minority” in this country.  Knowing exactly what the sentiment is about, I give the simple answer first: 

That would make those who fear being a minority, actually be one of “us” and we would all be in it together. 

Or is it… “I don’t want to become the minority because I know how I’ve treated them, or at the very least, how many have treated them”?  

Throwing away the obvious unintended self-admission, it tells me they have no one significant in their lives who has been marginalized.  

For the sake of this blog, I’m going to stick with what I feel about it.  To endure all that we have endured, and still thrive, it cannot have been done without grace.

                  Macro level – All of those kids who desegregated public schools showed grace in the face of rocks, spit, and racial epithets thrown at them.  Even as adults in hindsight, they reek of grace. 

              Micro level – My high school friend, whose parents disinvited me to his birthday party, is a current Facebook friend of mine and we correspond periodically.   To explicitly disinvite me because of ethnicity takes a special kind of racism.  They could have come up with 10 other excuses.  But even in the moment, I knew it wasn’t his decision.  If my ethnicity was an issue with him, I never would have been invited.  I’m sure the hurt and embarrassment of that stung him like it did me because it was perhaps the first time someone in his life did something he knew was not right.

So grace has been imbedded in our DNA since that first ship hit Jamestown in 1619.  Once the dominant caste becomes the minority, no one is going to start following you around in stores, or stopping you in your car for doing nothing, as we have endured.

Why Can’t We Just Move On And Stop Talking About The Past?

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is not just a quote from philosopher George Santayana when referencing the horrors of The Holocaust.  Those in the dominant caste, who are uncomfortable acknowledging our country’s past, conveniently want to celebrate the 4^th of July, and enjoy time off on “Columbus Day,” but talking about the dark side of our history often becomes taboo.  

That’s like buying a business because of its assets, but totally ignoring the debts.  

In my line of work people pay thousands of dollars for title insurance and hundreds of dollars for an appraisal to make sure there is nothing catastrophically wrong with a home.  But our country has had a shaky foundation since before it was a country, and many prefer not to talk about it, or just choose to ignore it like it’s going to go away.

ACTION ITEM:  LEARN YOUR REAL AMERICAN HISTORY BECAUSE IT IS DIRECTLY AFFECTING OUR TODAY AND OUR TOMORROW.

THERE ARE NO ABSOLUTES

The human condition seems to be, for things to make sense, that we have to pigeonhole people…put them in neat categories…prejudices.  The goal should be to acknowledge those prejudices, address them, and grow.  The world does not operate in the Black and White.  It operates in the gray.

My father’s favorite saying growing up was, “Racism should be a pebble in your shoe, not an albatross around your neck.”

CONSERVATIVES AND “STOP BLAMING THE WHITE MAN”

One of my problems with conservatives of any ethnicity are tropes like “You can’t blame the White man for your problems…you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps…you have to strive for Black excellence.”

I contend that the two are not mutually exclusive.  Any person of color who has excelled has not only acknowledged institutional racism but has adeptly circumnavigated it.  Any person of color in my immediate circle provides living examples that  racism is real, but it isn’t going to stop them from thriving.  

My basketball analogy is of my 6’ 10” teammate saying, “Stop blaming the tall people for your struggles in basketball!”

There was absolutely nothing physically I could do about it, so I used my physical “deficiencies” to my advantage…to blow by the taller players…to increase the arc…to make eye contact. my shorter stature could help him…get him the ball in the paint because he can’t dribble.  T-E-A-M!

The Southern Strategy and Its Grip on Society Today

As a country, we have had a history of White backlash with the progress of the Blacks.  Reconstruction brought The Black Codes, record lynchings, and the construction of statues and memorials to The Confederacy to demonstrate White supremacy.  The Civil Rights Movement brought about The Southern Strategy in the decade when I was born.  

As I have mentioned, blatant racism became unsavory to American sensibilities.   The triumvirate of George Wallace, Barry Goldwater, and Richard Nixon were the transition from bullhorn racism to dog-whistle racism, moving it into the gray palatable areas.  The politicians started using code words to appeal to that segment of the population who did not in favor the strides Blacks were making, especially with the Civil Rights Acts of 1964/1965.  That is the inflection point when Democrats (Dixiecrats) started moving over to the Republican Party.  Even candidates for governor, like Ronald Reagan, were the “early implementers,” using words like crime…tough on crime…law and order…young bucks…jungle paths…welfare queens…individual property rights…forced busing…states’ rights…immigration…illegal aliens…liberal.  

The backlash was in the form of the largest campaign of mass incarceration of people of color our country has ever seen, which continues today.

Please do not take my word for it.  Lee Atwater, a political consultant to Reagan, and Bush 41’s campaign manager 1988, spilled the beans in this interview he thought was off the record.:  https://youtu.be/X_8E3ENrKrQ

A protégé of Lee Atwater was Stuart Stevens, a Republican Political Consultant, and Media Advisor for Bush 43’s 2000 Campaign.  Showtime is currently running a 5 episode series that shows the through line of 50 years of dog-whistle politics.  Stevens, had a mea culpa, when faced with the presidency of Donald Trump, and created The Lincoln Project, a group of former Republican strategists whose sole purpose became to insure 45 wasn’t re-elected.  They definitely had an impact on the result of the 2020 election, but it was his introspection that was so revealing:

The Lincoln Project Episode 1/Minute 24 - “It’s all about race.  But, the whole Republican Party is all about race.  They seem to have given up pretending otherwise…The Republican Party has become a white grievance party.  There’s always been this element in the party.  I don’t think Trump made people more racist.  I think he made it ok to be racist.”

The Lincoln Project Episode 1/Minute 53 - “[Lee Atwater] He would hire somebody like me to really do the racism.  My first lesson in racial politics was in The Southern Strategy.  All politics is, at least certainly in the south, is played in the key of race.  So, our path to victory is to maximize White vote…It was playing the race card if I’m honest about it.  But, you’re able to convince yourself, that the danger of the other side, is greater than the flaws of the side that you’re for…I think that in many ways, we [The Lincoln Project] feel a sense of personal responsibility.  Who would believe this party, like this thing that you worked in, turned out to be, to some not insignificant degree, a force for evil?  I can’t say it’s not my fault.  The firm that I started was the most successful firm. I helped elect more than anybody else.”

What we are witnessing today is a direct result of the third major event of Black progress…the election of Barack Obama.  Pushback that brought about the Tea Party, the MAGA Movement, and all of the other far-right groups we are seeing today.  The lexicon of the dog whistle has been expanded with more “boogie man” terms like…”liberal media…radical left…build that wall…Black Lives Matter…woke…critical race theory.”  The last three were positive terms, and movements, in the Black community that were appropriated and weaponized by politicians.   

Critical Race Theory was the political response to the inarguable facts of George Floyd’s murder.  As a side note, anyone demonizing The 1619 Project hasn’t read it, because it discusses the heroes of all races fighting for freedom and equality.  When has critical thinking ever been a bad thing?  Why does adding “race” create hysteria?  When has banning books or not telling the truth ever been a good thing?  Answer: When elites who wanted to maintain power decided it was.

The hands of the Democratic Party are definitely not clean, but there is only one party that is a clear and present danger TODAY to this experiment called Democracy.  There is a segment of the population that will be unmoved by this blog post, but there is the majority of the population, I believe, who fear for the democracy, and the rights that are being taken away.  They/we just need to be empowered and encouraged to do something about it. 

By those charged with election security, 2020 was the most secure election ever. In four particular cases of voter fraud that I heard of, all voted for 45.  One of the four was a woman of color, a former felon, who was told she could vote by the election board, but then had it rescinded.  Which one of the four was put in jail? 

VOTE the election deniers out!  DON’T VOTE for the election deniers currently in office!  It’s never been about Democracy for them.  It has been about power.  We as citizens have the power to save this country from autocracy, and if Kansas is a bellwether, I truly have hope that we will do the right thing…be on the right side of history.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What has been most enlightening to me in these last 2+ years is the readily available facts about our history, that were suppressed in my public education.  It is a history that scholars have been documenting since the ‘60’s.  Here is a list of the books I have read since the murder of George Floyd, and the multi-cultural authors who have reinforced things I knew, and confirmed certain things I felt:

White Like Me – Tim Wise

Caste – Isabel Wilkerson

The 1619 Project – Nikole Hannah-Jones

The 1619 Project Born in The Water – Nikole Hannah-Jones

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man – Emmanuel Acho

Dog Whistle Politics – Ian Haney Lopez

The Sum of Us – Heather McGhee

The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander

White Fragility – Robin DiAngelo

White Rage – Carol Anderson

Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Myth of Race – Robert Wald Sussman

What Unites Us – Dan Rather

A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zen

Everything Trump Touches Dies – Rick Wilson

The End of Policing – Alex Vitale

The Warmth of Other Suns – Isabel Wilkerson

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction – Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic

Critical Race Theory – Caldwell Wagner

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? – Beverly Daniel Tatum

The Essential Kerner Commission Report – Jelani Cobb

Born A Crime – Trevor Noah

Copyright: Brian Allen, all rights reserved.

Contact Brian at Brian.Allen30@gmail.com

(The following piece by Elizabeth Arons, CEO of the Urban Schools Human Capital Academy, was also shared with Bellwether Education Partners.—Chuck Cascio)

THE CHALLENGES OF 2021 AS WE OPEN SCHOOLS

by

Elizabeth Arons

Chief Executive Officer

Urban Schools Human Capital Academy (www.ushcacademy.org)

earons@theushca.org

August is typically always the most challenging time for any public school district Human Resources/Human Capital/Talent Management office as the district gets ready to open schools. But in a “normal” year, these challenges are mostly predictable.  Districts can usually estimate the number of resignations and retirements of staff based on previous hiring years.  They often hire early, predicting roughly the same number of vacancies as in past years.  They also can estimate predictable leave of absence requests, likely numbers of new substitute teacher candidates, staffing needs based on class size ratios, and the list goes on.  

But this year is different.  Only a few months ago, it appeared the Covid-19 showed signs of waning.  Then the Delta variant took hold.   And HR/Talent departments nationwide are challenged in ways never before imagined.

Here are at least a few of the dilemmas causing HR/HC/Talent departments in school districts to be stuck:  

·      Will there be a larger number of vacancies as some teachers, especially those nearing retirement, decide not to return to in-person learning?  

·      Or will there be fewer vacancies or need for new hires if significant numbers of students have left the district or opt for remote learning?  

·      Should a district even offer the option of remote learning to accommodate those students who did better in that environment, or should they require all students to return to in-person learning, which many experts think is essential to better student outcomes. 

·      If they do offer remote learning, do the subject fields match the teachers who are requesting to teach remotely?  

·      How many teachers, principals, counselors, bus drivers, food service workers, etc.will apply for leaves of absence, fearing exposure to the virus, especially among younger, unvaccinated children?  

·      Should the district require vaccination for all employees, like a number of businesses are now doing?  If not, what happens if a staff member contracts the illness and exposes everyone, students included, to the disease. 

·      All things considered, should HR hire up or should they lay off employees?  

Those of us who support and advise Departments of Human Resources are equally challenged.  In pre-pandemic years, we have always advised them to “overhire” a bit at the start of the school year, anticipating last-minute vacancies or leaves of absence.  We also push hard to hire earlier in the Spring, when the candidate pools are largest and the applicants are better qualified.  HR has always had significant difficulty filling critical shortage fields – math, science, special education, Spanish, bilingual, computer science, etc.  – because traditional Schools of Education at colleges and universities don’t produce them. And to make matters worse, Schools of Education have been declining in enrollments for several years – down 15% - causing some urban and rural districts whom we serve to scramble even for typically oversubscribed fields like Elementary and Social Studies. 

Teachers have been significantly stressed during the pandemic, shifting rapidly to remote learning without adequate training, guidance, or revised materials.  Some adapted quickly, others were struggling the entire year.  In addition to shifting to remote instruction, many had a hybrid model, teaching some students in-person and simultaneously teaching others at home.  One of the most compelling reasons teachers stay in the profession is the love they have for interaction with their students, but that reason was certainly diminished during remote learning.  And as we look forward to school opening, the Delta variant is now challenging the likelihood that in-person learning will be the only mode of instruction for all students.  In addition to all the staffing challenges, most districts are gearing up for mental health issues that have been impacted during the pandemic for both staff and students, including loss of family members and friends to the disease.

While many of the districts we serve have been back to in-person learning this past year, the Delta variant has proven to be more contagious and presents even greater challenges than the original Covid-19 virus.  We wish we had easy answers to opening schools this year, answers to help guide our hard-working HR/HC/Talent divisions nationwide.  But our organization, like so many others, is taking one day at a time, following the science and hoping that once schools are open, all students and staff can adjust to whatever the circumstances are and stay safe.  

(For more information and updates on important education issues, visit www.ushcacademy.org or www.bellwethereducation.org)

(Copyright: Elizabeth Arons, all rights reserved.)

Recognizing the Sounds of Progress in Reading Fluency

(Comment by Chuck Cascio, owner of Blog On!: This piece is extremely important to consider in the ongoing discussion about how to creatively address the ongoing challenges of engaging students in reading and measuring their progress. I am honored to reprint it here. For more information about the unique work being done by Riveting Results, go to https://www.rr.tools)

Jessica Tess is the Assessment and Student Work Coordinator at Riveting Results. Prior to joining Riveting Results, she was a teacher and teacher-leader for 10 years in the Milwaukee area. 

In her role at Riveting Results, she directs a team of former teachers who score Fluency recordings in which high school students read complex text aloud. Within 24 hours, Jessica and her team of scorers return quantitative and qualitative feedback to students.In this post, Jessica discusses what happens to a student’s understanding of a text when they practice emphasizing certain words as they read aloud:

At Riveting Results, we score each recording based on just one feature of reading fluency. One of these features is the ability to emphasize certain words. We have found that students need to be able to show emphasis in order to ultimately read complex text with prosody, or expression. 

When teachers first utilize the Riveting Results Fluency Tool with their students, they are often confused by a positive score on an emphasis recording: “This doesn’t sound fluent to me—she overemphasizes the words—she sounds unnatural.”

That’s a totally fair comment. Teachers are used to looking for mastery—and, its opposite, any sign of a mistake.

Yet at Riveting Results we have found that practicing emphasizing words—even to the extent of overemphasizing them— helps high school students recognize how to change and manipulate their voices in a way that allows for more nuanced expression later on. 

Take, for instance, what we hear in Nicole’s First Recording, when she reads from page 304 of Langston Hughes’s The Big Sea. In it, you can hear her emphasize three words: “book,” “dormitory,” and “characters.” She emphasizes these words in a way that her teacher initially saw as signs of disfluency. 

But, if we aren’t so worried about Nicole’s mistakes, we can hear her start to show signs of expressive reading. Hear how she adds a syllable to “book” by rippling her voice. Hear her volume surge when she encounters “dormitory.” Finally, notice that her pitch heightens when she gets to “characters.” 

Nicole’s experimentation and practice, like jotting on scratch paper in math class, isn’t pretty yet, but it enables her to understand the impact of modulating her pitch, pacing, and volume. Over a couple of weeks of practice, she gains more and more control over her breathing and more ease in her expressive choices.  

Listen to this later recording in which Nicole emphasizes the words “ill,” “hated,” and “stomach.” Her confidence draws you in. She almost sounds sick herself when she emphasizes the word “ill.” Nicole’s bitter tone shows that she understands how much Langston Hughes hated his father. 

Practicing emphasis has enabled Nicole to build a bridge between reading the sounds of words on a page and the feelings that these words and phrases evoke in her. 

So let’s revisit that question: “What if the emphasis doesn’t sound natural?” My answer is: Practicing emphasis is part of a longer process of experimenting with reading aloud. Making these sometimes awkward recordings help students connect the sounds of the words to their meaning, and ultimately to their impact. Students who keep practicing reading with emphasis soon become better able to read fluently in a way that reveals the meaning and power of the text.

Copyright: Riveting Results, all rights reserved.

Questions? Comments? Write to chuckwrites@yahoo.com

(Note: I taught secondary school for 27 years in Fairfax County, VA, the nation’s 10th largest school district.--Chuck Cascio)

      President Joseph Biden has correctly called the fact that millions of school children are still unable to attend school in person due to the novel coronavirus a "national emergency." He and his staff are outlining ways to make the return happen as soon--and as safely--as possible. The need for vaccination of all school personnel--teachers, administrators, and support staff--should be at the very top of the list. That is why I think something that might be labeled the "National Staff Meeting for Educators" should be instituted immediately.

     The National Staff Meeting for Educators would require that all in-school personnel report to a school or schools that would be identified as vaccination centers over the course of approximately 10 days. As staff members are vaccinated, they would then be required to return to school (except in cases where mitigating health issues might compromise the vaccine's effectiveness). Since studies indicate that even the first dose of vaccine can provide up to 80% protection against the coronavirus, if other precautions such as mask wearing, social distancing, thorough cleaning of lavatories, cafeterias, and classrooms throughout the school day and other precautions are mandated in schools, then it makes sense to phase back in-class instruction.  The National Staff Meeting for Educators would then be repeated four weeks later so school personnel could receive their second dose.

      What the dreadful coronavirus has "revealed" to many parents and politicians is that teachers are actually "essential workers."  Comments in editorials, opinion pieces, and general conversation use that term daily in reference to teachers, but most often in the context of demanding that they return to in-school classes. So if there can be a slight bit of good news in the context of coronavirus life, it is that the stereotypical image of teaching is disappearing: Teachers do not simply just roll into their classrooms each day, prop their feet up on their desks, tell a roomful of attentive and obedient kids what to do, and eventually a bell rings and life goes on for everyone. 

    Under the leadership of President Biden, the country is establishing realistic precautions as we move toward reopening. The CDC has outlined logical steps, including the wearing of masks in schools; regularly screening students for symptoms; providing cleaning, disinfection, and hand hygiene protocols; and a detailed list of "Strategies for Protecting K-12 School Staff from COVID-19." 

     In Chicago, the nation's third largest school district, a tentative agreement between the school system and the teachers union has been reached, which proposes to vaccinate 1,500 Chicago Public School staff members each week under a new program developed during the collective bargaining process. That is definitely commendable, and it shows that districts and unions can reach a logical, safe approach to the reopening, but with thousands of in-school personnel in Chicago, more needs to be done…and it needs to be done more quickly. But at least Chicago has a possible model in place to build upon.

     Approximately half the states in the country have already started vaccinating their teachers, but the process is slow and the other half of the country is not responding to this educational emergency. If President Biden would adopt the National Staff Meeting for Educators and find a way to roll out, say, National Guard trucks filled with vaccines to the specified schools where educational staff members are to meet, get vaccinated and then return to their school buildings, it would speed up the entire process. In addition, it would emphasize what people are finally starting to realize:

TEACHERS ARE ESSENTIAL WORKERS!

(Copyright Chuck Cascio; All rights reserved, including use of the label "National Staff Meeting for Educators.")

chuckwrites@yahoo.com

Note from Chuck Cascio: Given the difficult issues facing educators today in the USA, I am presenting a series in which I contact established educators and request their insights, in their own words, on a number of vitally important education issues. Readers who would like to comment on the views expressed may email me at chuckwrites@yahoo.com. My Twitter handle is @ChuckCascio. Not all comments will be responded to by me and/or the individuals interviewed, but all will be read and, if appropriate, forwarded to others engaged in meaningful education reform. I am pleased to present as the third interview in this series of the views of Dr. James Upperman, whose profile follows:

Dr. James “Jim” Upperman was a teacher, principal, superintendent of schools and university professor during his 33 years in public education in Virginia. He completed his undergraduate degree at Bridgewater, VA, College, where he was a Dean’s List student and All American basketball player. Jim earned his M.Ed. from the University of Virginia in 1973, and his Ed.D. at Virginia Tech in 1995. As an Associate Professor at George Mason University from 2001-2017, Jim taught licensure classes in leadership studies in the masters and doctoral programs. In 1976, he was honored by the Virginia Jaycees as the “Outstanding Young Man of Virginia” and in 1999 was selected as the Northern Virginia Region Superintendent of the Year.

 >>>Recalling your own life as a student, going back as far as you would like, what do you remember as the most positive and most negative educational influences for you personally?

 I’ll always remember the long and scary early AM jaunt from the high school bus drop off to the locker room during my freshman year, when the list was posted with names of those who had made the basketball team. Observing the disappointment on the faces of others was difficult as I silently celebrated my own authentic surprise: A teacher/coach had selected ME to be a part of the team! I played very few minutes that first year but it didn’t matter. From that point forward, goal-setting became the norm for me and remains a major part of who I am today.

>>>Can you identify an educator (or educators) who provided you with uniquely positive insights into subject matter as well as teaching style? If so, please explain what made them unique.

I had so many exceptional teachers…but three high school educators had an indelible impact on my life. Ms. Cacciapaglia, Spanish teacher, taught me that language learning was both challenging and exciting, and might someday open doors that could change my life. Her skills in teaching a new language were in evidence as she moved through the classroom, maintaining eye contact as she repeated the sounds and rhythms that she expected us to master. I’ll always remember Tom Christie, business teacher and head baseball coach, who demanded excellence, persistence and attention to detail from all of those with whom he worked. It’s quite revealing that the personal letter he wrote to my parents after my senior year is still today one of my prized possessions.  And Clint Hannah, business teacher and head basketball coach, became personally invested in my development as an athlete and an individual, nurturing my growth during four years under his leadership and influence. 

>>>What do you see as the major challenges in education today?

One of the greatest challenges moving forward will be the recruitment, development and retention of school leaders and classroom teachers.  Wish it weren’t so, but the culture wars being  fought in our communities are here to stay. School board members and superintendents are now publicly threatened in unprecedented frequency, and their hires are squarely in the cross hairs of the chaos dividing our country. In a recent National Association of Secondary School Principals study, four in ten school principals stated that they would leave their current posts within three years. Hiring personnel is difficult enough, but the focus moving forward must be on development and retention. Resources to support great teaching should be differentiated and focused. And successful teachers should be publicly embraced and celebrated. Those master teachers and leaders who are the backbone of public schooling must be emboldened and supported, lest they become an endangered species. 

>>>Are standardized testing and traditional roles to teaching and evaluating in need of transformation and, if so, what should they look like?

It’s astonishing that we devote so little discussion to the evaluation methodologies employed in schools today. The undeniable moments when schools reconnect with taxpaying parents most often occur when content area tests are graded, when statewide testing results are released, and when grade-point averages are calculated. Therefore, schools must devote additional resources to the design of clear, measurable rubrics that reflect the learning targets in each classroom. It is essential that locally designed and developed evaluation methods are connected to statewide learning benchmarks that encourage transparency and comparison. 

If we expect student achievement to improve across the country, national standards that are state-supported must become a reality. Just as engaged students learn from each other in dynamic classrooms, the best teachers and schools grow by understanding and replicating best practices. 

>>>Who should have the final say in what is taught in schools?

Love this question! This has recently re-emerged as a hot button, campaign issue in my state (Virginia) as well as others across the country. It is widely accepted that public schools must be responsive to the public, and should incorporate practices that involve parents in meaningful ways.WHAT is taught in the classroom should be driven by curricula that are jointly developed by learning specialists, administrators, teachers, and, yes, parents who serve on such committees in many districts.  Decisions regarding WHEN and HOW approved curriculum is taught should be the domain of teachers, who observe and understand the strengths and deficiencies of the students in their care.

I proudly remember the kindergarten teacher whose class I visited during the first year of my superintendency. Her learning environment was electric, with so many balls in the air that it was impossible to imagine that kids with such varied experiences and skills could thrive and grow. But learn and thrive they did, a fact I know because I observed this cohort of students throughout my twelve years as CEO. This group of students was doing much more than mastering tests. As they moved through the system, they were becoming student leaders in clubs and other organizations. 

It was clear to me that one exceptional, highly creative teacher had worked her magic to leave a mark on those that she touched. And she did it her way, involving parents and the community as a whole in the growth of her students. Parents became her cheerleaders, encouraging and enabling her as she continued to touch lives. This exceptional teacher is far from the only one. Many more teachers like her are out there stimulating learning every day, and they must be encouraged, recognized, and supported by school leaders and communities.

Copyright: Chuck Cascio and James Upperman; all rights reserved.

Send your thoughts to chuckwrites@yahoo.com

Note from Chuck Cascio: Given the difficult issues facing educators today in the USA, I have been running a series in which I contact established educators and request their insights, in their own words, on a number of vitally important education issues. Readers who would like to comment on the views expressed may email me at chuckwrites@yahoo.com. My Twitter handle is @ChuckCascio. Not all comments will be responded to by me and/or the individuals interviewed, but all will be read and, if appropriate, forwarded to others engaged in meaningful education reform. I am pleased to present as the eighth interview in this series the views of Marc Cascio, my son whose extensive career in education has included a number of key roles that have provided him with unique insights. Marc's profile follows:

 My son Marc Cascio has worked for Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools, the same system in which he was educated, for nearly 30 years, beginning as an Instructional Assistant in the Prescriptive Learning Program that brought problematic students together with students who weren’t proficient with the English language. His second role in the classroom came the following year when, at 22 years old, he worked as an Instructional Assistant with a teacher whom he describes as "a caring, competent professional." Marc then took a position in the Safety and Security Office of the same school, spending the next five years in that role, a “job that provided a deep understanding of what goes on behind the scenes of a typical American high school." 

Marc completed his Masters Degree in education at night and then student-taught at the same school where he had been working. Of his student-teaching experience, he says, "I couldn’t have had a better mentor teacher; he was very complimentary to me, while simultaneously helping me straighten out some of the rougher edges of my teaching style." In the middle of the school year, Marc was hired at another school as a full-time faculty member to replace two teachers, one who had died and another who had resigned, beginning his novice instructional career with over five ninth grade English classes. After several years, he moved to a school that he calls "pretty much one of the crown jewels of the county as far as educational achievement and affluence go." He continues to teach there, a school he says he loves. 

Over the course of his dynamic career, Marc has taught every level of ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade English; AP English Language and Composition; English for Secondary Language Learners; and Speech and Debate in addition to coaching high school boys JV soccer, boys varsity soccer, girls varsity soccer, and JV and varsity wrestling. As Marc says in reflecting upon his career, "While I wouldn’t say I am a leader, I can definitely say that I know the educational landscape of high schools very, very well!"

Help spread the word: #TransformEducation

>>>Recalling your own life as a student, going back as far as you would like, what do you remember as the most positive and most negative educational influences for you personally?

I think I had a relatively uncommon experience growing up and going through the school years. Even though I probably never lived more than ten miles away from where I was born, I somehow managed to go to six different schools before graduating from high school. I started my elementary school going to what would be considered a low-income school. Although some of the experiences there only remain in my memory because of the violence (one day a boy in my first grade class physically fought the principal--and he gave him a pretty good battle!), I remain grateful to a teacher there named Mrs. Berger who diagnosed me with an issue that looked and sounded a lot like dyslexia. I recall being pulled out of regular classes and having to go to this thing called SULA (an acronym for “Step Up Language Arts”) and went on to become an English major, an English teacher, and a freelance writer who has sold plenty of articles. 

That was a LONG time ago (I am 51 now!), but it introduced a constant in the education I received throughout my elementary, middle, and high school years: I wasn’t all that interested in most subjects, as painful as that is to admit, BUT when I had teachers who I really wanted to impress and who I felt really cared about me individually, I would want to please them. The impact of personality had a great deal to do with what kind of effort I put out. So, as a teacher now, I try to be friendly, outgoing, and understanding. That probably means that kids pull the wool over my eyes sometimes, but I would still rather be the way I am than a stodgy “Sage on a Stage.” Life is too short for that, and you don’t get to maintain the relationships with students if you act that way. 

As a teacher for nearly three decades now, I have to also say that my earliest elementary experience was valuable to me in that it taught me how important school leadership was. I have worked at some very rough schools and some very tame and affluent ones, and kids are kids. If a potentially bad environment is managed by an astute, dedicated, and conscientious administrative team, the teachers are happy and so are the students. The micromanagers and/or the ones who just feel their fingerprints have to be on everything can turn even the most functional schools into a hot mess. 

>>>Can you identify an educator (or educators) who provided you with uniquely positive insights into subject matter as well as teaching style? If so, please explain what made them unique.

I could do this with several, but I am going to pick one whom I remember very well and whose class I loved to attend. The teacher’s name was Beryl Bolton, and I had her for a Sociology class that was an elective. Mrs. Bolton was amazing: she was energetic, she laughed constantly, and she was remarkably adept at presenting really complex issues in a manner that made us examine them from all sides. We had quite a mix of personalities in that class including some kids who were problematic for other teachers, but nobody wanted to make Mrs. B. angry. I still have friendships with people I hadn’t previously met until meeting them in that class 35 years ago! 

>>>Has the remote learning that started as a result of the pandemic become entrenched as a new direction that education will take and, if so, could it have a positive impact?

The pandemic break was awesome for me because it gave me the chance to learn technology that I never would have learned had it not occurred. I hate to admit it, but I was content with the way I was doing things because I had always done them “that way” and my perception was that it would take a Herculean effort to teach this old dog new tricks. Man, was I wrong! Educational technology is probably the one aspect of education that I can say has evolved appropriately with the times. Real time surveys, instantly observable answers from myriad students, and the utter joy of self-grading tests have made lessons so much more engaging and has taken some of the strain off of teachers as far as grading goes. 

I think every teacher I know would say that creating lessons is more fun than it ever has been and when you are having fun, it doesn’t seem like work. I love watching students really engage in lessons, and technology is an inexorable part of that. Plus, we all HAD to learn it just to survive, and it turned out to be a hell of a lot easier than I thought it was going to be! 

>>>Do you think the holistic method of student evaluation that seems to be taking hold is as effective as the more traditional, categorical evaluation that used to be the norm? Please explain why or why not.

Yes! I hope someday grades are just gone and we teach kids using benchmarks or something similar. As it is, the grading scale in my county has become all but useless. The scale is now 50-100. There are so many problems with that that I can’t even begin to detail them because they all dovetail into each other. 

I would love to see students learn through action! Let’s say we give students a murder mystery: You could include physics in by looking at blood spatter (gross, I know), you could teach biology through DNA evidence, you could get English in by creating faux press releases, etc. 

Three in five kids are obese in America and seventy percent are considered sedentary based on data supplied by students themselves, but what do we do with them at school? We plunk them into chairs in the same manner kids were treated in the 1800s. Is there any wonder we see so many ADD and ADHD issues? There are better ways to learn, better ways to create productive students, and better ways to assess students than what we have. Just take a look at how creative companies like Pixar run their businesses—if you do, you will wonder why we are so archaic in our teaching and assessing methodologies. 

>>>Are standardized testing and traditional roles to teaching and evaluating in need of transformation and, if so, what should they look like?

Yep. They should be bailed on, and we should start anew. The first thing that should happen is that we should invest money in ways that benefit all students. People hate it when I say this, and even my own dad (LOL) somewhat disagrees with me, but I feel we should get rid of high school sports (and remember, I was a coach!) for several reasons: 

1.With the surging importance of club sports, many high school sports have ceased being an avenue to collegiate athletics. Many high level athletes view high school sports as being “just for fun” which further emphasizes how unfair it is that they are funded by the entire tax base.

2.High school sports are funded by all taxpayers, but only those whose children make teams enjoy the benefits of them. 

3.They also use funds that could be applied elsewhere. 

Instead, I believe with the funds saved by eliminating high school sports, every school could be given top-notch exercise equipment with enough variety to meet the needs of every student. In that manner, the taxpayers’ money would benefit all students and the undeniable link between physical activity and academic achievement would be addressed much more efficiently. For example, the athletic fields could be changed into agricultural fields, and kids could learn nutrition, math, biology, horticulture, botany etc., while creating farm-to-table food situations for the schools. 

There are so many ways to do things better—all we need to do is to admit that what we are doing is antediluvian and look for realistic ways to change things for the better. 

>>>What can be done to encourage people to go into teaching or other areas of education?

As much as I have enjoyed my career I am reluctant to recommend it to anyone. I have three children, and the financial strain of affording a family on a teacher’s salary can be taxing on every aspect of life. In my nearly thirty years as a teacher, I have never worked just one job. I have always had to supplement my income, and even then my family and I have never been on a vacation for just the five of us. By the time we pay for everything we need to pay for, there just isn’t enough money left to take a vacation.  The only way to entice people into this profession is to pay them more. 

People SAY they value teachers, but recently in my county a restaurant tax was proposed and the revenue was supposed to bolster teachers’ salaries. The tax was voted down. It seems that saving a few dollars while going out to eat was more important to the majority than keeping quality people in education. What does that tell you? 

>>>Looking first at K-12 and then at higher education, name at least three things that you hope will occur within the next two years to help strengthen them.

Get rid of standardized tests, update assessment methods, and begin having REAL conversations about how to make U.S. education better. 

Copyright: Chuck Cascio and Marc Cascio; all rights reserved.

Comments? Please write to chuckwrites@yahoo.com

Note from Chuck Cascio: Given the difficult issues facing educators today in the USA, I have been running a series in which I contact established educators and request their insights, in their own words, on a number of vitally important education issues. I am pleased to present as the fourth interview in this series of the views of Dr. Arthur E. Wise, whose profile follows. Readers who would like to comment on the views expressed may email me at chuckwrites@yahoo.com. My Twitter handle is @ChuckCascio. Not all comments will be responded to by me and/or the individuals interviewed, but all will be read and, if appropriate, forwarded to others engaged in meaningful education reform. Help spread the word with: #TransformEducation

Dr. Arthur (“Art”) E. Wise is an accomplished education author, consultant, policymaker, executive, and advocate. Throughout his career, Art has used the tools of educational research, policy, and advocacy to advance education for poor and minority students. An author of several influential books, he has had hundreds of articles published, first achieving national prominence in 1968 as the author of Rich Schools, Poor Schools: The Promise of Equal Educational Opportunity, a book that conceived the idea of the school finance reform lawsuit. Since then, a majority of state supreme courts have ordered the equalization of state school finance systems, boosting spending in poor districts and narrowing the disparity with affluent districts. As president of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) from 1990 to 2008, Art introduced performance-based accreditation and led efforts to develop a system of quality assurance for the teaching profession. He has also held positions—among others—at the RAND Corporation's Center for the Study of the Teaching Profession; the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, where he helped create the cabinet-level Department of Education; and the University of Chicago as associate dean and associate professor of education.

>>>What inspired your career as a leader in education?

     While I am uncomfortable with the designation "leader,” my aspiration to improve the chances of less fortunate children was set at an early age, or so it seems in retrospect.  I grew up in the Roxbury section of Boston as it evolved from an all White working class neighborhood to an all Black neighborhood.  Observing the challenges of this transition and watching on TV the disturbances produced by desegregation efforts in the South, I resolved to dedicate my career to public service. At age 17, I left Roxbury and entered Harvard College thinking that I would become a social worker. As my perspective broadened, I concluded that client-oriented social work would not have enough impact to satisfy my aspirations. In college, my coursework in social sciences, my research assistantships at the Harvard Center for Cognitive Studies, and my observations of education leaders caused me to focus on educational research, policy, and leadership in order to influence the course of education for poor and minority students. 

     As I considered my options I formulated an audacious, even arrogant, plan: I thought, rightly or wrongly, that the traditional path of a program in teacher preparation followed by several years of teaching would actually slow my drive to influence education. Besides, as an ROTC graduate, I faced a two-year military obligation to be served whenever I completed my studies. So I decided to save time by trying to enter a PhD program in what was then called “educational administration.” The University of Chicago took a chance on this "non-traditional" candidate and admitted me to a program designed to prepare professors of education administration. Upon completion of the program, I entered the U.S. Army where I served as assistant director of research at the United States Military Academy, West Point. Upon completion of this service, I was on my way to fulfilling my aspirations, although the precise goals I would pursue and the specific career trajectory I would follow were uncertain. And, as a practical matter, my ideals would have to be pursued in parallel with my need to support my family.  

>>>Identify a couple of accomplishments that you and/or members of your school and/or organization achieved that you feel have had a lasting impact on education.

     My first, and perhaps most lasting, “accomplishment” happened early—in 1963-64, my first year of graduate school. I was enrolled simultaneously in courses in School Law and School Finance. In the law class, we were studying, among other matters, Brown v. Board of Education and related cases concerned with desegregation and the legal reality that schools and school funding are a state responsibility. Among the topics we were studying in the finance class were the large discrepancies in funding between rich school districts and poor school districts. I began to wonder:  

     While desegregation was important, how educationally appropriate was it for Black students to be desegregated into poorly funded schools? For that matter, why should the state be able to discriminate against poor and minority students in the allocation of state funds? Is the denial of equitable school funding a further denial of the equal educational opportunity promised in Brown?  Is unequal educational funding even legal under state law?

     These questions became the basis of a term paper in the law class. My professor, Donald Erickson, was intrigued by the argument and, as the editor of a journal, published my paper Is Denial of Equal Educational Opportunity Constitutional? in 1965. The paper was the first published suggestion that courts might declare existing school finance laws unconstitutional as a matter of Federal and State Constitutions and Laws. The paper attracted some attention and, when it was time for my doctoral dissertation, I felt compelled to develop the argument more fully.  Studying just enough law, I completed my dissertation: The Constitution and Equality: Wealth, Geography and Educational Opportunity in 1967. 

     With a deep sense of relief that I had completed my studies, I left for the Army that year. However, the dissertation did not sit on the shelf for long.  The University of Chicago Center for Policy Studies held a conference to discuss its implications in 1968 and the University of Chicago Press published it in 1969 as Rich Schools, Poor Schools: The Promise of Equal Educational Opportunity. Even before its publication, word of the book began to spread, lawsuits were filed, and other advocates and scholars joined the fray. Four years later, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered its 5-4 decision, upholding the status quo but noting explicitly that there was inequity in public school finance and that the Court’s decision did not preclude state courts from acting on state grounds. Thirteen days later, the New Jersey Supreme Court invalidated that state’s school funding scheme.  

     From that day to the present, nearly every state has had one or more lawsuits with more than half favoring the interests of children in poor school districts. Today, the cases remain controversial, as advocates continue to seek equity for poor and minority students and advocates for wealthy students seek to maintain their privileged position in the public schools of their states. 

     A second major concern of mine took shape in the 1970’s when I noticed a not too subtle shift in the use of standardized testing. Prior to then, standardized tests were used primarily to make judgments about individual students, an assessment external to the classroom, to determine whether a student had learned the material taught and/or was ready to move on to more advanced work. Later, at the national level, the National Assessment for Educational Progress, the Scholastic Aptitude Tests, and others were aggregated to provide a high level picture of national and state trends. Beginning in the 1960’s, however, state policymakers began to engineer systems of “accountability” which used collective results on standardized tests to judge teachers, principals, and schools. In 1979, in Legislated Learning: The Bureaucratization of the Classroom, I warned that this use of test results to manage the schools would ultimately narrow the curriculum, turn teachers into bureaucrats, incentivize corrupt behavior and drive the joy out of teaching and learning.

     Needless to say, my warning was largely ignored. State governments and then the Federal Government enacted more accountability legislation culminating in the No Child Left Behind Act and took other measures to evaluate teachers and schools by grouping test results. From the 1960’s to the 2010’s, as accountability legislation was implemented, educators and even some policymakers noticed that the managerial use of test results was not improving education and was having the predicable negative consequences. The trend continued until 2015 when the Federal Government enacted the Every Child Succeeds Act, which has begun to roll back some of the dysfunctional managerial use of standardized testing.  

     A third concern of mine also took shape in the late 1970’s.  I had long believed that the quality of a student’s education depended on the quality of the student’s teacher, an observation shared by most educators and parents and confirmed by research. Through my research and the research of others, it also became clear to me that teaching talent is not randomly distributed and, instead, follows predicable socio-economic patterns.  What I think we should do about these two observations will be discussed below.

>>>What do you see as the major challenges in education today?

      Of the major challenges facing education today, I will mention one that is often overlooked and lies at the core of others. We have forgotten why states established public schools. States established schools primarily as a benefit to the state, a way of promoting the general welfare. State constitutions and laws make it clear that the state establishes schools and requires attendance to protect itself (i.e. the rest of us) from the consequences of those who cannot properly exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, contribute to the economy, or who run the risk of becoming a public charge or criminal.  Secondarily, schools thereby—and incidentally—provide private benefits to the individual. Over time, however, the accepted view has become that schools exist primarily to provide private benefits to individual students so they can compete in our economy. Education has become a consumption commodity with student consumers or their parents buying as much as they can afford. This view flies in the face of the rationale for the common public school, which is to develop all students according to shared American values.  Since the public purpose is now secondary at best, it also leads down the slippery slope to the use of public funds to support vouchers, tax credits, and private non-sectarian and religious schools.   

>>>What do you consider to be the appropriate line between politics and education--including the role of Federal, state, and local governments as well as school boards--in establishing standards, content, and policy, particularly in K-12 public education? 

     When I think about the governance structure for public education in America, I despair. We have three levels of general government—Federal, State, and Local—each with three branches—legislative, executive and judicial—and each of which can, and does, set directions for the public schools. In addition, we have three levels of education government, each of which has multiple structures to direct public schools—US Department of Education, Secretary of Education; state board of education, chief state school officer, and state department of education; and, finally, local board of education and local superintendent. It is a wonder that it works at all. In our legal structure, schools are creations of the state that the state has authorized to operate locally. Early 20th Century reforms sought to remove education from partisan politics by creating state and local boards of education. How has that separation fared in the 21st Century?  Under the Constitution’s General Welfare Clause, the US Government, in the mid-twentieth Century, began to expand its inherent powers over the schools.  It is a wonder that the schools can operate at all.  I will make no specific recommendation here except to urge that those who choose to influence education be mindful of their place in this complex and uniquely American governance structure.

>>>What makes you optimistic about education when you look ahead for the next 3-5 years and what concerns you the most over that time period?

     I have always approached education as an optimist, though that optimism is being seriously tested these days. There is one trend in American education that has had, and will continue to have, an upward trajectory. We are all familiar with the term “gross domestic product,” which is the value of goods and services produced by a nation. Imagine now the “gross educational product” which would be the value of all the knowledge and skill acquired by students pre-K to post-graduate. Formally calculating the GEP would be a tremendous and difficult undertaking. A crude approximation would be the number of years of schooling acquired by an ever-growing population. 

     In the beginning education was for the elite.  As democratic norms took hold, more and more students had at least a few years of schooling. As norms shifted, mandatory education was accepted, high school graduation became expected, most graduates entered some form of tertiary education, college graduation became fairly widespread, the number of fields requiring masters degrees increased and professional preparation programs lengthened. At one end of the spectrum pre-school is likely to become universal. At the other end, internships and post-doctoral studies become more widespread. How sanguine we should be about this trend is debatable, but so far there are few signs of a decrease in the growth of education.  In all likelihood this trend, along with population growth, will continue along with the demand for teachers, professors and other educational personnel.  

>>>What would you consider to be the single most important key to positive transformation of education in the US?

      For me the key to improving the quality of education has been, and remains, the transformation of teaching into a profession. By “profession” I mean that the title “teacher” signify readiness to teach independently. The system of quality assurance for teaching has too many “by-passes” for the public to have confidence that everyone bearing the title “teacher” is ready to teach. Many teachers are graduates of accredited teacher preparation institutions, licensed (in some states) by a rigorous licensing process and have completed a supervised internship or closely mentored first year of teaching. Others begin with little or no preparation. At times of adequate teacher supply, states make teacher licensing more rigorous. At times of inadequate supply, like now, they lower standards to find an adequate supply. We must have a system of quality assurance that signals to the public that all teachers have been determined to be ready to teach independently. 

     This rigorous licensing system must be balanced with commensurate compensation and conditions of work.  The marketplace for teaching labor must be allowed to operate freely to determine the level of compensation necessary to attract a sufficient supply of qualified teachers. This fundamental economic lesson from business has rarely been introduced to teaching; salaries must be such that the supply of labor matches the demand for labor, without reducing the quality of that labor. In addition, the structure of the profession and the teaching workplace must be made more attractive so teaching can compete for the services of top college graduates. As long as there is a shortage, poor and minority students will be assigned “inferior substitutes.” If the supply of teachers is adequate, then all students, including those in urban and rural schools, will be taught by competent professional teachers. If this happens, poor and minority students, as well as other students, will all be taught by competent professionals. 

     Attracting and retaining qualified teachers has long been a challenge.  However, in today’s political environment, we can expect the challenge to increase.  The need for strong independent professional teachers has never been greater.  We need a strong profession of teaching. 

Copyright: Chuck Cascio and Arthur Wise; all rights reserved.

For comments and/or reprint permission, email: chuckwrites@yahoo.com

TRANSFORMING EDUCATION TODAY
(Seventh in a Series of Interviews with Education Leaders)
Featuring Wendell Byrd

 

Note from Chuck Cascio: Given the difficult issues facing educators today in the USA, I have been running a series in which I contact established educators and request their insights, in their own words, on a number of vitally important education issues. Readers who would like to comment on the views expressed may email me at chuckwrites@yahoo.com. My Twitter handle is @ChuckCascio. Not all comments will be responded to by me and/or the individuals interviewed, but all will be read and, if appropriate, forwarded to others engaged in meaningful education reform. I am pleased to present as the seventh interview in this series the views of Wendell Byrd, former elementary school teacher, coach, and education entrepreneur who has dedicated his career to all aspects of education. Wendell's profile appears below:

Wendell Byrd, a renowned teacher for 31 years at Hutchison Elementary School in Herndon, VA, in 2003 founded the non-profit Readers Are Leaders, a program that trains high school athletes to tutor elementary school students in reading. The program's goal is to "promote growth for both our student-athletes and our young readers" and the statistics it has achieved in improving student reading skills are truly impressive. As head basketball coach at South Lakes High School in Reston, VA, Wendell amassed more than 450 victories, nine district championships, and six regional championships. Wendell continues to apply his coaching and teaching skills to his Readers Are Leaders program. For more information about Reader Are Leaders, and to make a donation, go to https://www.readersareleadersnonprofit.org.

Help spread the word: #TransformEducation

>>>Recalling your own life as a student, going back as far as you would like, what do you remember as the most positive and most negative educational influences for you personally?

My most positive influences as a student would be two people, one in elementary school and one in high school: 

In 1964, schools in the City of Falls Church, VA, became integrated.  I attended Madison Elementary for fifth and sixth grades (one of five Black students in the school).  At the end of fifth grade I was named co-captain of the patrols. During those times each school would send their captain(s) to a patrol camp for developing young leaders. Mr. Chuck Koryda, our principal, provided all of the paperwork to share and to be signed by our parents (the camp was held in southern Maryland). After returning the paperwork a few weeks later, Mr. Koryda called me down to his office and said, “There is a problem with camp--I was told that they will not allow Black students to attend.”  He followed up with, “So I will find a camp were you and Larry (the other co-captain) can attend together.”  

We sat there a while talking about how important it is to see people for who they are, not by what they look like. I learned a lot from Chuck Kordya in my two years at Madison, encouraging me to be the best. And, believe it or not, Chuck Koryda became my principal at Hutchison Elementary in Herndon, VA, for a few years where I taught for 31 years!

Second of the positive influences would be Bernie Bronstein, a teacher in 1966 at George Mason High School, also in Falls Church, VA.  Bernie and I made a connection the first day we met.  He was the true definition of a mentor – a person that teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced younger person. I was lucky to have Bernie in my life to share so many life lessons with me.  Our relationship continued to grow throughout high school and college, and he remains a life-long friend.

When I became a teacher/coach I was determined to always be the best example and provide the needed support to all of the students that I came into contact with.

>>>Can you identify an educator (or educators) who provided you with uniquely positive insights into subject matter as well as teaching style? If so, please explain what made them unique.

I was very fortunate to work with many outstanding educators.  In 1975, I started my career in teaching at Hutchison Elementary in Herndon, VA.  It was a brand new school and the principal was unique in staffing—half the staff were women and half were men.  I was teamed with a veteran teacher, Kay Bean, and she became a mentor and friend.  In education, teaching styles and strategies come and go (the vicious circle).  Good educators like Kay, would take the good out of all of the styles and strategies and provide their classrooms with the best learning situation. 

>>>What inspired your career as a leader in education?

Being surrounded by strong educators who were in the profession with the main goal of supporting all students.

>>>Who should have the final say in what is taught in schools?

Final say has to come from elected leaders who should have a heartbeat of what is going on in their district.  That is why voting for representatives who meet your needs is essential.  Your School Board should be listening to administration, teachers, parents and, really, their community as a whole.  They are elected to make the best overall decisions for everyone. 

>>>Should high school and college students be encouraged to participate in internships to help enrich their learning? If so, what can be done to stimulate this participation?  

Yes, I agree that high school and college students should be encouraged to participate in internships to help open their eyes to a great profession. High schools should promote “Teaching Clubs” and provide opportunities for those students to intern under strong professionals who will endorse the educational field (and not just have them grade papers!).  

 Copyright: Chuck Cascio and Wendell Byrd, all rights reserved.

TRANSFORMING EDUCATION TODAY
(Sixth in a Series of Interviews with Education Leaders)

Featuring Lindsay Trout

 Note from Chuck Cascio: Given the difficult issues facing educators today in the USA, I have been running a series in which I contact established educators and request their insights, in their own words, on a number of vitally important education issues. Readers who would like to comment on the views expressed may email me at chuckwrites@yahoo.com. My Twitter handle is @ChuckCascio. Not all comments will be responded to by me and/or the individuals interviewed, but all will be read and, if appropriate, forwarded to others engaged in meaningful education reform. I am pleased to present as the sixth interview in this series of the views of elementary school principal Lindsay Trout, recipient of the 2021 Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools Principal of the Year Award as well as a Best of Reston (VA) honor. Lindsay’s profile appears below:

For the past 10 years, Lindsay Trout has served as the principal of Terraset Elementary School in Reston, VA, the school she attended as a child. Her passion as an educator started as an elementary school special education teacher in Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools. Lindsay coached high school basketball and soccer at South Lakes High School in Reston before becoming a special education and leadership teacher there, which is also her high school alma mater. After earning a Masters in Educational Leadership from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, Lindsay became an assistant principal at South Lakes. When Lindsay became eligible to seek a principal position, she was selected to fill that opening at Terraset. Lindsay prides herself in a lifelong mission of giving back to the children and families of Reston, because she says the lessons she was “showered with there hugely impacted the servant leader” she strives to be every day. 

Help spread the word with:#Transform Education

>>>Can you identify an educator (or educators) who provided you with uniquely positive insights into subject matter as well as teaching style? If so, please explain what made them unique.

When I think of “those” two teachers whose way of teaching profoundly impacted me as a human being and future educator, I discover a common theme: authenticity. I was lucky enough to have the same teacher, Ms. Anne O’Hara, in third grade and part of fourth at Spring Hill Elementary in McLean, VA. She was a mom first and a teacher a close second. What made me want to be my best self was how she emulated being “real.” She often shared how her high school-aged daughter did in her track meets, and occasionally her son would run by the classroom window during the school day. She laughed at herself; she laughed with us; she cried and showed us how to always have space for emotions while we learned about the State of Virginia, played (competitive) kickball, or stuck up for each other in the cafeteria. Because of these lessons, we wanted to do our best and be our best…and for me, that meant wanting to be a teacher—just like her. 

Similarly, when I was a junior at South Lakes High School in Reston, VA, I had the great fortune of being chosen for the newly formed Leadership Class. The class was unique to South Lakes with no established countywide curriculum; therefore, the curriculum and focus was left to the teacher, Mrs. Faye Cascio. Our first assignment of the year set the tone that this was going to be a space of vulnerability as a way of learning authenticity. Like all exemplary educators, Mrs. Cascio modeled the “work” for this assignment. We were to bring in a song that revealed something about us/our lives/our paths as a way of introducing ourselves to each other…a way of creating a powerful classroom community. Mrs. Cascio was not above this work; rather, she courageously shared a song (a Kathy Mattea song, I still remember it!) that expressed the difficult, yet hopeful, time that was her current reality. We walked into that special classroom as strangers, and through her raw vulnerability we were instantly committed to each other, ourselves, and the work of servant leadership. (And that’s not easy to do with 22 self-absorbed teenagers!)

>>>What inspired your career as a leader in education?

When I was 13 my mom went back to school at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA to get her teaching degree in physical education. As a student in that program, she had the opportunity to volunteer at a huge Special Olympics Track and Field meet. I asked if I could go with her to volunteer. When we arrived and checked in, we were told that we were designated “huggers” and that I was assigned to any and all athletes in Lane 4 on the track. A few races in, an eight-year old named Chuckie came through the finish line in his wheelchair powered by a lever on the right side of his cheek because he was born without arms or legs. Chuckie’s affect was flat—no smile, no glimmer in his eyes and the second I lifted away from the hug I gave him, I decided I was going to stay with him through his events until he smiled. I abandoned Lane 4, checked Chuckie’s schedule of events and together we went from one event to the next. Finally we were at the softball throw station where he took his spot next to a catapult device that he could operate with his head and neck. He hoisted back the catapult, released it and that softball launched, and so did his smile for the first time all day.

After the event, Mom and I got back into her Oldsmobile Omega and I said, “Mom, I want to be a special education teacher.”

>>>Identify a couple of accomplishments that you and/or members of your school and/or organization achieved that you feel have had a lasting impact on education.

When I taught leadership in Mrs. Cascio’s footsteps at South Lakes High School, some of my students with special needs were part of the class. It was an ‘integration’ that most students had not been privy to before. Students with significant intellectual disabilities and students with severe physical impairments were integral members of our classroom community rooted in servant leadership. I created safe spaces and opportunities for students to tell their own stories about what it is like to have severe cerebral palsy or to have learning difficulties. We learned profound lessons like how to be comfortable in really long wait times so that students could attempt (and often fail) intelligible speech only to be relegated to an assistive communication device in order to participate in a classroom discussion. 

Students learned that sometimes it is blatantly obvious what someone has to offer to a situation or a cause and sometimes it takes locking arms, opening ears and being patient to learn what special contribution a person can make. As a result of living (not just learning) servant leadership, students learned to act when there was a need—a lesson I believe many of them took with them into their post-high school lives. They raised thousands of dollars for victims of Hurricane Katrina, as well as for a classmate going through cancer treatment, and also hosted a bone marrow drive (the biggest the area had ever seen) for someone they didn’t even know. These opportunities obviously impacted those in need at the time and put the students on a path of making a difference.

As principal at Terraset Elementary, through the course of the pandemic, we developed a mission called “Terraset Together.” The idea came during the aftermath of the George Floyd murder as the pandemic forced us all to be isolated in our homes. We badly needed connector pieces in a time where we felt unreachable to one another. These connector pieces especially had to reach those who felt disconnected BEFORE Covid and the George Floyd killing. We created forums where voices were not just heard but were invited to share. We didn’t just invite families who did not feel part of the conversation, we truly listened to and embraced what they had to say. We summarized our mission as a need to “do better and be better for all of our children and families” and to feel like we are making progress…in an area where there is lots of work to be done.

>>>What do you see as the major challenges in education today?

Public school systems’ way of educating children is antiquated and horrifically slow to change. Simply put, we still teach too much to one type of child/learner. We, as public school educators, do not have enough options/pathways/entry-points for students to learn their strengths in order to have something strong to build upon. Instead, we ask all students to enter a narrow pathway and hope that they have some success along the way. When they don’t (because of different learning styles and abilities, vastly different interests and needs), in essence they “fail” right to a dead end. The reality is that we, as educators, have failed to find them their path—the one that goes and goes and goes.

>>>Who should have the final say in what is taught in schools? 

In essence, students should have the final say about what is taught in schools. There is grave disproportionality between how times have changed and how public schools have not evolved since the creation of public schools in the early 1800’s. At that time, schools had a singular purpose of preparing people for democratic citizenship; we now need schools to have a space for every single child to discover their path to a productive, kind, contributing citizen. We, as a public school system, need to create more and different entry points that meet children and families where they are. We need to help children create their own paths instead of having all paths converge into one common walkway.

Copyright, Chuck Cascio and Lindsay Trout; all rights reserved.

Send comments tochuckwrites@yahoo.com

TRANSFORMING EDUCATION TODAY
(Tenth in a Series of Interviews with Education Leaders)
Featuring Hollee Freeman,

Education Reform Innovator

Note from Chuck Cascio: Given the difficult issues facing educators today in the USA, I have been running a series in which I contact established educators and request their insights, in their own words, on a number of vitally important education issues. Readers who would like to comment on the views expressed may email me at chuckwrites@yahoo.com. My Twitter handle is @ChuckCascio. Not all comments will be responded to by me and/or the individuals interviewed, but all will be read and, if appropriate, forwarded to others engaged in meaningful education reform. I am pleased to present as the tenth interview in this series the views of dynamic education reform innovator Hollee Freeman, whose profile follows:

     Hollee Freeman, PhD, is a career educator specializing in Science Technology Education and Mathematics (STEM), equity, and educational access. Hollee is the Executive Director of the MathScience Innovation Center in Richmond, VA, where she combines her love of STEM content with curriculum development and hands-on programming for students and adults. 

     Hollee owns and operates Freeman Educational & Business Consulting where she provides writing services for individuals and businesses. She also conducts creative writing classes, book studies, and more. Hollee has authored numerous professional book chapters and articles focused on educational reform, teaching, gender equity and STEM. Hollee is a self-published author of a children’s book entitled Muddy Ballerinas (available in English and Spanish). Her just-published books, Muddy Ballerinas and the Big Bowling Party and Beekeeping Besties--An Apiary Adventure, are available on Amazon and at https://holleefreeman.com

     A hobbyist photographer who specializes in nature-based images, Hollee has shared her photography in art shows and cafes including: The Nutty Buttery Café, ArtWorks, Rigby's Jig, and The Broad.  Hollee is also a beekeeper, cyclist, and voracious reader. She dances with Claves Unidos and volunteers on several the community boards of several organizations including ArtSpace, Bridge Park, The Richmond Public Library, and The Innerwork Center.

     You can learn more about Hollee by watching her TEDx talk (https://youtu.be/ZEi03HojVi8) and by visiting her website https://holleefreeman.com/.

>>>Recalling your own life as a student, going back as far as you would like, what do you remember as the most positive and most negative educational influences for you personally?

     I remember spending a lot of time on my grandparents’ farm in Prince George, Virginia. I really came to

know the value of farming but also the value of environmental education and nature. I learned how to make

things grow and how to take care of flowers, fruit, vegetables, and animals. I learned to look closely at weather

 patterns, temperature and goings-on in nature.

      I have carried this love of science and math and a deep connection to nature with me for my whole life. I also vividly remember fishing, doing artwork, and making wallets and belts out of leather.  These experiences all contributed to my love of learning and creating, and I work hard to create spaces for students to have similar experiences as well. 

     When I was in high school, I really learned the value of being a leader and engaging in independent and self-sustaining learning experiences. I'll never forget doing research for a class on African-American poets; my teacher accepted my proposal and developed a full-fledged class that was added to our repertoire! 

     As a high school student, I also took classes at the Math & Science Center, where I am now the Executive Director. These classes were built on a deep exploration of math and science ideas and learning in community (our own Math & Science community and the community at large). The classes had a deep and profound impact on the kind of educator that I am to this day. 

     The only difficult learning experience that I had during my formal educational experience was when I went to Columbia University. Coming from a very progressive high school and simply seeing the university’s architecture (Lowe Library in particular, filled with names of authors of the so-called great works) on the frieze was enough to throw me into full-blown imposter syndrome. I knew how to learn but I did not enter Columbia with the requisite knowledge that many other students had in high school regarding the "great works" as well as how to navigate a hierarchical way of working and being.  I made my way through close friendships, tutoring to “catch up” and independent learning, but it wasn’t until I started my Masters degree at Bank Street (and doctorate at Boston College) that I really felt like my learning style and way of working was valued again. 

     I continue to be a learner and engage in activities where I learn something new and also where I can create space for students and adults to explore their connection to the world, to each other, and to themselves. 

>>>Can you identify an educator (or educators) who provided you with uniquely positive insights into subject matter as well as teaching style? If so, please explain what made them unique.

     Fortunately, I started interning at the Columbia Greenhouse Nursery School and then was offered my first teaching job by Julie Diamond at the Westside Community School (a progressive school within a school in NYC). These experiences on-boarded me to the academic (and more technical) aspect of the learning style and philosophy that I learned with my dad and in other earlier learning experiences. 

      I remember sitting down and going over my curriculum unit with Leslie Alexander, Director of the Muscota New School (NYC) where I worked as an elementary classroom teacher. While talking about my ideas for my science curriculum, she continued to ask me questions about reading, art, music, culture, etc. that I could incorporate. This conversation gave me pause and made me think more deeply about making cross-curricular connections for myself and for students. 

     While at Muscota, I was part of the North Dakota Study Group and the Prospect Center for Education and Research. These experiences provided a diversity of thought around educational issues and also demanded that we observe student work closely and to work from an asset model rather than a deficit model of understanding students, what they think and how they orient themselves to learning. 

     I have had a whole lineup of amazing educators who have been role models, mentors and colleagues. I have worked at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the Technical Education Research Center, the Boston Teacher Residency, and consulted/led learning experiences in public, private, rural, suburban and urban schools across the United States. Each of these experiences added more specific and unique tools to my toolbox while affirming my role and stance as a progressive educator. 

>>>Identify a couple of accomplishments that you and/or members of your school and/or organization achieved that you feel have had a lasting impact on education.

     When I was preparing for an interview with the Math/Science Innovation Center, I decided to call the organization to see if I could get a tour. I did not share that I was an interviewee. I simply asked if I could have a tour to get a better idea of the programming and space. I was told that a tour was not possible since I was not a member of the consortium. So I elected to drive by a few times to take a look (from the outside) at how and who was using the space. 

     I was awarded the job as Executive Director a few weeks later, and I vowed to myself and the Governing Board that the conversation I had about a tour would never happen again for ANY member of the community—not the consortium, but the community because I believed that this regional STEM center should be open and available to all. 

     During my 10-year tenure at the Math/Science Innovation Center, the team and I increased the number of Black and Latino students who had access to the programming and other (vast) resources that the Center offers. We created satellite centers in communities that were further away in order to mitigate the issue of transportation to put STEM programming in their own neighborhoods. This included libraries and schools. We created programming delivered in Spanish and partnered with HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) to create a pipeline of STEM students in undergraduate education and careers.  We partnered with Career and Technical Education Centers, NASCAR, and other organizations to create a space for learning that did not necessarily explicitly exist for all students in the region. 

     To do this work required developing trusted partnerships and raising capital. I was hard at work on a grant to provide access for 200 K-12 students in an under-resourced town in Central Virginia to participate in our summer programs held at a local community college. When I was notified of the grant award, I rushed to my secret spot (my bathroom) and cried. I was so overwhelmed with joy that these Black, Indigenous, and People of Color(BIPOC) students, in particular, would have access to robust, engaging STEM programming, where they otherwise would not. 

     During the program, I remember seeing a White student from a rural town and a Black student from the city lying on the floor, side-by-side working on a rocket project. It was not just the project that stopped me in my tracks but the fact that they were talking about lots of other topics as well. I thought to myself, were it not for this program, right here at this time, these students, and other students like them, might never have met. Furthermore, they would not have had an opportunity to get to know each other. As we talk about multicultural, multi-talented teams in the workplace, experiences like this will get us there and make our products better, our work places better, our humanity stronger. 

>>>What do you see as the major challenges in education today?

     I see the major challenge in education today as being the extreme dichotomy that communities have regarding access to educational resources. This dichotomy has always existed. However, the issue has been made more clear with the onset of the pandemic when we saw which families had the resources to mobilize learning pods for their neighborhoods and which families did not. Consequently, this severe difference in educational access to resources has also shown the very present through-line concerning the connection between chasms in technology access, use of time, health and wellness, transportation and workforce issues, to name a few. 
>>>Has the remote learning that started as a result of the pandemic become entrenched as a new direction that education will take and, if so, could it have a positive impact?

     I’m not convinced that remote learning will become entrenched as a new direction for education. Remote learning may be more readily offered post-pandemic, but I hesitate to say that it will be a long-term, viable modus operandi for K-8 education. While, I know that remote learning provides a type of ease for some students who perform better and are more comfortable using remote learning platforms, it leaves many students in an untenable situation. 

     A large part of schooling is socialization. That is greatly diminished through remote learning. In my own experience teaching remotely, there is a different (and for me, unwelcomed) part of teaching in which you are interacting with blank or black squares rather than students' own faces. Moreover, even when all students are “video-on,” the level of interaction is stunted. It is more difficult to use body language to convey information and working in cooperative groups just isn’t the same. Technically, remote learning allows instructors and teachers to convey information but the adaptive portion of teaching is not (and cannot be) built into remote learning platforms. 

     All of this is to say that, yes, remote learning has provided positive impact and outcomes for some students. However, many students have been negatively impacted given the lack of in-person support that instructors and other faculty in schools provide. I think that most teachers and students want to return to in-person schooling. I, for one, do so as well. 

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