Seattle Times Editorial "Thinking beyond 'college for all'"

Today brings us a new Seattle Times editorial on education. "Thinking beyond 'college for all'" by Lynne Varner says that education reformers are right to promote college for every student, but they should adopt a broader definition of college, one that includes post-high-school credentials other than baccalaureate degrees.

Of course, this is what Shep Siegel has been saying for years. And I have been saying it as well ever since I heard Dr. Siegel say it. So, welcome to party, Ms Varner. Where ya been?

Here's the crux: every student should go on from high school to some form of post-secondary education - a four-year college, a two-year college, an apprenticeship, a vocational program, or some sort of training program. All of it is post-secondary education and all of it needs to be included when we think of "college" in the context of "college for all".

Unfortunately, too many people have too narrow a definition of college and they are cutting students off from access to Career and Technical Education opportunities saying that those classes are not geared towards "college-readiness". The math pathway of Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II may not be the college-readiness pathway for students who are pursuing a career in the trades. The science pathway of Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry may not be the college-readiness pathway for students pursuing a technical career. Since these are legitimate and honorable choices for "college" the District needs to legitimitize the high school pathways that prepare students for readiness for these paths.

Seattle Public Schools paid a consultant over $750,000 to go through the entire catalog of high school courses and remove all of the courses that were not geared towards "college-readiness". Unfortunately the consultant used a very narrow definition of "college" and a lot of practical classes were stupidly removed from the catalog. These classes were of value to students pursuing post-secondary education outside of four-year universities.

Seattle Public Schools published a "Math Pathways" document that neglected to include a number of CTE classes that qualified for dual credit as math courses. Students need to know about these classes to take them, but the District worked to block that access.

Likewise there are a number of other practical classes in a variety of disciplines that are not part of the pathway to four-year university, but would be well-suited to other post-secondary education. These classes should be available for the students who would benefit from them.

The Board allowed this narrowing of focus, a narrowing that left a lot of students outside of their rightful place. The students were forced to take classes they didn't want or need (and that did not suit them) instead of the ones that they did want and need (and did suit them) due to the narrow, elitist perspective of education bureaucrats who do not respect any path other than the one they followed.

Comments

dan dempsey said…
Charlie,

Thanks for putting this up. Our problems are definitely compounded by the "College" perception. The SBE at one point wanted all students to pass Algebra II now that has been scaled back to Algebra II or equivalent. As a result almost all the districts continue to Fake it with Grades in math courses.

I read through the SPS math update coming for the School Board tonight via a Cathie Thompson presentation.

I then set out to construct a spreadsheet to analyze OSPI annual test data at grade 10 over the time period she is reporting on. It paints a greatly different picture. I contend that the Board has completely failed in their responsibility to make and enforce meaningful policy. The May 18th D43 punt was the last straw .... because there are no straws left. Check the data.

(continued)
dan dempsey said…
Data shows a different picture of the SPS Math Update Report June 2011

My contention is that the k-12 math program fails to satisfy the requirements of the WA Constitution article IX and the program is not improving in the regard.

OSPI annual testing data to supplement the Math Report from Cathie Thompson:

Point 1: SPS has chosen a model, which has provided little in the way of effective interventions. Coaching for teachers in differentiated instruction has been provided rather than effective interventions for students. Social Promotion has been substituted to cover for the lack of effective interventions. Ms. Thompson’s report contains no test data.

Point 2: OSPI Test data from the Spring of years 2008, 2009, 2010 reveals that for Non White Students reading is not going well and that math is not going well either.

Point 3: Ms. Thompson’s report shows that from 2008 => 2010 higher percentages of students have been placed in Algebra I or higher upon entering grade 9. Does this serve low performing students well?

In examining various demographic categories of grade 10 students, the Change in OSPI Math rates and the percentage of students unable to score above far below basic reveals serious problems that Ms. Thompson’s presentation misses.

From the SPS Math Update for school year 2010-2011 (is the 2011 school year over? or are these just 1st semester reports?:

Percentages of students unable to score a C or better in Algebra Course.
All => 35%
Asian => 26%
African-American => 43%
Latino => 43%
Native American => 54%
White => 29%
ELL => 36%
SpEd => 50%
Low Income => 39%

(cont.)
dan dempsey said…
Contrast the above percentages with the percentages of students unable to score above far below basic on the grade 10 OSPI testing in Spring of 2010

All => 35% => 38.1%
Asian => 26% => 31.1%
African-American => 43% => 68.8%
Latino => 43% => 56.4%
Native American => 54% => 52.0%
White => 29% => 18.4%
ELL => 36% => 80.6%
SpEd => 50% => 85.1%
Low Income => 39% => 57.1%

This SPS math update fails to alert the Board to the absolute crisis taking place in mathematics for Black students, Hispanic Students, Native American, Limited English, Special Education, and Low Income students. K-12 is a math disaster and it is not getting better. Why is this being continually being covered up?

(cont)
dan dempsey said…
Note the change in SPS scores over the last three years (from the attached spreadsheet):
At the top of the SPS Math Update report it says building on success in reading and writing.
see how much reading success you can find below.


Reading grade 10 change from 2008 to 2010
(state scores used as a basis for weighting)

All => -2.4%
Asian => -5.4%
African-American => -4.7%
Latino => -3.7%
Native American => -2.0%
White => +3.7%
ELL => -10.9%%
SpEd => -0.9%
Low Income => -5.0%

White students’ scores up and all others down.

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

Math grade 10 change from 2008 to 2010
(state scores used as a basis for weighting)

All => +2.8%
Asian => 0.0%
African-American => -0.3%
Latino => -8.2%
Native American => -11.8%
White => +8.10%
ELL => -9.1%%
SpEd => -2.0%
Low Income => +0.4%

White students up by +8.1 so it pulled all up as +2.8
What's interesting is a lot of European countries have high school tracks. I don't know for sure but I know for some it's self-selected and others may be testing. The point is if you tried that here, people would be up in arms.

Also, there's a difference between training and educating. One of the authors was on the radio and he repeatedly said "training."

It IS important to actually know how to do something. But it equally important to have citizens, thinking people, who know enough about history, science, and other subjects to do critical thinking. We need people who challenge the billions of words written on the Internet everyday and not take what is told to them at face value.
dan dempsey said…
Hey wait a minute on this thinking....

What's interesting is a lot of European countries have high school tracks. I don't know for sure but I know for some it's self-selected and others may be testing. The point is if you tried that here, people would be up in arms.

I think we already have at least 2 tracks right now...

The Drop out Track is at around 30%.


------------------
Pearson Publishing I believe will be designing a new computerized GED test, which will cost around $40 per subject area tested ..... follow the money to find the real truth.

Race to the Top & Common Core Standards =>
No Vendor Left Behind .... well certainly not Pearson Publishing.
Marion said…
I went to high school in another state. My school of over 4000 students had an auto-body shop and a cosmetology program on campus (and a few other programs as well). I remember my girlfriend, who received her cosmtology license when she graduated from high school, went to work the day after graduation. She was very talented and loved her job. Isn't that what we want for our students?
MathTeacher42 said…
We're stuck in 1946.

For some years after WWII almost any college degree was a ticket off the shop floor, into an office, and into some kind of white collar-y "security" of health care, of a pension, and of a salary to support a family.

Those days were long gone by the time I was a freshman in 1978 - and for the last 33 years I couldn't count the number of people I've met and worked with and known who act like it is 1956.

I really haven't time to dig through the Statistical Abstract of the United States tonight to dig up the numbers pertaining to the median family income of college freshmen, the quintiles of family and household and money income, the median levels of debt for college grads by family income -

if your family / household is in the bottom 80%, you should really consider attaching hand skills or brain skills to those courses with reading and writing on 1984, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, The Medici, Galileo, Kepler, Marx, The Federalist #10 ...

courses you SHOULD take because if you're fixing cars, running the car fixing shop, designing cars, running the car design team, fixing the organic tofu biodegradable flying carpet, ... you need to know how your community got to where it is in order to better use your skills to be benefit to the community and to yourself.

BM.
Anonymous said…
Marion,
That is a great topic for discussion. At my school. Lawton, we have returned to heterogeneous classrooms after 2 years of large segregated Spectrum classrooms. The new principal believes in balancing classrooms to represent the community, not to foster academic and social elitism. Yes, people will end up in different jobs at different social levels, but public school should be a level playing ground with equal opportunity for all.

Don't Track
A Hard Rain said…
Just got alerted to lawton showing up. Can try out new Nook color while responding. I really don,t see theproblem with Spectrum self-contained. It is plenty varied, what with twice-exceptional kids, behavioral isue kids, the non-euroamericans. It looks as much like Magnolia as any classroom, just different qcademic abilities. Get real, don,t track. If you want your.kids.in a.class that refllects the "real" world, drive them to SE Seattle. But save your feel-good platitudes for your next wine and brie soiree. Equal opportunity for different abilities.
Anonymous said…
It's funny how the anti-tracking supporters (often parents with younger kids and teachers with no kids or only younger kids) seem to change their minds when their kids hit middle school and there starts to be a wider spread of abilities.

The two strongest anti-tracker teachers I know have both started supporting honors-type classes in their secondary school because their own kids are not getting the proper level of teaching in secondary school that they need, and "differentiated" teaching frequently does NOT work for all kids (especially for those at the extreme ends of the spectrum) and especially for classrooms with 30+ students for one teacher. Suddenly these "anti-tracking" supporters drop the negative label and positively support "ability" based classes.

Also, I've attended European high schools and believe me, Eurpoean-type "tracking" is a double-bladed sword, where 12- 14 year old kids take one test that determines for the rest of their life which track they are glued into--- academic or trades. I much prefer the dual option systems we have in our high school, as flawed as it is, kids still can take classes in both "tracks" until they graduate.

Been there/done that
Don't Track, you said,

The new principal believes in balancing classrooms to represent the community, not to foster academic and social elitism.

What? How is it elitism to serve every child to their academic ability? Also, I'm guessing you don't like sports teams and bands and other activities you have to try out for. Because that's sports and musical elitism.

A good principal knows how to build a community, no matter the programs. And Spectrum and ALO and APP are district programs and any parent who goes to a school where they are offered should not be made to feel they are doing wrong.
Patrick said…
"Don't Track", with respect, in a lumped-together classroom the advanced students will be bored out of their minds, and the behind students will be lost. It's not classism to teach students according to their needs. Only people who are selling something say that all students are capable of being little Newtons in math and little Mozarts in music if only they were in the same class.
Anonymous said…
When Lawton parents speak about about "elitism" or "segregation", it is about spectrum/APP students. Look at Lawton's stats of 12% FRL, 75% white student population, and 19% identified advanced learners. Look at the stats for 2009-10 with FRL student's scores plummeted double digits (along with Spec Ed's). Where is the REAL fire?

The main issue is getting Lawton's "report card" number from 4 to 5. The elephant in the room is teacher evaluation. There is a lot of stress as is reflected on this blog and elsewhere about teacher evaluation based on student scores. You want to spread the highly capable and well behaved kids around the classrooms. You can't do that when spectrum kids are grouped together. You also have vocal parents who cry very effectively "elitism, segregation, and bullying" because of the spectrum program at Lawton. Look at actions not words. Which kid is moved out of the classroom mid year and others not returning back to Lawton. Then you get to see who really has the social connection to make things happen.

-sad consequences
Sad Consequences, absolutely right on all points. And when you have a principal that doesn't support a program, it makes it much easier for him/her to say they are doing what the community wants.
Charlie Mas said…
So often, when seeking additional resources for students living in poverty, folks say that our goal should be equity, not equality. It is equitable for those students to have additional resources.

So often, when opposing an appropriate academic opportunity for advanced learners, folks say that their goal is equality (not equity).

Families with advanced learners don't want anything more or different than what all families want for their children: an appropriate academic opportunity. They want their children to be taught at the frontier of their knowledge and skills. They want the same for all children. Don't we all?

Apparently not. Apparently some folks want advanced learners to sit through lessons that they don't need. This isn't to serve any academic goal, but to serve a non-academic goal. It is to serve a political goal.

Should we put all students, K-5, at Lawton into heterogenous classrooms with mixed ages? Wouldn't that create "a level playing ground with equal opportunity for all" and end the agist practice of segregating children by birth dates? Those elitist 5th graders, strutting around, acting like they own the school, need to be cut down to size. They need to be divided up among all of the classes.

I know that school serves a lot of purposes in addition to academic purposes, but it is primarily an academic institution and needs to fulfill its academic role first. The self-contained Spectrum classroom is the best delivery model for the greatest number of students. Every other school in the McClure service area is an ALO with heterogenous classrooms. If that's what you want, then choose one of those other schools.
Anonymous said…
Uhh. Don't Track. Please get your facts straight. The fact is that Lawton has NOT "returned to heterogeneous classrooms after 2 years of large segregated Spectrum classrooms." It's well documented and it's misinformation (even unintentional) like your post that confuses the issue. And yes, actual facts and real history does matter.

1996 - 2008
- District policy followed; all Spectrum students grouped together at each grade level - regardless of cluster size. Spectrum group in one class with other students filling out the classroom. Called 'blended' at Lawton.
2008-2009
- District policy not followed; grades 2 and 3 each have over 20 kids in Spectrum; those grades ONLY had the Spectrum groups split 50/50; Spectrum students in grades 1,4,5 were still grouped together in one class with other students filling out the classroom.
2009-2011 - District policy followed; Spectrum kids back to being grouped together, even the larger clusters. Spectrum group in one class with other students filling out the classroom. Called 'blended' at Lawton.

There have never been "self contained" classrooms at Lawton because even the largest Spectrum groups were not large enough to fill out a full classroom. But with the exception of ONE YEAR (2008-9) the Spectrum designated kids have been grouped together in one class. You can use inflammatory language and call it 'segregated' if you wish, but it was following SPS policy on how Spectrum classrooms should be formed. (the Understanding Advanced Learning document wasn't transferred to the the new SPS website, but it was found there)

SPS chose not to advocate for the Spectrum program at Lawton. They allowed the cluster group experiment w/ the caveat that the Spectrum groups need to be large enough (at least 6 clustered together) and outcomes (test scores) must not suffer negative consequences. It's well documented in Lawton's CAS team minutes that staff wanted balanced classrooms and a big part of that balance was managing behavior issues ("time intensive kids" - which by the way -there are also plenty of in the Spectrum clusters as well). Other balance issues too but behavior was a big part. Serving the needs of advanced learners doesn't seem as high a priority.

Sad Consequences is right on. This is about closing the achievement gap. Lawton's 12% FRL is about 51 kids out of ~430. 51/6 grades is roughly 8-9 kids per grade. So instead of loading up resources (additional tutoring, conferences, interventions) for those kids that most need it and addressing behavior issues independently, it's pinned on the 'elitism' of Spectrum and poof, the program essentially goes away. (Lawton PTA does pay for quite a bit of tutoring btw) As Charlie said in an earlier thread 'you can call it Holiday on Ice if you want, but don't call it Spectrum because it isn't.' SPS can call it that, and Lawton can call it that but the program is diluted sufficiently that advanced learners certainly won't benefit. And we should be concerned that other learners won't benefit either since they are trading one system that they know for another that they don't. [Cluster grouping is intended for schools that don't have programs to serve advanced learners, not to replace a system already in place. (see Dina Brulles book on cluster grouping) It's putting a round peg in a square hole in order address a completely different problem (labelling and social issues, not academic) that no one can address for fear of being called 'elitist']

See NAGC website for myths about advanced learners.

We'll see what Lawton's future holds (aside from several families leaving to pursue true advanced learning opps)

cluster grouping skeptic
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