Standards for Supervision: Help or a Hindrance?

As answered In Our Readings and Here by Our Ramblings…..

Supervision in a Standards-Based Environment

By Edward Pajak

&Standards

for Instructional Supervision: Questions and Issues

By Judy Castles-Bentley, Sharon Fillion, David Allen, Jane Ross, Stephen P. Gordon

Copyright Lisa Buck 2006

Q. Why do we need standards?

A. Standards help define the level we wish to obtain in settings goals and objectives.

Q. What might cause institutions to wish to change or raise standards?

A. The desire to be the best...

…or at least not the worst!?!?!?!?!

A typical measuring rule for academic achievement

We are hereMean

Clint

Q. What event caused the most radical change in public education during the

20th century?

A. When the Russians launched their artificial satellite, Sputnik I

A bit

of h

istor

y

A Hint

http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/gallerysput.html

$$$ A Fix For The Problem $$$

• National Defense Education Act passed by Congress - September 2, 1958

• Granted $295 million to students w/ financial need

• $280 million to public and private schools for math science, & foreign language equipment

• $59.4 million to graduate fellowships in areas related to national defense

• $2,500 a year per student to universities to improve graduate programs in these areas

• Small amount of money granted to guidance and counseling programs in vocational schools.

What standards changed because of Sputnik?

One year after the NDEA went into effect… American schools were concentrating more

on core subjects rather than electives The country’s total college enrollment rose

by 25% More challenging requirements for math and

science were established in the local schools.

http://www.piedmontcommunities.us/servlet/go_ProcServ/dbpage=page&GID=01326001151051646136895150&PG=01326001151051666871514626

I again ask…What standards changed because of Sputnik?

This was an education reform It was designed to prepare future scientists,

not to educate everybody about science The reforms were motivated by the concern

that we were falling behind the Soviet Union in space. When we eventually caught up with the Soviet Union and surpassed them in space, the push for education reform disappeared.

http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/NM/interview_dr_bruce_alberts.html

NONE

However; we still win! The National Aeronautics and Space Act yielded the

establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on October 1, 1958.

NASA was intended to rebuild the nation’s pride and show the rest of the world that the United States was superior to the Soviets. To win the favor of other countries, NASA described the Soviets’ missions into outer space as an aggressive part of the Communist plan to conquer the world. By the late 1960s, NASA had effectively caught the world’s attention with several successful and awe-inspiring missions into outer space. The program was an advertisement for America’s technological achievements, which promoted high self esteem for the United States.

http://www.piedmontcommunities.us/servlet/go_ProcServ/dbpage=page&GID=01326001151051646136895150&PG=01326001151051751059954274

And I Repeat

Q. What might cause institutions

to wish to change or raise standards?

A. The desire to be the best...

And now…

…..on to the standards

Hey Ron, We’re A Nation

At Risk!!!1983

Terrell Bell - United States Secretary of Education; 1981-1985

A Nation At Risk: The Imperative for Education

Reform

May I Have Your Attention Please!!!

"If an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems which helped make those gains possible. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament." (p.5)

Why are we at risk?

• International comparisons of student achievement, completed a decade ago, reveal that on 19 academic tests American students were never first or second and, in comparison with other industrialized nations, were last seven times.

• Some 23 million American adults are functionally illiterate by the simplest tests of everyday reading, writing, and comprehension.

• About 13 percent of all 17-year-olds in the United States can be considered functionally illiterate. Functional illiteracy among minority youth may run as high as 40 percent.

• Average achievement of high school students on most standardized tests is now lower than 26 years ago when Sputnik was launched.

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html

Why are we at risk?...continued

• Over half the population of gifted students do not match their tested ability with comparable achievement in school.

• The College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) demonstrate a virtually unbroken decline from 1963 to 1980. Average verbal scores fell over 50 points and average mathematics scores dropped nearly 40 points.

• College Board achievement tests also reveal consistent declines in recent years in such subjects as physics and English.

• Both the number and proportion of students demonstrating superior achievement on the SATs (i.e., those with scores of 650 or higher) have also dramatically declined.

• Many 17-year-olds do not possess the "higher order" intellectual skills we should expect of them. Nearly 40 percent cannot draw inferences from written material; only one-fifth can write a persuasive essay; and only one-third can solve a mathematics problem requiring several steps.

Why are we at risk?...still continued

• There was a steady decline in science achievement scores of U.S. 17-year-olds as measured by national assessments of science in 1969, 1973, and 1977.

• Between 1975 and 1980, remedial mathematics courses in public 4-year colleges increased by 72 percent and now constitute one-quarter of all mathematics courses taught in those institutions.

• Average tested achievement of students graduating from college is also lower.

• Business and military leaders complain that they are required to spend millions of dollars on costly remedial education and training programs in such basic skills as reading, writing, spelling, and computation. The Department of the Navy, for example, reported to the Commission that one-quarter of its recent recruits cannot read at the ninth grade level, the minimum needed simply to understand written safety instructions. Without remedial work they cannot even begin, much less complete, the sophisticated training essential in much of the modern military.

Why are we at risk?...still?...STILL???

• These deficiencies come at a time when the demand for highly skilled workers in new fields is accelerating rapidly. For example:

• Computers and computer-controlled equipment are penetrating every aspect of our lives--homes, factories, and offices.

• One estimate indicates that by the turn of the century millions of jobs will involve laser technology and robotics.

• Technology is radically transforming a host of other occupations. They include health care, medical science, energy production, food processing, construction, and the building, repair, and maintenance of sophisticated scientific, educational, military, and industrial equipment.

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/science/sc3risk.htm

• Graduation requirements should be strengthened - five new basics: English, mathematics, science, social studies, and computer science.

• Schools and colleges should adopt higher and measurable standards for academic performance.

• Amount of time students spend engaged in learning should be significantly increased.

• The teaching profession should be strengthened through higher standards for preparation and professional growth.

In a nutshell the report stated…

Oh My; We’re A Nation At

Risk!!!1984

http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i33/33b01301.htm

Bring God back into the classroom. Encourage tuition tax credits for families using private schools. Support vouchers. Leave the primary responsibility for education to parents.

And please abolish that abomination, the Department of Education. Or, at least, don't ask to waste more federal money on education -- "we have put in more only to wind up with less." Just discover excellent schools to serve as models for all the others.

An Insider's View of 'A Nation at Risk' and Why It Still Matters By Gerald Holton

But that was then…

Moving On..

Part ISupervision in a

Standards-Based Environment

Is something wrong with the current educational system?

Do standards offer a solution?

What are Standards and How Do They Work?

Standards, Systemic Change, and Teacher Development

4 Main Issues

Q.“If it ain’t broke do you fix it?

Q. How do you tell if it’s broke?

All the questions- None of the answers

Q. Is something wrong with the current educational system?

When schools and universities

are described as loosely coupled systems (March & Cohen, 1986; Weick, 1976) then it might be broke.

Answer

Do standards offer a solution?

Oh My; We’re Still A Nation

At Risk!!! Let’s Have a Summit1989

National Education Goals Report 1999: Building a Nation

of Learners

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/reports/99rpt.pdf

How To Measure Up?What To Improve…

Content Standards

for Students

Performance

Standards for the

Content Standards

Teacher Preparation Programs

School Leade

rs

School Leadership Preparation Programs

TBA

8 Goals of that Report Goal 1: Ready to Learn Goal 2: School Completion Goal 3: Student Achievement and Citizenship Goal 4: Teacher Education and Professional Development Goal 5: Mathematics and Science Goal 6: Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning Goal 7: Safe, Disciplined, and Alcohol- and Drug-free Schools Goal 8: Parental Participation

The Most Serious Criticism of Standards

They will hurt students who are already struggling academically.

What are Standards and How Do They Work?

“Academic standards are sometimes defined as public statements of what all students should know and be able to do” Mitchell, 1996, p.3).

And How Do They Work?

The intention is to get all students to reach high levels of achievement, not just those who are exposed to the best teachers or who somehow know in advance what is expected of them in school (Pajak p. 299).

This is done by…….

Scoring guides are used that include benchmarks.

These guides describe criteria that must be met at each level.

These guides should provide a stable reference point for evaluation student work across time, across teachers, and across students.

Standards, Systemic Change, and Teacher Development

Phase I – Preservice Preparation

Phase II – Extended Clinical

Preparation and AssessmentPhase III – Continuing Professional Development

Part IIStandards

for Instructional Supervision:

Questions and Issues

How To Measure Up?What To Improve…

Content Standards

for Students

Performance

Standards for the

Content Standards

Teacher Preparation Programs

School Leade

rs

School Leadership Preparation Programs

Who’s Missing?

??

Questions1. What are modern professional standards in

education, and where did they come from?2. Should there be standards for instructional

supervision?3. Who should develop standards? 4. What should be the process for developing the

standards?5. What should be the scope of supervision

standards?6. Should standards be differentiated?7. How should standards be organized?8. What should be the relationship between

standards and assessment?

Answers

1. A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform

2. Yes. Standards create criteria for professionalizing instructional supervision.

3. Standards for professions outside of education tend to be generated from within the profession.

Answers cont.

4. Identify Stakeholders and invite their representatives to participate in developing standards.

Create timeline for process. Examine various viewpoints. Provide feedback on & refinement of standards.

5. Decisions on scope of instructional supervision standards - related directly to decisions on scope of instructional supervision itself.

Supervision Process Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions

Answers cont.

6. The book says yes but I disagree. Perhaps to some degree there should be specialization but there should also be a common core.

7. Standards should Reflect the centrality of student learning. Should acknowledge the changing role of

the school leader. Should recognize the collaborative nature of

school leadership8. Standards are written so they can guide

practice, To evaluate the success of the practice in relation to the standards there must be some sort of assessment.

And it all helps?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0422/p13s02-lepr.html

But you know; things take time…

and we still keep trying

Not Gonna Leave Those Childs Behind