Today was a great day for the kids and all of my fellow educators in Florida.  Today, Governor Charlie Crist took a stand against SB6, which would have devastated the public schools across the state.  The bill, intended to improve teacher performance, would have created a process to financially reward teachers for their students’ performance on tests at the end of each course.  Many politicians, and a few others, thought this was a great idea because they made a logical connection between teacher effectiveness and student success.  The problem is that there is not currently an assessment system that can truly measure the growth we are seeking.  So, where does Florida go from here?  How can Jeb Bush and his comrades ensure that children are learning and that teachers are motivated to this end?  

The answer is really not all that difficult.  Many school districts are beginning to embrace professional learning communities to transform the culture so that teachers feel empowered - and safe - to truly evaluate their successes and failures, and work together to improve practice.  I recently had the pleasure of visiting a school that is just at the beginning stages of this process and was completely blown away at how effective it has become in a very short time.  Teachers are organized into teams of about six;  in this case, it was by grade level teams.  Each week, the teachers meet together during common planning time and review student work, through the lens of a common assessment that they have implemented for this purpose.  This particular school is working to improve writing skills.  They have a simple rubric based on four writing traits that they have identified as most in need of improvement.  At their weekly meetings, they discuss the scores they have awarded their students and work to create reliability on this assessment, so that students will be scored in a similar way in each classroom.  Then, they look for trends and discuss strategies to adjust the curriculum and improve instruction.  The following week, they all implement selected strategies, and meet to discuss what worked and what didn’t.  The next step for this school will be to teach their students how to assess their own work and each others’ work.  Then, they will begin working with parents so they understand the four traits of writing that are the focus, and how to assess them.

Once a month, all faculty assemble at a faculty conference and complete a similar process to ensure consistency across all grades.  This procedure will continue throughout the year.  Finally, students will take the state’s standardized tests, and those results will be added to the conversation.  The school’s leadership team, comprised of teachers, students, administrators, parents, and community partners, will review all results, including classroom assessments and standardized tests to determine how the school’s goals should be adjusted in the following school year.

So, here is the magic that is bound to yield tremendous results.  The teachers feel empowered to align curriculum, instruction, and assessment in a meaningful way to move students forward.  They feel safe to make mistakes and learn from them.  They enjoy working together with their peers and holding each other accountable for success.  They believe that this process has made them work “smarter” and report they are actually working fewer hours with greater results.  The kids understand what is expected and are eager to work together in a similar way as the teachers; to get better at writing, and hold each other accountable for progress.  In short, this school has become a true community of learners including students, teachers, administrators, parents, and community partners.  There was no legislation that made this happen.  It happened because the entire school district has made a commitment to professional learning communities and is expecting them to live and breath in every organization within the system.  It happened because a wonderful school leader embraced this process as a way to to help her kids succeed.  It happened because teachers were expected and trusted to behave like the professionals they are.

If you would like more information about this process, you might want to check out this book:  Results Now!

As the abominable piece of legislation now known as SB6 went sailing through the Florida legislature, there was an incredible outcry from teachers, parents, and other concerned citizens about how unfair this bill is to teachers and students.  In the age of “No Child Left Behind,” we have come to know student assessment in terms of the high stakes associated with it such as money and student promotion.  Unfortunately, most people don’t really understand what true assessment for learning should and could be.  Although I agree that SB6 will cause unprecedented harm to Florida’s education system, I don’t think we are focusing on the most relevant arguments or questions.  Most of the sentiments of teachers seem to be focusing on how unfair this is to them, and how students at the extreme ends of the spectrum cannot be tested in a way that demonstrates growth.  

One thing that is missing from the conversation is how we can use assessment for learning to improve growth for all kids.  Student assessment should not be a carrot nor a stick. Period.  The real learning and growth that happens in classrooms is reward in and of itself.  Just ask any teacher who has experienced that “ah-ha” moment when a student finally masters something new.  Just ask yourself how great it felt when you became newly competent at something like operating a new piece of technology, learning a new sport, or playing an instrument for the first time.  Learning feels really good, and when given the right opportunities, most students want to learn.  We need to shift our focus from high-stakes tests in favor of assessment FOR learning that moves kids forward in a meaningful way.  There is a ton of research on what effective, authentic assessment for learning looks like.  Just ask the folks at American Montessori Society how to embed assessment into daily class work and move kids in a way that is individualized and leads to high achievement beyond high school.  This method is still being called “progressive” after over a hundred years.  Or look at Linda Darling-Hammond’s work from way back in 1995:  Authentic Assessment in Action.

The other missing piece of the conversation is how we can use authentic teacher assessment to move the profession forward and ensure quality instruction for all kids.  How can we adequately prepare new teachers?  How can we help make good teachers great?  There is also a ton of research available on this topic.  Just ask the folks at the New Teacher Center or the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards or Doug Lemov (author of Teach Like a Champion).  All of these pros have studied what makes teachers the very best they can be.  We can use this information to new prepare teachers and help them continually improve, or help them out of the profession if it is really not right for them.  

Yet, with the wealth of information available on how kids learn best, how to assess it, and how to truly understand the effectiveness of individual teachers, we do what we have always done in education.  We try to solve problems through political action that is short-sighted and based on ignorance and rigidity in thinking.  So, Governor Crist, what say you?  Will you veto SB6 and help Florida look at real solutions to its education issues, or will you continue to make the mistakes our country has been making for decades?