Resources
Building Trust in Public Education

Why standardized tests are the worst way to hold schools accountable--and what the alternatives are.

In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization
By Deborah Meier
200 pp. $23 hardback; Beacon Press (www.beacon.org).

Many NEA members who read this insightful, eloquent book share Deborah Meier's sense of disbelief that our public education system is not really trusted to educate children. Sadly, a "fundamentally new level of distrust" of schools has imposed on public education a perverted notion of accountability driven by testing, standardized schooling, and more and more bureaucracy.

With passion and grace, Meier argues that the kind of accountability seen in state after state, and reinforced by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is bad for schools, educators, and most of all, for children. It diminishes the power of public education, belittles educators' professional judgment, and ignores what we know about how best to organize schooling and educate children. It will not educate all children, or close the achievement gap, or transfer to students the "democratic habits of mind" that are key to the future of a democratic, pluralistic society, says Meier.

But there is an alternative--trustworthy public schools. These are schools that parents, the school board, and the broader community trust to make important decisions on behalf of children. They are small, personalized schools with strong family ties. Organized around fundamentally different relationships between students and teachers, teachers and families, and teachers to each other, they accept being held accountable for their work because they are in charge of making major workplace decisions.

Meier has founded and run several trustworthy schools, first in East Harlem at the celebrated Central Park East School, and more recently in Boston. In Schools We Trust is dotted with stories of the successes, failures, and lessons learned from these schools, all of which are public schools built around trusted adults. Meier shows what these schools are like and why trust is connected to social and academic learning.

Meier also makes a compelling case why the alternative to trusting schools, "trust through testing," is the worst way to hold schools accountable. She masterfully debunks the "quasi-science of testing," including the current generation of standardized tests that are linked to state content standards.

These tests are inappropriate measures for evaluating schools' effective- ness, she argues. Instead, we should evaluate local schools by collecting evidence in multiple forms about the schools' and students' performance. Bring in expert and lay reviewers to examine the evidence, which might include standardized test scores but also would rely on professional judgment and seek second opinions much as is done in medicine.

Should we strive to create schools built on trust in an era of standards and accountability? Absolutely. Is it possible to create such schools? Yes. Deborah Meier has done so, and her book is full of suggestions for creating schools that we as educators would trust to educate our own children.

Creating and sustaining such schools is hard work. Trust, Meier reminds us, must be continually earned, and in the end is all about accountability, but accountability that makes sense.

--Marcie Dianda
NEA Student Achievement Department

Excerpt
"We are witnessing a radical redefinition of the task of public education, driven by the widespread belief that by focusing our attention on externally imposed tests we can both produce higher achievement and restore public trust in our schools....quite the opposite is true: the increasing use of standardized tests both undermines achievement and increases the distrust we have for teachers, students, and our own judgments."

From the NEA Professional Library

Meeting the Challenge: Special Education Tools that Work for All Kids
158 pp. $15.95 NEA members
$19.95 nonmembers
#2022-7-00-PL
Meeting the Challenge gives busy educators the tools they need to teach a class full of students with various skill levels and special needs. Teachers will find effective strategies to use with students struggling to overcome academic or behavioral difficulties. The book provides a tool kit of specialized resources to prepare every educator to meet the individualized needs of any student. The tool kit includes sample checklists, IEP goals, co-teaching lesson plans, rubrics, behavior intervention plans, conference planning sheets, and other resources teachers can copy and use or modify to make their own.

To order, call 800/229-4200, or check the Web at www.nea.org/books

Excerpt
After you collect data about your student's performance, you're ready to analyze it. Keep these guidelines in mind:

Visually represent your data. It's amazing how a series of scores can look like paint drippings when listed on a sheet of paper but turn into a clearly defined picture of your student's skill levels when presented on a chart or graph. Line and bar graphs are particularly effective ways to present a series of percentages.

Look for obvious gaps. Analytic rubrics and checklists can help you identify gaps in student learning....

Books by NEA Members

Essential Ingredients: Recipes for Teaching Writing
By Sandra Worsham
Explore the differences between "school" writing and "real" writing and learn to make both forms work for K-12 students. The author, a 30-year teacher of gifted and at-risk students, includes many of her mother's recipes and childhood stories in this volume filled with proven teaching tips, activities, and exercises to get students hooked on writing. 188 pp. $23.95 from the Association for Curriculum Development. To order, go to www.ascd.org.

Little Kids-Powerful Problem Solvers: Math Stories from a Kindergarten Classroom
By Angela Giglio Andrews and Paul R. Trafton
A preschool and kindergarten teacher and a math professor celebrate the math capabilities and achievements of young children through stories that describe kids' learning, problem solving, and reasoning. Quotes from NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics appear throughout. 101 pp. $13.50 from Heinemann Publishing. To order, go to www.heinemann.com.

Venango Tales: Life in the Small City
By Peter Greene
The author--a teacher, musician, and dad--chronicles his life in Frankin, Pennsylvania, a small city of nearly 8,000. The book is a collection of weekly columns from two local newspapers in which Greene discusses the charms of living in a small town, his experiences as an educator, and other observations. 302 pp. $19.95 plus s&h from XLibris. Go to www.xlibris.com/VenangoTales.html or call 888/7XLIBRIS.

Fox and Fluff
By Shutta Crum, illustrated by John Bendall-Brunello
Author, storyteller, and children's librarian, Shutta Crum tells the story of big, bad Fox--who eats chickens--and Fluff--a cute chick who believes Fox is his papa and won't leave. So what's a tough guy to do? Take on the challenge of fatherhood and find out how much he has to offer. Add one story to your classroom where the fox turns out not to be the bad guy. 32 pp. $15.95 from Albert Whitman and Company. To order, call 800/255-7675 or 847/581-0033.

Ben and the Bully
By Sandra Patterson
Writing for children ages 8 to 12, school psychologist and elementary teacher Sandra Patterson explores the feelings of children who have difficulty being accepted by peers and provides hope that they can be accepted. In her book, Ben overcomes his own fears and uses positive actions to face a bully. 92 pp. $15.50 (hardback), $9.95 (paperback) plus s&h from 1^st Books Library. To order call 888/280-7715 or visit www.1stbooks.com.

TV Tips

Freedom: A History of Us
PBS, January 12, in primetime, check local listings.
Through archival film, artwork, rare photographs, and first-person accounts read by an all-star cast, this series of eight, one-hour episodes tells the finally triumphant story of American freedom seen through the eyes of patriots, pilgrims and pioneers, slaves, women, immigrants, and laborers. The series begins in the summer of 1776 as the original 13 colonies stake everything on independence from England--and freedom. Later episodes include Lyndon B. Johnson's "Great Society," the Vietnam War, the march to Montgomery, Nixon and Watergate, the hostage crisis under Jimmy Carter, the end of the Cold War, the growth of terrorism, and the attack on the World Trade Center. The series is based on the book series of the same name by Joy Hakim (Oxford University Press).

Biography Special: The Impressionists
A&E, January 7-10, daily at 7 a.m., ET, check local listings.
Filmed on location around the world and featuring interviews with world-renowned art historians, this four-part program tells the story of a revolution in art through the eyes of its most important practitioners. Parts 1 and 2 explore the origins of impressionism, when a group including Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and Claude Monet began to paint using short strokes, commas, and dots to rapidly capture a moment in time. Parts 3 and 4 chronicle the end of the impressionist movement, including the Prussian occupation of Paris in 1870 and the deaths of Pissarro, Renoir, and Monet. Episodes can be taped and used in the classroom for two years with an accompanying lesson plan at www.aande.com/class.

Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor
A&E, January 13, 8 p.m., ET, check local listings.
Actors Aidan Quinn and Kelsey Grammer are featured in this two-hour Revolutionary War drama that traces the events that lead to betrayal by one of the Continental Army's most decorated soldiers. Arnold was considered a great general on both sides of the battlefield and a trusted and distinguished soldier of General Washington's army, but Congress failed to acknowledge his contributions to the war effort. Losing the support of his peers and heavy in personal debt, Arnold became bitter. After marrying a British sympathizer he began to question his commitment to the American Revolution.

Just Deal
The N, January 13, 8 p.m., ET.
A new teen sitcom follows the friendship of Dylan, Jermaine, and Ashley, three teens from different backgrounds that attend the same high school. Dylan and Jermaine have been best friends since the sandbox, but their relationship shifts when Ashley arrives. Smart, funny, and pretty, she demonstrates through her actions and upbeat attitude that everybody's got problems--you just have to deal.

Blue Planet: Seas of Life
Discovery Channel, January 27-31, daily at 9 a.m., ET.
Explore the world's oceans and their widely varied inhabitants in this Assignment Discovery series. Traveling to every continent on the planet, this compendium of life includes sea otters, leafy sea dragons, whale sharks, bottlenose dolphins, half-moon fish, the world's largest colony of gray seals, and more. Tape and use in the classroom for one year.

Save Our History: American Lighthouses
The History Channel, January 31, 6 a.m., ET.
This program looks at some of the most famous lighthouses that line America's coasts, recounting their historical significance and looking at the efforts being taken by preservationists to save them. The show can be taped and used in the classroom for two years with an online lesson plan at www.historychannel.com/classroom.

The Weather Classroom: Hurricanes
The Weather Channel, January 27 and 30, 4 a.m., ET.
This series helps students explore weather phenomena in ways that would not be safe in person and can be taped and used in the classroom forever with a lesson plan at www.weather.com/education. "Hurricanes" flies with hurricane hunters to study the basic ingredients of a hurricane, uses satellite images to track hurricanes, and talks with eyewitnesses to the destructive force of a hurricane.

I Spy
HBO Family, Saturdays in January, 8 a.m., ET (repeated 1:30 p.m.), check local listings.
This animated play-along adventure series for children ages 4-7 is based on the I Spy books photographed by Walter Wick and written by Jean Marzollo. The series adds an interactive game and whimsical characters to the riddles in each 30-minute episode. Both the book and the TV program are based on the idea that children's creativity and visual skills can be enhanced by encounters with everyday objects like plastic forks, buttons, paper clips, and toy cars.

Science Friday Kids Connection
NPR Fridays, 2-4 p.m. each Friday, ET. Broadcast via radio.
"Science Friday," hosted by science journalist Ira Flatow, discusses the most current scientific issues of the week. To support each show, KIDS-NET has produced an online middle school science curriculum that correlates each program topic to national science standards and offers learning activities and resources. The radio program is available on NPR stations nationwide and via Real-Audio on www.npr.org. The curriculum is available at www.kidsnet.org and www.sciencefriday.com.

Web Winners

Websites for Teachers
This site has thousands of links to websites and resources for teachers, all ranked by popularity. Find links to lesson plans by subject, offers for freebies, and even a site with hundreds of essays and term papers to help you determine if your students are cheating from the Internet. Go to www.sitesforteachers.com.

K-5 Math Challenges
This kid-friendly site from the DuPage Children's Museum consists of math problems written as stories about Aunt Mathilda. Students can post solutions and receive a reply from Aunty Math about their solution strategy. Based on the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, the site has modifications and information about the math involved in each problem for parents and teachers. Go to http://auntymath.com.

The Power of Story
The Circle of Stories website from PBS honors American Indian storytelling and the importance of that tradition by using documentary film, photography, artwork, and music to explore this custom. The site presents songs and stories from several tribes and uses RealAudio, video, photos, graphics, and Flash animation to enhance compelling words and rhythms. Go to www.pbs.org/ circleofstories/.

Preschool Possibilities
In search of fresh themes and activities for your preschoolers? This site contains more than 150. Choose from pets, dinosaurs, the grocery store, Dr. Seuss, shapes, and more. Each theme contains related songs and activities as well as ideas for art projects, snacks, bulletin boards, and field trips. Recipes and articles are also included. Go to www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/.

Back to Nature
This nature Web guide contains an extensive listing of field guides for animals, plants, flowers, and seashells. Visitors can check with wildlife, birding, and backyard experts and search the Web for news articles and photography related to their favorite species. Other features of this National Wildlife Federation site include step-by-step guides to creating backyard habitats and weekly news features. Go to www.enature.com.

Slavery and the Courts
If you're looking for material for Black History Month, you may want to check out a new addition to the Library of Congress website, "Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860." This collection features some 100 pamphlets, books, speeches, and court transcripts and documents regarding the experiences of slaves in the American colonies and the United States. Access the collection under the American Memory section of the Library of Congress site at www.loc.gov.

Money Matters
Money--we need it and spend it all the time, but what are its origins? The British Museum's World of Money site explores the history of money, how it is made, and how it's affected humanity. Games, timelines, and graphics add depth to this interesting resource. Go to www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/worldofmoney/.