I agree with Grant Wiggins that we need a different understanding of the purpose of assessment. He said, "it's not a way of designating winners and losers at the end of the game. Tests and other assessments are valuable only when they provide worthwhile information that can be used to improve student achievement. This information is needed long before the end of a lesson or a year so that adjustments can be made before it is too late." In the past, students were taught facts, and tests were given to rate how well students obtained and retained that knowledge. Because the knowledge base in our modern world has exploded, we can no longer teach students everything they need to know. What we need to teach students is how to be life-long learners. In order to assess this we need to observe students as they learn. We need to show their progress over time and teach students how to evaluate their own progress.

Our district is moving toward standards based instruction. Each student is expected to meet a certain set of standards before moving on to the next grade. The district has developed a 4-point rubric to assess these standards. Student performance is rated as novice, basic, proficient, and advanced. This type of assessment shows where students are in their learning as well as what students need to do to improve. It doesn’t simply put students in pass or fail categories. As Clyde Yoshida said, "(l)etter grades, by contrast, stigmatize students by labeling work as "good" or "bad," often without giving them opportunities or support to improve it."
As I see it, the one piece that we are still missing in our district, is a report card that aligns with the standards. We still have report cards where teachers have to put letter grades down for each subject. These report cards don’t show what goals students were trying to achieve or how far they progressed in achieving them. They simply give an averaged grade for each subject. Parents and students can count the number of As and Bs or Ds and Fs, but it really doesn’t tell them how much was learned. This is another instance of how schools try to improve by changing one thing without changing the whole system.
 

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The articles in this chapter described how different teaching is now from years past. Both articles explained how teachers today should not be dispensers of knowledge but facilitators of learning. I agree completely with this position, and I think that most good teachers have already moved in the direction of "learning guide". The type of teaching that was described in this chapter is already present in many classrooms.
I found Judith Taack Lanier’s article particularly interesting in that she asked us to "(I)magine a school where teaching is considered to be a profession, rather than a trade." I’m afraid that all too often the world where this kind of school exists can only be found in one’s imagination. I don’t agree with her statement that "teaching is recognized as one of the most challenging and respected career choices, absolutely vital to the social, cultural, and economic health of our nation." Although I agree with the description of teaching, I don’t believe that teachers are recognized in that way. I believe that if teachers were truly respected in that way then their opinions would make more of a difference in the way education is run in this country. I don’t think that teachers are given the kind of respect that doctors, lawyers, and other professionals receive. Teachers certainly don’t get the same kind of paychecks that other professionals get.

Another line that caught my eye was when Lanier said, "(j)ust as much of a lawyer's work occurs outside the courtroom, so too, should we recognize that much of a teacher's work is done outside the classroom." So often I have heard that teachers shouldn’t be paid as much as other professionals because they only work 6 hours a day, 9 months a year. People outside the profession have no idea how much time a good teacher really puts into the job. Teachers are constantly on the lookout for new and better ideas and materials that will help their students learn. And what they can’t find they create on their own. I feel that teachers should get much more credit for what they do.

I think that one of the reasons that teachers aren’t held in very high esteem is that many of the people who are the most qualified to teach aren’t in the classroom. They’ve left teaching for higher paying positions, either in administration or outside the realm of education. Many bright, young students never even consider teaching because their talents can be put to more profitable use elsewhere. I believe that if teachers were paid on the same level as other professionals, we would have many more exceptional educators in the classroom than we do now.
 

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When I started reading "The Home-School Team," I felt that Haynes and Comer were preaching to the choir. They said "(s)chools have to reach out to families, making them feel welcome as full partners in the educational process. Families, in turn, have to make a commitment of time and energy to support their children both at home and at school." My first thought was that all teachers know how important parent involvement is in a child’s education. The problem is getting all parents interested enough to get involved. I guess I’m fortunate in that the school where I teach always has the door wide open to parents. I’ve always encouraged parents to come in whenever they wanted to, and I’ve had parents come in and spend a couple of hours just observing how their child was doing. The only problem I’ve had was in tracking down the reluctant parents. Usually it’s their children who are most in need of extra help. But when I read that "relatively few schools have open-door policies allowing parents to visit at any time, and parents who insist on playing an active role in their children's education are often branded as ‘troublemakers’," I started to realize that the blame can’t always be put on the parents. I can remember teaching in a building where teachers were lucky to get a handful of parents at open house and most of the scheduled parent-teacher conferences were no-shows. But these same teachers didn’t want parents in their rooms while they were teaching. If we want parents to come in when we need them, we need to make them feel welcome all the time.

Mary Colon’s article told the story from the parents’ point of view. In her case, both parents and teachers were discouraged by lack of communication with each other as well as with other community agencies that could offer assistance. Through her efforts, parents, teachers, and other community members got together and accomplished some wonderful things to help the children in their school. She said, "(u)ltimately, we found common ground because every member of the team was committed to viewing all students as our kids. Every decision we made was measured against the yardstick of: ‘Is this the best thing for our kids?’" All I can say is that I hope I have lots of parents like her in my classroom!
 

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It’s a well-known fact that teachers today have to do a lot more than teach. Children cannot possibly learn until their other, more basic needs are met. Unfortunately, because of the difficulties in today’s society, it often falls on teachers to meet those needs. Because so many responsibilities are thrust upon teachers, they often experience frustration or burnout in the futile attempt to be everything to everybody. This is why the whole concept of combining schools and a variety of social service agencies together to create community centers that meet those needs makes so much sense to me. These centers would have a variety of professionals on site to take care of the many problems that face children and their families. In Michelle Cahill’s ideal center, "the community has changed its definition of a "school" from an age-segregated and limited-use building that's the exclusive turf of school district employees, to a social institution that's a setting for activities run cooperatively by many different individuals and groups." She points out that these school-based centers are like health clubs for the mind.  I think it’s a great idea.

According to Stephany Hoover, "school is the logical place for communities to connect low-income school children and their parents with the health and social services they need to deal with the many ills affecting them--homelessness, hunger, alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, and violence." One of the greatest benefits that I can see to these community centers is that it helps children and their families from birth on up. By doing this, the centers help underprivileged children to be ready for school when they start kindergarten. Too often these children are years behind when they start school simply because their parents were unable to prepare them or to meet their basic needs.

I would love to see schools become the center of community and family life!
 

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I think it’s important that students learn the skills they will need to be successful in life. For years business people have complained because high school graduates do not have the skills needed to fill job openings. It only makes sense that businesses should be involved in preparing students for the world of work. According to Juliette Johnson, "(b)asic reading, writing, and calculating skills are no longer enough to land a good job. Today's employers demand more specialized skills and knowledge as well as greater adaptability from workers." Business people need to be involved in setting the learning standards for students. They need to communicate to the educational community what skills they are looking for in their employees so that we can all work with students to build those skills.

Most, if not all, of the schools in Springfield have business partners. These partners have helped the schools by providing such things as mentors, tutors, technology equipment, teacher inservice, and internships for high school students. All these things help our students, but I feel that we need more school/work programs. I think that students can best learn what it takes to be successful in a career by having some hands-on experience with it. I found it interesting when Johnson said "that students who attend school with a sense of purpose achieve greater success, have greater self-esteem and confidence." I think that is true of everybody, whether they are in school or not.

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