Cheating

Kohn, Alfie, "Who's Cheating Whom?, Phi Delta Kappan , October 2007.

Summary:

This article asserts that cheating mainly occurs because of the importance of grades and competition. Competition causes the need for one to be better than another, thus as Kohn states there are always losers. In school, this competition occurs in terms of grades. But what do these grades truly measure? It seems as though they teach students for the most part to focus "...on performance rather than on learning." (4) When there is a lack of emphasis on the process and learning for its own sake, cheating occurs. In addition, Kohn brings up the question of how cheating is defined. Who made these rules and what are the reasons behind them?

This article posed great questions about methodology, rules, and regulations within schools citing various studies to back up these questions. However, not much detail was given about these studies and I was left with a lot of questions and few answers. I was mainly left wondering if all these studies keep questioning grades why do they still exist and what could replace them?

Quotes:

-"We frequently pay so much attention to character, personality, and individual responsibility that we overlook how profoundly the social environment affects what we do and who we are."

-"Grades, however, are just the most common manifestation of a broader tendency on the part of schools to value product more than process, results more than discovery, achievement more than learning."

-"Competition is perhaps the single most toxic ingredient to be found in a classroom, and it is also a reliable predictor of cheating."

-"Human behavior is more influenced by things outside us than inside." -Philip Zimbardo

Education as an investment

Kohn, Alfie. "Against 'Competitiveness': Why Good Teachers Aren't Thinking About the Global Economy", Education Week, September 19, 2007.

Summary:

This article questions whether the "...economy is a function of how good ours schools are at preparing tomorrow's workers." (1) Kohn asks if the main function of schooling is to prepare students to be good workers and thus "...increase the profitability of their future employers?" (2) In addition, he discusses how many view the rankings of the US in education as a very important competition but that this does not really define how the students are doing. In his opinion, these tests do not measure the right things. What is most important is that all of the children learn.

This article really made me think about how education, as Kohn puts it, is an "investment". Do schools become scapegoats for problems in our society so that a finger can be pointed. If so, what can we do to change this? How can we make sure that students are being tested on their own knowledge and it is not a competition? Or is competition good? Though this article raised a lot of questions for me however I feel it was an opinion piece with little data to back it up.

Quotes:

-"Like so many others, he was confusing higher scores with better learning."

-"Almost any policy, it seems, no matter how harmful, can be rationalized in the name of 'competitiveness' by politicians and corporate executives, or by journalists whose imaginations are flatter than the world about which they write."

What New Teachers Need to Learn

Feiman-Nemser, S. (2003). What new teachers need to learn. Educational Leadership, 60 (8).

Summary: This article reports the results of the New Teacher Induction Study, which examined three well-regarded induction programs in the US. Researchers interviewed mentors, teachers, and principals to find out what exactly new teachers need to learn during the first few years of teaching that they could not have learned in their teacher education program. They discovered that teachers need to learn situationally relevant approaches to subject matter, how to pace and transition class activities, and how to teach in their particular school context, among other things. Due to the vast learning agenda, they concluded that new teachers need three to four years to achieve competence and several more to reach proficiency.

The author stresses the importance of enculturation to a new school and the influential role that colleagues can have on the development of a new teacher’s behaviors, attitudes, and values. She warns that even when a school does feature a supportive professional culture, we cannot “assume that assigned mentors have the time and the expertise to help novices improve their teacher and their students’ learning.” Thus, mentors must be well-trained and given the time and resources to support their colleagues effectively. To make mentorship more effective, the author promotes clearly defining the role of the mentor, using self-assessment tools with new teachers to identify areas where support is needed, and providing meaningful, relevant support that goes beyond mere emotional support.

Evaluation and Reflection: This was an informative article, though I thought the section in which the author reported the findings of the New Teacher Induction Study was surprisingly brief. In fact, I was surprised that there were so few answers to the focus question of the study, “What exactly do new teachers need to learn that they could not have learned before they began teacher?”

However, I did like this author’s emphasis on the need to view the first few years of teaching as a phase in learning to teach. Just because a person has completed a teacher education program does not mean that they have learned all the lessons they will need to become a good teacher, and thus school leaders must create that professional culture that will support teacher learning. I also appreciated the focus on the qualities of a good mentoring program, and I would like to take at least one of the ideas (using a self-assessment tool with new teachers) and incorporate it into my own mentorship of a new teacher. In terms of my own research, I may consider adding a question to our teacher survey about the most important lessons learned during the first years of teaching at HTH. That may guide our thinking about what types of supports are most effective during those first years.

Keeping New Teachers in Mind

Johnson, S.M., Kardos, S.M. (2002). Keeping new teachers in mind. Educational Leadership, 59 (6).

Summary: This article reports the results of the first phase of a five-year study of 50 new Massachusetts teachers conducted by the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers at the Harvard School of Education. Their research showed that new teachers often do not get the support they need--ongoing and relevant school-based professional development with structures that allow new teachers to access support from veteran teachers. The researchers identified three types of professional cultures in schools. The first is the veteran-oriented professional culture, where “the modes and norms of professional practice are determined by and aimed to serve veteran faculty members.” The second type is a novice-oriented professional culture, which is often found at school sites with a majority of new teachers. This type of culture is characterized by a great deal of energy and commitment, but very little professional guidance and support for new teachers.

The third professional culture was the integrated professional culture, which is characterized by “ongoing professional exchange across experience levels and sustained support and development for all teachers.” Thus, both new and veteran teachers receive support and benefit from the regular collaboration and exchange. New teachers in this type of professional culture reported feeling better supported so that they, in turn, could better serve their students. The initial results from this phase of the study also showed higher rates of teacher retention. To ensure the success of such a professional culture, the researchers stressed the importance of structures that allow for regular collaboration, timely and supportive responses for teachers’ daily challenges, principals who are engaged in the professional work of the teachers, and strong teacher leaders.

Evaluation and Reflection: The researchers used qualitative data obtained from interviews with 50 first- and second-year teachers in Massachusetts. They report results from the initial phase of the study as well as preliminary results from the second phase. I plan to follow up to find the final results of the complete study.

I believe that High Tech High has an integrated professional culture. However, I believe that there are some ways in which we can improve our support for new teachers, which is why I chose my research topic. Based on my experience working at HTH, I suspect that we can do a better job matching mentors with new teachers, training mentors, and providing the time for mentors to work with their mentees. (Many of these improvements are underway.) The result of this research, along with my own knowledge of the professional culture of HTH, will allow me to better design the teacher survey so that it yields the most relevant and useful results.

Retaining the Next Generation of Teachers: The Importance of School-Based Support

Johnson, S.M., Bikelands, S., Kardos, S.M., Kauffman, D., Liu, E., Peske, H.G. (2001 Sept/Oct). Retaining the next generation of teachers: The importance of school-based support. Retrieved Oct. 21, 2009 from Harvard Education Letter website: http://www.edletter.org/current/support.shtml

Summary: This article reports the results of a study conducted by the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers at the Harvard School of Education. Their research suggests that “the key to addressing shortages lies not in attractive recruitment policies but in support and training for new teachers at the school site.” The teachers they interviewed reported that they received very little guidance, support, or time to develop the skills they needed to be successful teachers during their first years of teaching. The authors argue that schools need to have “integrated professional cultures” in order to best support their new teachers on-site. Such a culture would include new teacher supports such as well-matched mentors, curriculum guidance, regular time for joint planning and collaboration, and peer observations. They also assert that schools leaders must establish healthy faculty norms, facilitate interaction among teachers, include teachers in decision-making, design purposeful meetings, and allow teachers to play greater roles in the hiring process.

Evaluation and Reflection: The researchers used qualitative data obtained from interviews with 50 first- and second-year teachers in Massachusetts. In my own research on this topic, I plan to use similar qualitative methods (teacher surveys) with possible follow-up interviews. I was pleased to see that many of the supports and structures proposed in this article are ones already in place here at High Tech High. However, I was reminded of some areas in which I believe we have room for improvement, such as in the selection of well-matched mentors. As a prospective school leader, there were several good reminders of structures that I would like to have in place at my own school site: purposeful and relevant meetings, well-matched mentors (as opposed to mentors whose schedules or locations make it difficult to meet), and teacher involvement in the hiring process.