Feel free to comment if you have a position or opinion regarding this controversial statement made to me today in a small Oklahoma town in response to a question I asked about continuous improvement in America's schools:

"Suburban school districts lead by a bunch in creating continuous improvement in American schools.  Urban school districts are so full of problems they can only improve sporadically.  Rural school districts also only improve sporadically because of the influence traditionalists have and a general denial that improvement is even needed."

What do you think about this provocative assertion?  Does this broad generalization correspond with your perception?  Is this fair?

Over a most excellent fried filet of flounder, I struck up a conversation with the owners---Angel and Carlton Boutwell---about the education of their 10 and 13-year old daughters...as well as their views on education in general.  Angel and Carlton were 16 when they married.  Excepting a brief move to and stay in Georgia, she has worked at this establishment since she was ten years old....from doing the basics to now owning the place.  They have some strong views on schooling.

When they married at 16, she was not pregnant but was ostracized at school none the less.  She reports one teacher telling her outright, "you do not belong here."  She felt so unwanted that she decided to drop out.  He, on the other hand, graduated from the local high school.  They are both intelligent, thoughtful, and articulate individuals.  They both value education.  They both have high expectations for the education of their daughters, as well as for a niece who lives with them.

Angel and Carlton feel---as do MANY folks I have met over the first three weeks of this journey---that our schools are lacking in discipline and structure.  They feel that their school is too "touchy feely."  Respect for educators, by both children and adults, is too low to maximize effectiveness in their opinion.  They decried the practice in their local schools of the students calling their teacher by Mr. or Mrs. (insert) 'first name.'  So I would be called "Mr. Dan" rather than "Mr. Martin" there.  They felt that the principal should not be high-fiving the students and otherwise engaging them in a manner that is below the status and dignity of the office.  There should be a distance between the students and their principal.  Students should know that being in the principal's presence means something greater than a casual interaction.  I had to gulp and tug on my shirt collar, as I am one of those principals who engages the students in ways they decried.

They celebrated the structure of the schools their daughters briefly attended in Georgia.  They appreciated the ability grouping those schools employed.  They feel---like MANY---that the obsession with standardized assessments and accountability measures is actually hampering our schools.  One example Angel shared is how teachers are being stressed to the point of exhaustion and, as a result, a negative energy trickles down to the students in many ways.  We are human after all, Angel asserted, so how can we expect the exhausted and stressed teachers she knows to consistently overcome that during interactions with students? 

Beyond that, she asks, what are we teaching these students?  How to take tests?  I hear that a bunch.  All educators do.  She noted that when testing time approaches, the schools totally change their character in a last ditch effort to remediate and otherwise focus exclusively on pass rates.  Students are pulled from classes.  Special schedules are instituted.  Etc, etc.  I can attest to that tendency.  As an administrator, I have been part of that practice.

Is this what we are doing with our standardized assessments and accountability systems in American schools?

BTW, I enjoyed my conversation with Angel and Carlton.  Their food is really, really good.  I respect them.  If you find yourself around Hosford FL on Highway 20, two-miles east of 267, I recommend you eat at "Angel's Seafood By The Dam" ...just south of the dam!

I had several such lengthy conversations about education along my ride from Destin to Ocala on Day 12.  So much so that I rode in 'deadly darkness' through rural lands into the night.  A couple of hours after dodging a possum on a lonely rural road---which was the closest I've ever come to hitting a live ground animal on the cycle---I wearily pulled into the driveway of Bev and Steve McCarthy in Ocala, Florida.

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Riding stats: Day 12---325.9 miles, 5 hours and 50 minutes of moving time, 5 hours and 55 minutes of stopped time, 55.9 moving average miles per hour, 27.7 overall average miles per hour, and 81.2 maximum speed.

The accountability movement in American education has had both positive and negative ramifications.  In fact, there has been so much change in American education over the past two decades, it is easy to oversimplify most any analysis of it.  As an educator, for many reasons, I am thankful for the increased expectations and scrutiny this accountability movement has ushered in. 

For nearly as many reasons, however, the increased accountability politicians often trumpet smacks as underfunded mandates, stacked one upon another, such that the proverbial turnip is being squeezed hard in hopes it will yield blood.  An example was the expectation under NCLB that 100% of students (regardless of the degree of their qualifying condition) would pass high stakes, grade-level assessments (without modifications) by 2014.  So, a student with an IQ sub-75 was expected to pass standardized assessments that were also designed to "test" the top percentage of our students.  It screamed flawed accountability so loud that it is almost disturbing politicians had schools making decisions for years based upon the fear that this would sting us by 2014 if we didn't reach the 100% bar.  We all kind of knew the expectation was unreasonable and had to change, but for years school administrators were charged with speaking and making decisions as if it wouldn't.

Many Americans are convinced that education spending has increased dramatically since the 1980s.  While recent tough economic times have somewhat moderated this perception (after all, how can we ignore recent dramatic education cuts in many states across our country....like Texas cutting $4 billion dollars in its most recent two-year budget, despite adding 68,000 new students over that time), it is important to understand that even before this wave of cuts the bulk of increases to school funding have been in the growth of special programs---> read, special education.

My personal experience as a public school student in the 70s and 80s was that I could pass without doing much of anything by virtue of possessing some intellectual capacity combined with a willingness to play the game.  School was a series of short hurdles.  Rigor was minimal.  It was easy to float along with the mass in the middle.  The school knew we'd pass the (then) low-stakes accountability assessments.  That was just about enough.

Now that accountability assessments carry so much higher-stakes, one would think that a focus on the individual student has increased---and it has.  However, my experience tells me this is a misleading fact.  It is true that schools tend to be much more deliberate about studying data on each child and educators are getting better at disaggregating the data to provide students with targeted remediation in areas where they have a need.  That is a positive development.

This positive development has been tempered by the realities of a country that prizes its military over its educational system.  Increased accountability without increased resources results in a system where the appearance of success is almost important as the true measure of success.  For example, schools in Texas are almost all consumed with meeting the marks.  In particular, pass rates.  Texas holds schools accountable by "sub-pops".  If even one sub-population (Hispanic, African-American, Low SES, etc.) underperforms, the school rating can drop a level.  Nevermind that some Texas schools are lily-white and wealthy, with no real sub-pops to worry about, while others are represented in each sub-pop and have a much greater exposure for "underperformance."

I would go as far as to say, at least at the bureaucratic level, meeting pass rates on standardized assessments drives Texas education these days.  Principals and other campus personnel must allocate their tight resources in ways that maximize overall pass rates (especially of sub-pops) even at the expense of marginalizing students who either "can't" pass (read---> aren't projected to pass) or---on the other end of the spectrum---are very likely to pass.  The "bubble kids", they are often called. 

In the current system, a school better have good data on who their bubble kids are and how to get them to pass the assessment.  Often, it can be a mere handful of students...or even a single student...who makes the difference between receiving one school rating versus the next lower one.  Beyond knowing who these bubble students are, the school must have a sense of how many fall into which sub-pop...or even sub-pops.  Because students are often part of more than one sub-pop (for instance an African-American who also happens to be low-SES and special education), it becomes even more of an imperative to address the needs of these students over those of a student who will only count for or against you in one category.

The result is often a much more targeted effort to remediate the academic gaps of some students over others.  Schools are forced into this necessity by the mismatch of resources versus expectations in the context of a gotcha accountability system.  It is self-preservation.  In this context it is understandable.  In the context of the continuous improvement of our schools for all students, it is an abomination.

One significant challenge teachers and other educators face when attempting to contact parents is accessing the correct contact information to do so.  Phone numbers, emails, and other contact information change throughout each year.  In most school computer systems, teachers cannot edit or add contact information as they become aware of it.  They can only access a student management system that was populated with data at the beginning of the year and is rarely updated through the year.  On any given campus, typically only one (or at most a handful) of staff are authorized to update this information.  Consequently, the information is as often wrong, incomplete, or out-dated as it is correct.  What an inefficient system!

Imagine too that you are a teacher who has to address email to 20-100 students and/or parents per week.  What a pain!  Of course, a teacher could build a group in their email program, but then the challenge is keeping up with those groups and making sure the email addresses of group members stay up-to-date.  There are better ways to tackle this challenge!

Instead, if you use a web-based communication solution like EdClick's Collaboration Manager, all staff members are empowered to update student and parent contact information dynamically, as they become aware of changes.  At school, from home, or wherever else they are connected to the internet, staff members can access student contact information that is as fresh as the last communication any staff member had with that parent.  When they learn of new contact information, within a minute they can update it for the benefit of all.  It is a dynamic, decentralized process that is efficient, collaborative, and promotes enhanced communication and cooperation between home and school.

Consider this form:

EDIT:  Well, the idea is good...but I am not recommending "Safe and Savvy Browser".  Perhaps I'll find a similar product to share that I feel more comfortable recommending.

Lesson reinforced: performance and support are at least as important as the idea of the app.  

EdClick does this well.  The product works as intended, support is responsive, and very often it is customer feedback on needs that shape product development. 

Sometimes, when you are regularly using Apple products and EdClick applications, you expect the hardware and software will 'just work'.  Incidentally, one key difference between EdClick products and "Safe and Savvy Browser" is that anyone can DEMO Edclick products before buying.  That is not the case with many other software applications, such as "Safe and Savvy Browser."  All around, "Safe and Savvy Browser" did not work for me.

If you work in a school, EdClick applications can work to promote your school's continuous improvement efforts!

If you work in an elementary school and/or have a child that is 3-8 years old, you may really benefit from this application I am setting up for my 5 year old.  It seems very neat and it is inexpensive.

This application is designed to make computer navigation easy and secure for young people.  I will let you know soon what my experience is implementing the app.

DON'T Find it for your Apple Mac in the Mac App Store.  (I am not affiliated in any way with this app developer/company.)