Hi, my name is Whit Little and I have hacked Alan’s blog today to talk to you about this most important of seasons.

The season of data.

See, as we all know it’s coming up on testing time and in my role as the DDVP (Data-Driven Vice Principal) I want to make sure that you are properly placing all of your energy into the singularly most important area of a child’s education: their standardized test scores.

• Are your students prepared for the tests?
• Have you pre-tested the test material in order to make sure that your students are test ready?
• Have you generated data which can give an indication as to the data that will ultimately be generated from your students’ test data?
• Have you had the requisite amount of conversations about the importance of these tests to your students? (i.e. Twice a day on M,T,F and and three times per day on Tu, Th as per Ed Code Section 6ZL9TH.90L87M-B)
• Has your faculty engaged in enough meetings about the importance about upcoming tests?
• Have you done your “How to properly administer this test” workshop? (And don’t give me any of that, “But I’ve done this for years, why must I attend the same ol’ meeting yet again?” nonsense. It shows a lack of respect for the tests and of the importance of the data that these tests will generate.)

This time of year is no joke and we hope you understand the gravity of these tests. Please report all suspicious peers who display a cavalier attitude about the importance of these tests – or the data – to me, Whit Little. (You can just leave a comment below.)

And if you think it’s unethical for me to hack into Alan’s blog in order to relay the importance of the upcoming tests, might I remind you that the powers being granted to me, the DDVP, are currently growing in scale and scope to an unprecedented level.

Rightfully so, too. It’s a new era and this is but one of many changes to come in the near future so get over yourselves.

And yes, there will be a test.

I gotta give kudos to my VP. Earlier this week, I walked in to the front office – by the reception desk, no less – and heard a parent SCREAMING at the top of her lungs.

Dropping F-Bombs like a belligerent sailor.

All while wearing a baby on her back.

I swear, it’s all true.

Let’s start with the baby. It was in a carrying sling, a baby bjorn of some sort. Yet even though the kid was about 8 months old, I’d guess, it was being shuttled around our campus like a biology textbook.

(Note: I didn’t see milk, diapers, a hat for the sun, or wipes. But I don’t want to jump to conclusions. Perhaps there was a diaper bag filled with junk in her car. I’ll cut her some slack for a moment.)

Now Mom was obviously livid. And why? Because her daughter was being suspended from school. Why? Because her daughter popped off to a teacher in the middle of class. Literally EXPLODED on her teacher, dropping F-Bombs like, well… dropping ‘em like a belligerent sailor.

Hmmm, I wonder where she ever learned this type of behavior?

Our VP though, was a real pro. She tried to speak calmly. As the mom escalated, she de-escalated. She courteously asked the mom to lower her voice, watch her language and mind the fact that there were 25 other people around including a bunch of students.

“F-Bomb that!” was the reply.

At that point the VP explained that she was going to have to call campus security because discussing complaints in this fashion was not appropriate nor in accord with school policy. (And she did it without the sarcastic bite I probably would have applied.) The fact is, this mom was reckless and almost seemed on the border of violence.

And that’s with an 8 month old on her back! The 16 year old daughter, of course, just stood there next to her mother as if she were the real victim – and her mom was entirely right.

See, the thing is, my school gets run through the mud of the media in terrible ways and if you were to simply read the headlines or view our standardized test scores, you’d think all of us on campus were a bunch of unprofessional oafs who couldn’t teach a fish to swim.

Yet, do the bubble tests measure any of the extenuating circumstances which play a definite role in academic performance? Do the tests that ETS produces take into account a mom with a mouth full of F-Bombs?

Clearly, in my opinion, this lady was on the border of needing social services to intervene. Based on what I saw, I think there’s at least a reason to investigate whether or not this person is actually fit to be the guardian of her children.

Yet my school, we take all comers. If you were to look at this kids IEP I have a feeling you’d find a troubled history in school from way back when. A high school that wanted to elevate its test scores would try and re-route kids like this to “other” institutions. (Trust me, it happens.) But we don’t pull that nonsense. We try to provide all comers with an education. Of course we could do a better job of it – but who couldn’t? Yet, it’s the end of the year and some of our seniors are making plans to go to some pretty heavy-duty 4 year colleges… so at least there’s a path within our school for those who are determined to find it to actually take something from the time they spend in our halls.

Clearly, though, we’re not miracle workers. And even more clear is the idea that there are about a zillion factors that go into “making a student”.

And one day, when that 8 month old turns into a 16 year old, well… we can only pray, right?

These are the kids of our city. And this is what we, the teachers are facing, in trying to educate them. Nope, we don’t bat 1.000. Not even close.

To many students, the holiday break of 2009 is long gone. But I have a student who will never forget it. That’s because his uncle strangled his aunt to death — and then shot himself in the head in a murder suicide — with his nephew, my ninth grader, in the next room.

And yes, my student heard the whole thing.

Of course I am setting my goal to do all the humanistic work I can to make sure this kid, well… doesn’t go off the deep end. But how his story will play out is a great unknown right now.

And yet, how will my work with him be measured this year? By the standardized test scores he delivers on the bubble tests we administer to probe his aptitudes and capacities.

Really, that’s it. What are his test scores?

Fair to him? Naw.
Fair to judge me as a teacher by his scores? Naw. And yet, that’s how the district, the county and the state are going to measure my professionalism this year.

Next time you see low test scores and think stinky teachers are to blame for low performance, well… perhaps there’s a human being behind each of those data-driven numbers we offer to the bean counters.

Jobs are gonna be slashed next year as a result of our NCLB probation status. But are the measurements really apples to apples?

A student witness to murder-suicide in the age of NCLB… no excuses, just results.

Yesterday I wrote about how first and foremost I must raise my standardized test scores. I also expressed how I was disheartened by such a cold, black and white reality.

However, these are the cards I’ve been dealt. The federal government is literally strong-arming the states through a lording of the purse strings over their heads (i.e. no comply, no money — no comply, no money — no comply, no money) to either raise bubble test scores in our schools — particularly in our low-performing schools such as the one where I teach — or incur draconian consequences.

We are now in the draconian consequences mode here at Lynwood High School.

Though I believe I have spent years bashing the bubble tests as being insufficient assessment tools, ( I truly do not believe they measure my own ability as a teacher, the work I have done, nor do they precisely measure the full capacity of my kids in a manner that paints an accurate, holistic portrait of the individual child — and I do feel that growth model assessments would be much more fair and much more accurate indications of the work being done in our classrooms… blah, blah, blah, this case has been made ad nauseum) the powers that be have remain unmoved for whatever reason. And so, like every other teacher in my school, I have to play they way they want me to play or else they will remove me from my position and bring in other teachers to do as they wish.

Raise your test scores. That’s all they want.

And the thing is, I don’t really think it’s going to be all the immense of a challenge for me.

Now, I don’t want to be arrogant. I don’t want to sound like a teacher filled with hubris but, look… let’s be honest. I can do this.

Why? Because I am now going to “crack” the test.

And I am going to teach all of my students how to “crack” the tests.

And their scores will rise.

Let’s be clear, I am not going to do anything illegal. It’s all perfectly legit. Just like the SAT prep classes and the graduate school entrance exams (the LSAT, the MCAT, the GMAT) all have expensive “test prep” classes that teach their students how to “crack” the test, so too will I do the same for my kids.

Standardized tests by their very nature are “crackable” and if you put me in front of the guillotine, well… I have a job I’d like to keep.

And so, I will buckle to the pressure.

Is it best for the kids? Well, it seems like the powers-that-be don’t really care for my opinion on that matter.

Of course, it’s all fine and dandy when there’s no bread to tell others, “Let them eat cake” but this is going to save my job so please… unless you have a way for me to protest my approach to the second half of this school year without it costing me my employment, recognize that this is the world in which we all now live.

And if this pressure has not yet come to your door, be thankful.

Just FYI, more posts to come (for the curious) will speak to:
– How to crack the tests.
– Why I actually do believe in accountability.
– What will get put on the back-burner while test-prep gets “red-alert” priority.
– The inner conflict I feel about “going along to get along” as opposed to being willing to “die for a cause”.

The Ugly Truth is that my number one goal for my students right now has to be to raise their 2010 standardized test scores.

I find it disturbing, off-base, heart-wrenching, and almost something shameful to admit. However, NCLB has my entire school’s back up against the wall right now. The state is on the doorstep of taking over the district. The district has already informed us that if we sink to the next level of NCLB probation status, tenure for everyone on campus will be voided and jobs will be eviscerated. (Keep in mind that more budget cuts are going to hammer us from the other side, too.)

Essentially, we will be measured by one stat and one stat only in the most high stakes of manners this year. Our standardized test scores will determine our future (individually and collectively, I assume) and people will lose jobs based on the results.

Actually, lots of people will already be losing their jobs. That’s a given. The question is not “if” but “how many” and “who”. (The “when” question is easy to answer: NOW!)

Obviously, much more will be written about this by me over the next few months so I won’t bother to write a 900 page post about all the aspects at this juncture. However, these are the cards we are being dealt: Earn higher standardized test scores and you will be judged favorably. Do not earn sufficiently high enough test scores and you will be chopped.

It’s now that black and white for my English department at Lynwood High School.

More to come…