My response to local editorial: Education is rotten at the "Core"

Our local newspaper has published a series of articles about the local and national controversy surround the Common Core. Although I'm not a Common Core enthusiast and have many of my own criticisms of education policy, I felt strongly compelled to respond to the following piece published from a district resident. School board elections for our community will be held Tuesday of next week. The letter to the editor and my response follow.

Letter from Dr. Gary Ulrich that appeared in Bolivar Herald-Free Press
Letter: Education is rotten at the "Core"

I first became enlightened to Common Core and its perverted morality while listening to Bott Radio 90.1 FM — a Christian station.

The segment was “The Complete Story” as Dick Bott interviewed Mark Ellis. In the interview, Mark Ellis tells how this sex education (which is sexual perversion) is tied into the Common Core Education Curriculum. You can also go to www.bottradionetwork.com, to “The Complete Story”-“Archives” for the month of January 2014 to hear his interview.

Common Core is another Big Government attempt to get an even more firm grip on controlling education in America. Whereby, it can contaminate the minds of the next generation with a humanist, post-Christian, post-modern philosophy and morality. Common Core is designed to effectively eliminate the private, the Christian, the home school movement and enterprise in America, while solidifying its control on public education.

They tell us it will correct their last program that failed. Why should we trust them now?

We have witnessed in recent days how out of control our National Government has become with: The IRS’ strong-arm abusive tactics; ObamaCare curtailing religious rights; and National Security Administration-overreach into our personal affairs.

If they can fully implement Common Core, they will be able to further solidify their power and control to silence the voice, the virtues, and the values of Christians, while indoctrinating our children with the post-modern philosophy.

The Germantown School Board in Wisconsin rejected Common Core and so should our school boards. School Board Elections are coming up. I pray that you will go and vote.

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” — Proverbs 14:34.

My Response

I was very disappointed in the letter to the editor sent by Dr. Gary Urich as he expressed his opposition to Common Core by linking the math and English standards with sex education programs that he reports are perverse. Dr. Urich’s position seems to link our local district, board, and educators to these terrible claims about Common Core. While there have clearly been major policy errors in the process of developing and implementing Common Core, errors that our district cannot support, we believe that the efforts of our teachers in aligning our curriculum to Common Core are worthwhile and not to be cast aside because of political and ideological concerns that are not relevant to the implementation of the standards in Bolivar. Our focus continues to be providing the best learning experiences for the students in our classrooms.

As high school principal, I worked closely with Dr. Urich’s late wife Connie, who was very involved with Alpha House pregnancy crisis center, in implementing our abstinence program at Bolivar High School. We have taught and will continue to teach students in our required health classes that abstinence until marriage is the only way to ensure mental, emotional, and physical health. We have partnered with Alpha House, a faith-based community organization, to present this information in a proper manner for our school setting.

While we cannot control what happens in other areas of our nation, our district reflects the values of our community and will continue to do so. We have excellent teachers, administrators, and board members, with strong moral values, who are concerned daily with the needs of children and act in their best interest. It would be an injustice if the sweeping statements of the anti-Common Core movement were tied to the work of these public servants.

Combine instructional rounds and Twitter to make learning visible

A few years ago we started doing instructional rounds to allow teachers the opportunity to get in other teachers' classrooms. There is something very powerful about teachers observing other teachers. It encourages reflection, creates awareness of the energy and feel of other classrooms in the building, and provides an opportunity to provide feedback and encouragement to colleagues. It broadens perspective.

Typically when we do this activity we will schedule our instructional rounds to take place over a two-day period. We invite teachers to use part of their conference period on one or both days to visit other classrooms in the building. They choose where they go, how long they stay, and what type of follow-up to provide to the visits. We emphasize that the purpose of the event is to encourage one another and learn from the brief observations. We expect it will stimulate discussions about instructional practices.

In the past, we would post large sheets of paper in our commons area where teachers would write positive comments about their visits. The event built community and showed students we are interested in celebrating the learning process and sharing our classroom space with other teachers.

But this year we tried something new. Instead of the paper and pen, we used Twitter exclusively to celebrate and provide feedback related to the visits. Based on my experience with Twitter as a learning tool, I believe every teacher would benefit greatly from engaging in the conversations related to teaching and learning on social media.

As a result of using Twitter for this purpose, a number of teachers started Twitter accounts and a few tweeted for the first time. I emailed resources about Twitter in advance and gave teachers a few ideas of things to look for in their visits. We used #BHStour to tag our posts.

We believe this idea has even greater potential. A follow-up meeting could be help to share out and facilitate further processing of what teachers learned. Another idea would be to frame the visits with certain goals. If the school is working on effective feedback, then the classroom visits could focus on the interactions that provide feedback for learning.

What other ideas would make this activity even more beneficial? I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment.

The archive of our tweets can be found at the Storify publication of our event: http://t.co/IA75DPeSjp

How Bolivar High School became a 2013 National Blue Ribbon School

Gov. Jay Nixon visited BHS to speak to students.

After Bolivar High School was announced as a 2013 National Blue Ribbon School, I received a number of phone calls from other districts, agencies, and even the governor's office congratulating our school on the honor, but also asking what we did to achieve such uncommon results with our students. The callers were interested to know what programs we used to enhance learning, did we have an extended school day or school year, could they get a copy of our school improvement plan, and more.

A few of the conversations seemed to end in disappointment as I explained that we didn't utilize any externally developed programs, nor did we have additional learning time through an extended day or calendar. I explained we would be happy to share our improvement plan, but it was not really the reason for the excellence reflected in our results. We operate as a Professional Learning Community (PLC), but that is part of our process and not a program. Although our strategic plans are important and help guide our work, the essence of our success is the people who work in our school--teachers, students, and support staff--who value relationships, community, and a culture of learning. In short, our success is attributable to people, not programs.

It seems that most school improvement efforts largely ignore culture. The culture of a school can be difficult to describe and quantify. But I will do my best to share a few of the things that I believe make our school culture effective for learning. Of course, these qualities aren't present 100% in every situation. We all make mistakes and have off days, but overall the culture of Bolivar High School nurtures these qualities.

1. Teachers, staff, and students genuinely care about one another and celebrate each other's successes. Sharing celebrations and "gratitudes" is routine at meetings, through email, and in personal conversations.

2. Honest communication is encouraged to solve problems and support learning. Staff are given latitude to challenge the status quo, and develop solutions that work for their classrooms.

3. Trust and respect are highly valued. Individuals have confidence in one another and are respectful of differences. Teachers support the work of other teachers and encourage students to do the same.

4. Teachers and staff are committed to helping students learn and just plain helping students. While learning is the focus, everyone is committed to helping students who are in need. Teachers invest in the lives of students.

5. Desire to learn, grow, and improve. Teachers and administrators are learners who seek new knowledge, admit mistakes, and model life-long learning for students.

6. High expectations are evident for all. Blaming and complaining is not commonplace. Instead, individuals take full responsibility for solving problems. If it is to be, it starts with me.

7. What's important is important. Frustrations over dress code issues or other building management issues are secondary to matters that strongly impact learning.

8. Risk taking is encouraged. Teachers and students try new things in a supportive environment. Failure is viewed as an opportunity for learning.

9. Involvement in decision making. Our building leadership team consists of teachers who help set a direction for the school. Where possible, decisions are made at the classroom or department level.

10. There is a strong pride in the history of the school, it's story, and the traditions that bond us together. We tell the stories of our past and celebrate the tradition of excellence, but we are also always looking eagerly to a positive future.

It was truly an honor to receive the award. We were just one of eight schools in Missouri and among just 236 public schools in the nation to be recognized as a Blue Ribbon School for 2013. The award was based on high achievement in ELA and math over multiple years as measured on the Missouri End-of-Course (EOC) Exams. In addition, we were required to complete an application process. An excerpt from the application follows and the full application document can be viewed through this link:
 

Bolivar High School is located in Bolivar, Missouri. The town was named for Simón Bolivar, the South American political and military leader. On July 5, 1948, U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Venezuelan President Rómulo Gallegos visited the town to dedicate a statue of Simón Bolivar. Soon after the visit, BHS students voted to forfeit “Tigers” as the BHS mascot and adopt “Liberators” as the school’s namesake.

Nearly 10 years ago, BHS sent a group of teachers to visit Adlai Stevenson HS in Lincolnshire, Illinois to learn more about Professional Learning Communities (PLC). From this initiative, the school engaged in a comprehensive PLC certification process and developed a strong vision of improvement to ensure high expectations of achievement for all students.

As a result, the school has cultivated a culture of collaboration and a focus on results. Teachers collaborate weekly with the sole focus of improving student learning. Each content area has developed essential (priority) standards that align with the Missouri Core Academic Standards (MoCAS). Teachers utilize formative assessments and feedback to monitor student progress and guide instructional decisions. Students who are not proficient receive additional time and support until reaching mastery.

The unwavering focus on learning has resulted in increased student achievement. The successes have been a result of incredible commitment by talented teachers and staff, along with excellent parent and community support. Although nearly half of our students are economically disadvantaged, we send 70% of our students to 2-year or 4-year colleges/universities. Moreover, our free/reduced lunch population has performed extremely well on state tests as we strive to ensure that all students learn regardless of socio-economic status or any other factors.