Pride

Assessment is far more than a grade – A caring teacher’s impact on me

mlubelfeld General Posts , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
– Benjamin Franklin

 

With President’s Day approaching (February 20, 2017) I thought it would be a good time to share some thoughts about how a college professor from an undergraduate course on the American Presidency from many years ago impacted my life and my professional journey. A journey that currently has some powerful meaning/relevance with our district’s move to standards based grading and reporting at the middle school. With this blog post, I’ll draw the connections!

As a former 6th and 8th grade social studies teacher (U.S. history, civics, law, world history, reading, etc.) I have a deep interest in our nation’s culture, history, values, beliefs, celebrations, etc. In addition, I hold a degree in political science, so I have been a “policy wonk” for many years, and to this day I follow the news, politics, etc. With President’s Day approaching I am reminded of the powerful impact a professor’s act of kindness and care from many years ago and from an undergraduate course on the American Presidency.

While I was a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, UIC, I had some of the best teachers in my life. The late Dr. Twiley Barker Jr., Dr. Kevin Lyles, and Dr. Andrew McFarland, to name a few. During a course on the American Presidency, POLS 229, an event took place in my life that impacted my philosophies, beliefs, and actions as a teacher and educational leader over the past 25 years. In some ways it likely shaped my philosophies and impact as a teacher and as an educational leader so many years later. Right now there is a current challenging transition from percentage grades to standards based grades at the middle school level in my district. Looking back at my personal educational history, I’m reminded of why meaningful feedback, teacher /student relationships, and the mastery of content and the flexibility of instruction supersedes any percentage grade or mark in terms of meaningful feedback and communication about learning.

In our district right now we are engaged in a transformation/change process with learning, teaching, grading, reporting and assessing. The implementation of standards based grading, reporting and assessment is ongoing in our school district; there were pretty much no problems when we made the change at the elementary school level (K-5) four years ago.

This is the first year of the middle school implementation of the standards based system, the transition is challenging in part because there is confusion and inconsistency as well as the fact that it is change and that in and of itself causes challenges.

One of the cornerstones of transitioning to standards based learning, grading, etc. is the mindset shift and the concept shift. For example, with the concept shift of instructional change, the zero goes away. The concept of NO MORE ZERO grades and the concept of mastery (or do-over) becomes the focus. Grades/reporting/assessment results are NOT used for “responsibility” or “reward” or “preparation for the next level in education”, instead grades/reporting/assessment results are used to communicate what is learned, what needs to be learned and what is next to be learned. With this blog post, I’m reflecting on the congruity of an impactful event in my life during an undergraduate course, and the realization that this impactful event has impacted my beliefs whether I consciously knew about it or not. This is an “aha” moment for me – this is partially why I so strongly believe the growing pains and transition are worth the time, effort, energy, and extra work involved in the middle school standards based grading situation.

Change is hard (I’ve written a lot about the change process) – Unlearning is hard (I have also written about this concept).

My college professor Dr. Andrew McFarland gave me a chance in the “real world” -when I was in college. Because he knew me, he knew what kind of student I was – he knew my passion for political science he treated me like I was more than a percentage or a score. Dr. McFarland also taught so that students would learn. He had high standards for each and every student and he held himself to high standards too.

So what is this all about? What is this big event that caused me an “aha” moment? Dr. McFarland called me one night while I was eating dinner with my parents; it was 5:30pm – I don’t know how I remember this fact, but I do. This event took place in 1988 or 1999 and I still vividly remember our call!

He called me that night because earlier that day when I took the final exam, I inadvertently forgot to answer one or two additional questions. If Dr. McFarland graded or assessed based on the “old” system I would have received an F. Dr. McFarland, though, was using standards based learning and instruction (whether he or I knew it or not). He called me on the phone and asked me to respond to the final exam question prompts – for 30 maybe 60 minutes. Because he cared about learning – not about percentages or “harsh” lessons, I was able to demonstrate mastery and competency of the American Presidency course (in which I did earn an A, not only because of what I learned, but more importantly, because my professor cared about discovering what his students knew).

He assessed my knowledge acquisition in an alternative learning setting because my teacher was more concerned about assessing my learning and mastery than he was about issuing a grade or a percentage. Had this caring professor used traditional methods I would have failed the exam. In my opinion and in my experiences, standards based grading, reporting, learning, and assessment actually prepares people for real life by holding them accountable to learn. Thank you Dr. McFarland!

You see, opponents to mastery grading, or standards based grading & reporting systems think the “old” 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50 percentage system somehow makes sense (it does not) and somehow prepares people for “the real world” (it does not) or prepares them for high school/college.

Well it doesn’t do any of that; but it’s hard for people to unlearn what they know and what they think they know.

It’s hard for people to accept new research studies and effects when those new studies and effects are different than what they experienced.

Our district will transition and in partnership with parents, teachers, administrators, and students, we will do what is best for students. I’m grateful to a wonderful college professor who made a lasting impact on me. A teacher’s impact is lasting and forever; let’s use grades, reporting, and assessment to build strong learned people. Let’s use modern instructional strategies to maximize the impact and effect. Let’s help people unlearn practices that make no sense other than to have been used in their past school experiences. Preparing students for the future world requires teaching them content that is meaningful in learning environments that are powerfully purposeful and full of clear, regular, meaningful feedback and opportunities to learn and demonstrate learning.

Special Education Climate Survey 2015 – #Engage109

mlubelfeld General Posts , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence–only in constant improvement and constant change.”
– Tom Peters

Engage, Inspire, Empower – these words drive our vision and our mission in Deerfield Public Schools, District 109. We are Future Ready, we have made great gains in We are Future Ready!science, technology, engineering, and mathematics K-8. We have impressive, world class facilities and we select excellent staff and administrators! We have tons to be proud of.

We never rest on our laurels and we aim daily to go from good to great or from great to more great. Part of this relentless focus on excellence is shown in the data informed leadership from multiple stakeholders. Recently, in partnership with K12Insight, we administered a special education perceptions survey to parents and staff. All staff were invited to take the survey and all parents of children who leadquotehave an IEP were invited to take the survey as well. Survey data like this guides us, informs us, provides check-ins and check ups and allows us to best serve our students.

The presentation made to the Board of Education on Monday, October 5, 2015, is embedded below. We are so proud to show positive growth:

86% of parents were completely or somewhat satisfied with the quality of the special education and related services their child received this year, which is 9 percent higher than in 2014.

90% of employees said special education students are receiving quality services.

And we are equally proud to show in what areas we have growth opportunities:

55% of employees who have been in co-teaching environments said they do not have adequate support from district leadership for co-teaching. Forty-nine percent of employees who have been in co-teaching environment said they do not have adequate support from school leadership for co-teaching.

31% of employees rated assistive technology services and 25 percent rated professional development in assistive technology as fair or poor.

ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER
ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER

Culture is Everything – Relationships are Everything – #Engage109

mlubelfeld General Posts , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“The test of a leader is taking the vision from me to we.”
– John C. Maxwell, Leadership expert

In the Deerfield Public Schools – District 109, one of the “BIG 5” initiatives under which we operate is Organizational Culture. Our unwavering focus on employee engagement and satisfaction is demonstrated in our annual measure of culture and the individual school action planning around measures of culture at each school. It’s also felt each and every time one walks the halls of our schools or interacts withPeter-Drucker-Culture-Strategy our amazing teachers, support staff, administrators, board members, students, and members of the community. With a strong organizational culture reflecting intentional relationship building, our District is humbled and proud of the three year culture trends (see below from a recent Board presentation from one of our research partners):

All school teams deserve a lot of credit for identifying culture dimensions in need of attention. It is essential to replicate that which works and to remediate that which does not! Our aim is success for all students and staff and community. Our Board of Education continues to lead strategically and govern from “the balcony” allowing staff to do the necessary work on behalf of student learning. As a futureleadership team we have been in office for 26 months and a tremendous amount of positive growth and change is underway. I cannot thank our administrators, teachers, support staff members, students and board members enough for their dedication to intentional and deliberate excellence!

At the most recent school board meeting I shared a highlight of where we have been, where we are and where we are going organizationally. See below for details:

ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER
ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER

The Future is Now – Transformation via Digital Learning

mlubelfeld General Posts , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.”
– John Wooden

Over the past decade and especially in the last year and a half, DPS109 has been “going digital” as part of a 1:1 Transformation of teaching and learning practices – we are in 2015 so we are committed to educating like it’s 2015 and not 1915!

In support of this transformation we have invested time, dollars, resources, planning, training, and support for this transformation – not reformation – but transformation of teaching and learning leveraging modern techniques, research, tools, and culture in support of our mission: Engage, Inspire, Empower! Earlier this year I shared several blog posts outlining and describing many of the high level digital tools we have in support of our teachers and students. As part of this process I was fortunate to attend a national conversation on math achievement as a guest of Discovery Education.We are Future Ready!

Brief Report from National Education Leadership Event
District 109 Director for Learning and Assessment Services Amy Rubin and I went to Discovery Education World Headquarters for the release and review of math techbook as well as technology tool integration as part of a national conversation on math achievement. For more information, please visit: http://www.discoveryeducation.com/futurenow2015/math-techbook-launch/index.cfm.

We were guests of the Discovery Education Company and we were seated with the U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez who also gave the keynote address at the event. Beyond reviewing “technology”, Amy and I were part of a national discussion about math achievement and the importance of math education for all students, especially for our girls. This is consistent with findings and recommendations of the Superintendent’s Task Force for Middle Level Education STEM subcommittee recommendations from last year’s community engagement process. Our plan is to share our learnings with the math PLC’s (Professional Learning Communities, teams) at both middle schools as well as with the math committee and the leadership teams.

Amy and I also visited a Washington D.C. public school where blended learning and digital transformations using tools that include the Discovery science, math, and social studies tech books are the norm. The school is the Wheatley Education Center, a K-8 public neighborhood school. The true differentiation taking place in each classroom was impressive – at low, medium and high levels. There were classrooms with direct instruction, group work and individual work going on at the same time – stations across the grade levels. As you may know, DPS109 has available for use Discovery Education science tech book in grades 1-8 and social studies tech book in grades 6-8. In addition, for several years we have had access to Discovery Streaming with audio, video, imagery, encyclopedia, songs, etc. resources for all subject areas grades K-12. Additional training on site has begun and most recently at our DPS109 Teaching & Learning Conference, Discovery Education trainers led sessions with our teachers and administrators.

Amy and I also benefitted greatly from having the opportunity to interact with executives from Discovery as well as education leaders from US and Canadian states/provinces. We also met with educators from the United Kingdom; these multiple perspectives serve to enlighten us to the possibilities of technology, improved instruction or pedagogy and “crack the code” on how to effectively differentiate for all learners – especially at the higher achievement levels. This event was unique in that we interacted with teachers, students, leaders, and politicians at the highest levels for the purposes of leveraging business/government/and educational partnership in support of public education and economic growth. We did all this amidst a flurry (no pun intended) of weather related communications and decision making this week. All and all it was a whirlwind of intensity and learning and energizing partnerships on behalf of student learning, staff training and growth, and community and national pride!

What do we do all summer? … More work in progress!

mlubelfeld Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , ,

From the Superintendent’s Desk: What do we do all summer?

Published in the Deerfield Review

Michael Lubelfeld | Superintendent of DPS 109
June 27 11:19 a.m.

“What do you do all summer?” This is a question that parents and community members frequently ask school leaders. In District 109, as in many school districts, administrators work all year ensuring that all loose ends are closed to the last school year and that everyone and everything is ready to start the next year. Much of the work we do is behind the scenes: teacher and administrator training, planning, budget analysis, and completing state and federal reports. We know that parent and community questions don’t stop in the summer, so we keep the lines of communication open all year. All of our work is mission centered to provide learning environments and supports so that all children learn and succeed.

In District 109 this summer, a lot of the work we are doing is very visible, centering around maintenance, cleaning, safety, and very exciting construction. From safety and security enhancements, to energy efficiency work, to power supplies, to classroom construction, to exterior construction, to air quality work, we are improving our buildings to create better environments for teaching and learning. Here is an abbreviated breakdown of the projects at each school:

Caruso Middle School: Roof and tile work as well as learning space transformations, including the construction of STEM and communication media arts (CMA) labs.

Shepard Middle School: Transforming 50-year-old science classrooms into modern science laboratories, as well as STEM/CMA lab construction.

Walden/Kipling Elementary Schools: Completing air quality and air conditioning work so that all learning spaces throughout the District will be fully air conditioned.

All Schools: Generators installed to replace battery back-up systems, as well as emergency illumination. “Green” efforts, including installation of automated lighting controls and initial LED lighting work and other environmental enhancements.

It takes a great deal of talent to plan, manage and complete this amount and level of work. We are proud that our Department of Buildings & Grounds hires extremely hard working seasonal workers each summer — about 80 percent of whom are former District 109 students! Our fearless leader of Buildings & Grounds, Steve Kenesie, is a mentor, guide, inspiration, model and supervisor of these essential personnel who help with myriad tasks and projects both large scale and small scale. Summer work is quite intense, it takes more than “work,” it’s really also a story about motivation, heart and desire.

We are proud to complete all of this work with existing funds through many years of cost-cutting, operations management and fiscally responsible leadership of the Board of Education and the administration (past and present). The District’s mission is to engage, inspire, and empower all students, and with these significant improvements in life safety, health and wellness, instruction and facility maintenance, we using every resource available – including community support – to achieve our mission and to increase student learning.

Of course, at the end of the day (or in our case summer) we remember why we do all that we do – for the students!

hallway1