What is your view of Gov. Perry’s executive order to require 65 cents of every dollar to be spent in the classroom?
I am sure the intention of this act was an honorable one, but this order will further tie the hands of the local schools. This often happens when decisions are made about educational matters by politicians rather than educators. I taught for 22 years in Allen and can say I never had a problem with having adequate materials for my classroom. Because personnel costs account for 80% of a school budget, just having the teacher or teachers in a classroom would account for a high part of this 65%. On the other hand, all the districts of Texas are not duplicates of each other, and the needs of one may not mirror the needs of another. If, for example, a district finds it is quite adequately providing for the classroom needs of its students--but is accomplishing that goal at a rate lower than 65%--and would like to spend the difference on programs that would enrich and better the students, first it would be forced to fulfill that mandate and wastefully spend money on an unneeded initiative. The reality of this order is that it will do very little to help students or teachers, and will no doubt add time to both the teacher’s day and to staff requirements to assure that the school is complying.
Why am I running for the Allen ISD School Board?
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Problem-Solving
What is the toughest personal problem that you have ever solved?
The problem presented to me by the accidental death of my husband. He was killed suddenly in the crash of his private plane and I became a single mom with four girls ranging in age from 16 to 2 years old. I had to learn to be a good teacher, mom and to juggle everything required to run a household myself. This was in 1973 many years before doing this was just considered an ordinary part of life. Three of those four girls have gone on to be successful educators and the other is an educator in that she is bringing up three children ages five, four and three. I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to accomplish this and to have been able to give 43 years of my life to education.
The problem presented to me by the accidental death of my husband. He was killed suddenly in the crash of his private plane and I became a single mom with four girls ranging in age from 16 to 2 years old. I had to learn to be a good teacher, mom and to juggle everything required to run a household myself. This was in 1973 many years before doing this was just considered an ordinary part of life. Three of those four girls have gone on to be successful educators and the other is an educator in that she is bringing up three children ages five, four and three. I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to accomplish this and to have been able to give 43 years of my life to education.
Stress in the Schools
If you are elected and can achieve ONE quantifiable thing in your term, what would you want it to be?
I would like to see some of the stress put upon our children to succeed in school relieved, so that learning can be returned to a pleasurable experience and school become a place that most kids want to be. I would like to help reduce the number of high stakes tests that a student has by 25% at the end of my term.Our schools have become the focal point for every issue in our society. The stress at all areas, on all personnel and particularly on our students has reached a point where we need to take a step back and decide just what the expectations on the school should and can be. Right now every person in our school and every student in our schools are operating at a break neck pace that allows no room for pausing to reflect, interact and definitely no time to enjoy what is being taught. We can not ask the schools to be the source of solving all problems in our society, to be the disseminator of community news and to educate with excellence the required courses.
I would like to see some of the stress put upon our children to succeed in school relieved, so that learning can be returned to a pleasurable experience and school become a place that most kids want to be. I would like to help reduce the number of high stakes tests that a student has by 25% at the end of my term.Our schools have become the focal point for every issue in our society. The stress at all areas, on all personnel and particularly on our students has reached a point where we need to take a step back and decide just what the expectations on the school should and can be. Right now every person in our school and every student in our schools are operating at a break neck pace that allows no room for pausing to reflect, interact and definitely no time to enjoy what is being taught. We can not ask the schools to be the source of solving all problems in our society, to be the disseminator of community news and to educate with excellence the required courses.
Teacher Pay
Should teacher pay and performance be linked?
We definitely need a way to compensate good teachers but defining a good teacher, defining the success of a student or a class has too many variables. I have been in education for 50 years and the debate on “merit pay” has raged for all this time. The reason being that, unlike a company who has a product or a salesman whose success can be concretely measured, education deals with people and the variables that must be looked at in order to determine success for a student or to determine a successful teacher are just too great. We need to change our paradigms and stop looking at how to measure the success of a teacher. If we make teacher pay comparable to the pay of other professions not only at the beginning but throughout the teacher’s career, then the competition for teaching jobs will begin before a teacher is placed in a classroom. We will continue to attract the brightest and the best young people into our ranks and they will remain in the classrooms. This design would also encourage teamwork and cooperation between teachers where collaboration is essential. The different “merit pay” schemes being offered now and in the past certainly encouraged competition not collaboration among teachers
We definitely need a way to compensate good teachers but defining a good teacher, defining the success of a student or a class has too many variables. I have been in education for 50 years and the debate on “merit pay” has raged for all this time. The reason being that, unlike a company who has a product or a salesman whose success can be concretely measured, education deals with people and the variables that must be looked at in order to determine success for a student or to determine a successful teacher are just too great. We need to change our paradigms and stop looking at how to measure the success of a teacher. If we make teacher pay comparable to the pay of other professions not only at the beginning but throughout the teacher’s career, then the competition for teaching jobs will begin before a teacher is placed in a classroom. We will continue to attract the brightest and the best young people into our ranks and they will remain in the classrooms. This design would also encourage teamwork and cooperation between teachers where collaboration is essential. The different “merit pay” schemes being offered now and in the past certainly encouraged competition not collaboration among teachers
Technology in the Classroom
Is technology being used effectively in classrooms? Give us examples. Also, should the future emphasis be on laptops or text books?
My experience has been that Allen has technology available for any classroom or teacher that would like to use it. In addition to technology-based courses, technology is implemented in a myriad of educational efforts, such as its use in ESL classrooms, through the accelerated reading programs available through the different Allen school libraries, through teacher-created lessons in the classrooms, with videoconferencing, and in the production of newspapers or magazines in classrooms.
I believe laptops and textbooks should be used in tandem in the event that technology goes off-line, or to address a learning style that is more prosperous when enjoying the hands-on effect of a textbook. Having the textbooks on computer could be very useful for homework, if the district is sure to make access available to any student who needs it. One district permits students to check out laptops from the library if they have no computer access at home. However, for the sake and sanity of our teachers, they must be able to depend on the availability of resources, such as books. Having both the laptop and textbook as options would certainly provide the best option for kids and teachers.
My experience has been that Allen has technology available for any classroom or teacher that would like to use it. In addition to technology-based courses, technology is implemented in a myriad of educational efforts, such as its use in ESL classrooms, through the accelerated reading programs available through the different Allen school libraries, through teacher-created lessons in the classrooms, with videoconferencing, and in the production of newspapers or magazines in classrooms.
I believe laptops and textbooks should be used in tandem in the event that technology goes off-line, or to address a learning style that is more prosperous when enjoying the hands-on effect of a textbook. Having the textbooks on computer could be very useful for homework, if the district is sure to make access available to any student who needs it. One district permits students to check out laptops from the library if they have no computer access at home. However, for the sake and sanity of our teachers, they must be able to depend on the availability of resources, such as books. Having both the laptop and textbook as options would certainly provide the best option for kids and teachers.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Use of Taxpayer Dollars
What schools in your district most efficiently used taxpayer dollars to achieve success in core subjects? How can that success be duplicated throughout the district?
As an employee of Allen ISD for many years it is obvious to me that the Allen schools have all been cited for outstanding performance in different areas (documented on the Allen ISD and TEA’s web pages). Duplication of programs that are successful in a classroom or a program is indeed desirable. Allen teachers meet periodically in different groups and levels to share successful ideas. However, as with most things in education, duplication is a relative thing, because what is successful in one school may not meet the needs of another school. In fact, a teacher may have to alter how they teach a lesson to different groups of student in a single day, based upon the needs of each class. Always the needs of the students in a class have to dictate the instruction, instead of the class meeting the needs of the course. Having said that, probably the one most successful way to establish a program in any school is to have one or two enthusiastic teachers implement the program. As they report their success with the idea, it will spread quite rapidly. Schools will have much more success in this way than in trying to impose a new program or method on an entire system.
As an employee of Allen ISD for many years it is obvious to me that the Allen schools have all been cited for outstanding performance in different areas (documented on the Allen ISD and TEA’s web pages). Duplication of programs that are successful in a classroom or a program is indeed desirable. Allen teachers meet periodically in different groups and levels to share successful ideas. However, as with most things in education, duplication is a relative thing, because what is successful in one school may not meet the needs of another school. In fact, a teacher may have to alter how they teach a lesson to different groups of student in a single day, based upon the needs of each class. Always the needs of the students in a class have to dictate the instruction, instead of the class meeting the needs of the course. Having said that, probably the one most successful way to establish a program in any school is to have one or two enthusiastic teachers implement the program. As they report their success with the idea, it will spread quite rapidly. Schools will have much more success in this way than in trying to impose a new program or method on an entire system.
TAKS vs. End-of-course exams
How would you assess the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills? What is your opinion of substituting the last year of the TAKS test with an end-of-course exam, which some in Austin want to do?
I have never been a fan of standardized testing as a way to determine individual student performance, but rather as a tool to assess the strength of the academic performance of a school as a whole. Our students are being tested too much and at an age far too young. There is not a doctor or parent that would insist that a toddler be remediated at the age of exactly 2 years and 3 months if the toddler was not walking or talking. Why then do we insist that a child who is six years and six months old must be able to read or will need remediation? The pressure and stress on the students in Texas schools are overwhelming. We need to stop and let our children grow. I personally would recommend that everyone connected with the Texas Education Agency be required to read the book Leo the Late Bloomer, by Robert Krauss.
However, if there is a silver lining to the TAKS test, it may be found in the fact that students who struggle academically can be identified and helped much more quickly than some educators may have predicted. Conversely, there are other ways to identify kids with academic challenges other than high stakes testing of TAKS. This type of testing is being done far too early and there are far too many tests being given to even our youngest children. I only support the proposed end-of-course testing if (1) it returns the testing authority to the classroom teacher and (2) if it eliminates some of current testing. If the end-of-course testing actually increases the number of student tests, then it is a bad idea. We need to return the classroom to a place of learning, not a place of testing or preparing to be tested.
I have never been a fan of standardized testing as a way to determine individual student performance, but rather as a tool to assess the strength of the academic performance of a school as a whole. Our students are being tested too much and at an age far too young. There is not a doctor or parent that would insist that a toddler be remediated at the age of exactly 2 years and 3 months if the toddler was not walking or talking. Why then do we insist that a child who is six years and six months old must be able to read or will need remediation? The pressure and stress on the students in Texas schools are overwhelming. We need to stop and let our children grow. I personally would recommend that everyone connected with the Texas Education Agency be required to read the book Leo the Late Bloomer, by Robert Krauss.
However, if there is a silver lining to the TAKS test, it may be found in the fact that students who struggle academically can be identified and helped much more quickly than some educators may have predicted. Conversely, there are other ways to identify kids with academic challenges other than high stakes testing of TAKS. This type of testing is being done far too early and there are far too many tests being given to even our youngest children. I only support the proposed end-of-course testing if (1) it returns the testing authority to the classroom teacher and (2) if it eliminates some of current testing. If the end-of-course testing actually increases the number of student tests, then it is a bad idea. We need to return the classroom to a place of learning, not a place of testing or preparing to be tested.
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