by Jane Sandbank | Sep 7, 2015 | Uncategorized
SEPTEMBER 5, 2015
(Read to Graduate Education Students at Hunter College)
I often kidded Dr. Sobol when I was his student and he my professor, mentor, inspiration and dissertation advisor, that we were connected because when he talked to his students about civil rights and the March on Washington, I was the only one old enough to have been there with him. I went back to get my doctorate in education when I was 50. Although I had several Masters Degrees and administrative credentials, I had always aspired to getting a doctorate and going to Teachers College.
I took every course he taught and had the great privilege and good fortune to have many conversations with him before or after class and after I had received my doctorate degree. He was tough on me at the defense and I was surprised by just how tough. There was no compromise of his standards when it came to the hard work of academic study, teaching and learning, ethics, social justice, creating a worthy inclusive curriculum, and the possibilities of positive social change through schooling. The work was just too damned important; the stakes too high.
He profoundly influenced the current generation of educational leaders and all of those whom he taught not only through his brilliance and passion about children and schooling, but also through his creativity and infectious joy in the process of learning. He started a national advocacy group called Public Schools for Tomorrow, an organization to deal with what he called the “quiet crisis” in current educational policy that does not address the issues of how to educate impoverished children.
One of the most exciting and humbling experiences in my 35 year career in education is when Tom asked me to teach his policy class at Teachers College. His health had been declining for some time and it became clear to him that he did not have the physical capacity to teach that semester. He made all of his materials and course plans available to me and said, “If this is any help to you by all means use it. But Jane, this is your class – make it yours.”
And because of what he had taught me, I could do that. We will miss his wise counsel and warm smile, and we will pass on to the next generation of educational leaders the lessons he taught.
by Jane Sandbank | Apr 21, 2015 | Policy and Practice, Standardized Testing, Uncategorized
Editorial: New York leaders misread opt-out message
The Journal News
Let reason prevail. The April 17, 2015 Journal News editorial, “New York leaders misread opt-out message,” presents a good regional and national perspective on Common Core, testing and teacher evaluation. NYSED, Board of Regents, Arne Duncan, President Obama, school boards, presidential candidates, legislators and Governors should:
- Value and trust parents, teachers and administrators.
- Look at the opt-out data (from 20 – 40% in many of the Lower Hudson Region of New York according to the Journal News article); it is significant and a game changer. If state and Washington education departments, governors and legislators are making decisions based on data, than they should realize the significance of the high numbers of parents who object to the weight given to standardized testing and its negative impact on their children and teachers. We are told that we must make critical decisions about deploying precious fiscal and human resources based on data. The story the data tells is clear.
- Change course now.
It will not benefit any let alone all students to pursue a failed reform movement. Current research points to the importance of recruiting, retaining and training, highly qualified teachers and administrators as well as aligning certification programs and professional development to the real world skills educators need to ensure that their students will be college and career ready. This pedagogy for the 21st century involves educating the whole child; it involves understanding the challenges of technology and the emotional complexity of growing up in today’s uncertain and rapidly changing world. This does not mean spending precious days, weeks and dollars on test prep. Moreover, controversy abounds not only about the validity and reliability of the tests, but also about the curriculum on which these tests are based. Is it a curriculum for today and tomorrow or for yesterday?
- Collect data on what educators think is best in Common Core and what else constitutes curriculum.
- Improve teacher and administrative certification programs to better align with 21st century research on how kids learn.
- Co-create with all players a teacher evaluation system that creates a true 360 model.
And stop wasting time and creating a highly stressed generation of children aged 9 – 14 who hate school.
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