Teachers set to get assistance

Advocate staff photo by MATTHEW HINTON -- Louisiana State Superintendent of Education John White speaks at Phoebe A. Hearst Elementary School in Metairie Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, in this Advocate file photo.

“This is a significant shift in the way we are approaching teaching and learning.” John White, state superintendent of education

Public school teachers will have a wide array of resources to aid in the launch of tougher academic standards that begin next year, state Superintendent of Education John White said Tuesday.

White also said the resources — called a Classroom Support Toolbox — were crafted by about 150 teachers rather than relying on directives from state education officials.

“When you dictate to teachers from Baton Rouge you effectively rely on the wisdom of bureaucrats, not on the wisdom of educators,” he said.

The new academic rules are called common core standards. Louisiana and 44 other states have adopted the guidelines, which are aimed at making students more competitive worldwide and easier state-to-state comparisons on student achievement.

The new standards take effect for the 2014-15 school year.

“This is a significant shift in the way we are approaching teaching and learning,” White said.

He compared the change with adding 20 yards to a football field.

“It will take some time to get used to how you play defense on a longer field and how you play offense on a longer field,” White said.

Part of the assistance, White said, is an interactive, online feature called Classroom Support Toolbox at the department’s website — Louisianabelieves.com

It includes sample year-long curriculum plans, assessment guides for the upcoming school year and sample assessment questions.

The site also includes the content of every assessment the state will administer and which standards the questions are linked to.

“Make no mistake,” White said. “The tests will be harder.”

He also said about 2,000 educators from across the state will serve as teacher leaders on details of how to use the classroom toolbox, details of the common core standards and how the instruction can be spread out over a school year.

At least one teacher leader will be assigned to each school, he said, and more than one for schools with more than 1,000 students.

Those educators will undergo training April 18-19 in Lafayette and go through a second session later in the year.

In the past, White said, state officials would roll out new tests and tell teachers how and when to teach the material.

Comments

1) Comment by jedleland - 27/02/2013

ive never commented on a reporter before, but Noel has this one right Sentell is either the laziest hack at the advocate, or (more likely) he has his marching orders from the Manship corporation. the advocate needs to sell papers and advertising space, and there is much money floating around in things like charter schools. but come on Sentell, at least pretend to look like your trying. White doesnt sign your paychecks, the manships do. Sure, they have their own issues with external pressures on their liberty to report openly and freely (and have done for years) but atleast make an effort.

2) Comment by HMaltravers - 27/02/2013

Bravo, Tally! You hit the nail on the head. As a former special ed teacher, I hated it when some condescending "education specialist" or "education consultant" with a clipboard would observe my class for all of 10 minutes. Then, she would proceed to point out all my deficiencies as a teacher. The real insult cam when she would hand me a list of "standards" or "best practices" printed from the Internet. Sickening.

3) Comment by CurvaciousJ - 27/02/2013

I am so disappointed in the direction The Advocate is headed. I wonder if Will Sentell and his peers had hoped that, when they finally landed a job as a journalist at a state capital's largest newspaper, they would get to spew propaganda in the form of emails and press releases from state government and label it as journalism. What happened to the Woodwards and Bernsteins out there? As a reader of your work, Will, I suggest that you beef up your piece by asking follow up questions and by getting input from others associated with the topic. In this instance, ask classroom teachers for their comments on what White has to say. Come on, Advocate, take your mouth off of the man's teat and get out there and do some real investigative journalism.

4) Comment by KilgoreTrout - 27/02/2013

The DoE is being run by persons with little educational experience yet are being paid high, unjustified salaries- most are not from Louisiana. There are persons in state associate superintendent roles who have NO experience or training in education. Is Louisiana really this stupid?

5) Comment by Traveler - 27/02/2013

Headscratcher: well said! John White's remarks are the ultimate in hypocrisy. His contempt for educators is revealed by his belief that teachers are so stupid that they will believe him.

6) Comment by Tally - 27/02/2013

Each new reform or improvement effort involves "teacher coaches" and "teacher leaders"...teachers pulled from the classroom and turned into administrators. They poke their heads into the classrooms now and then and spend lots of time inventing surveys. Meanwhile, class sizes are too large for today's type of learner. This isn't 1945. Thirty modern-day kids in a classroom doesn't work unless there is a Nintendo machine.

7) Comment by Headscratcher - 27/02/2013

How in the world can Mr. Sentell look himself in the mirror in the morning? Or his editors, for that matter. Can you really quote John White saying “When you dictate to teachers from Baton Rouge you effectively rely on the wisdom of bureaucrats, not on the wisdom of educators,” and still keep a straight face? Or even put it in print? The entire, thoroughly rigged and mathematically suspect COMPASS "evaluation system" is nothing but relying on the "wisdom" of bureaucrats and is, most assuredly, dictating to teachers. Ye gods.

8) Comment by spqr - 27/02/2013

Depth in journalism?The Advocate? Noel, you ask far too much.

9) Comment by jwarren - 27/02/2013

One more thing. The last sentence of the story is interesting. The state, no matter what lie White tells, is still telling teachers how and when to teach things under this 'reformed' system. Sample year.long curriculum plans, the teacher evaluation system itself, place the same restrictions on teachers as before, and the all-important nature of testing means teachers will be doing test preparation at the expense of everything else all year long. Their jobs depend on a single-minded focus on test preparation. I would like White to explain why this is not true.

10) Comment by teacherguy - 27/02/2013

Me...I'll be a teacher leader...wait, I have too many years experience and have a document called certification...this makes me incapable of being anything more than ineffective.

11) Comment by teacherguy - 27/02/2013

FINALLY it appears White is going to actually include teachers in his reform??? I'm waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under our feet on this facade, too. It looks good in the news...

12) Comment by jwarren - 26/02/2013

The Advocate has no interest in the truth here.

13) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 26/02/2013

I once wrote a piece for Harvard University's Nieman Journalism Center about how any depth in education reporting seems to be rapidly falling victim to "parroting the press releases." If i do an update on the piece, I will likely include, to see this in action see this article by Will Sentell. Wouldn't it be wonderful if The Advocate ever released someone to actually do investigative journalism? They could focus on the lack of accountability in the Department of Education, where someone is trying very hard to prevent any truth from getting out! About the failures of the RSD, about the huge increases in retirements by veteran teachers who cannot go along with the "educational malpractice" being forced upon them by those totally lacking in training or experience, but well versed in the rhetoric of the reformers... Wouldn't it be nice if The Advocate spent a little more time on the truth about who is making money of these reforms?