Forget the Label: Open house at the Department of Education

???? Part II of my Martin Luther King day post is in the works, but first, here is a recap of my adventures yesterday at the Department of Education's open house. It was one of many events leading up to the inauguration, and I received the invite via email. Of course, I accepted. I take full advantage of any?opportunity to further my quest for knowledge about public education and enjoy getting all dressed up and heading into D.C. to mingle with the people up there who are running the show.
???? During my Metro ride, I read an editorial?in The Examiner that got my blood boiling. It was declaring Head Start to be a failure and all the money invested in it a big waste. Their solution was to instead devote time/money on keeping families together.
???? Yeah, good luck with that one. Is Dr. Phil or Pat Robertson going to head up this divorce-prevention task force?
?????Wikipedia describes?Head Start as a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that?provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition?and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. The program's services and resources are designed to foster stable family relationships, enhance children?s physical and emotional well-being, and establish an environment to develop strong cognitive skills.
???? Reading that gave me a flashback to last year at this time when I was beginning my master's thesis on the over-identification of minority children for special education services. As I started my research, I had high hopes of discovering not only the source of a problem that has plagued special education since its inception?but also coming up with a solution.
???? Months later, I concluded that the answers to solving the problem had been identified decades before, many of which are contained in Wikipedia's description of Head Start. Services are out there to give needy families many of the things needed to prevent their children from falling behind their wealthier (whiter) peers.
???? The problem is one of communication. For various reasons, low-income families are not aware of or do not know how to access available?programs for?prenatal care and early intervention for their infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
???? This really upset the journalist inside me. It didn't exactly thrill the special educator who has seen children from needy homes being referred to local screening committees (That's where the possibility of special education services for a student is first discussed.) after just a few months of kindergarten.
???? Hang in there...it gets better.
???? After listening to the Secretary of Education and other senior staff members at the Dept. of Ed. give brief speeches, I decided to attend a session led by Steven Hicks of the Office of Early Learning. He seemed like a nice enough guy, although I recognized that familiar look on his face when I opened my mouth to introduce myself.
???? Others who spoke before me included someone from PBS, a principal from Atlanta and a teacher from the D.C. public schools. For some reason, my brief intro about being a misfit special educator looking for answers about what is happening in public schools seemed to put him on edge. I immediately realized that I need to come up with something more boring if I expect to ever find out anything useful.
???? One topic that put my Speducator sensors on alert was the idea that states are being asked to implement kindergarten entry assessments. One of the educators in the room asked how that could be possible when the cutoff for starting kindergarten varies by state.
???? Hicks' answer was pretty lame. "We have this thing in our country called the Constitution that gives states certain rights."
???? Yes, the Rebel in me wanted to challenge that statement with a question about states being coerced into making sure every child learns the same curriculum (Common Core) and takes the same tests, but I didn't. As a guest, I minded my manners.
???? A couple of other things that ruffled my feathers included the frequent use of the word "outcomes" and other words that do not get to the heart of what is involved in teaching children what they need to make it in this world.
???? For example, here is how one of the papers I brought home with me describes the Department's focus of early learning:? Improve the health, social-emotional and cognitive outcomes for all children birth through 3rd grade, especially those with high-needs.
???? The strategy for doing this listed three items:? access to high-quality early learning programs, effective early learning workforce and comprehensive early learning assessment systems.
???? I don't want to hear about "cognitive outcomes." Tell me how children are going to learn to read and write. It's not going to happen by insisting teachers use the shiniest new reading program on the market. My friend, Stephen Krashen can tell you how to reword that goal so it makes sense and saves millions of dollars.
???? Do not refer to educators as a "workforce." They are teachers who have completed accredited teaching programs and taken numerous tests to establish themselves as professionals.
???? And please, please, please do not spend more precious time/money on tests for children in K-3rd grades. They need to grow, play and learn how to take turns at recess. Our children are spending too much time on their bottoms already.
???? That's all for now. I had some?very interesting discussions with other educators about the emphasis on competition vs. collaborative learning and the need to get books into the hands and homes of children whose parents do not speak English. I will save those topics for another day.????

Source: http://www.forgetthelabel.com/2013/01/open-house-at-department-of-education.html

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