My chat with Secretary Duncan...second time worked

If you’ve read my previous blog entries you’ll see that I’ve been in a roller coaster

the last couple of days.  Yesterday I started the day down in the dumps because I felt like the conversation with Secretary Duncan was so bad.  Then I found out he felt badly too and to try and remedy everything, he was going to call me.  I got a phone call 10 minutes after school and we talked about 15 minutes.  My colleague, Anthony Cody, also received a call.  Read about his experience here.  I didn't write this blog entry right away because I felt like I needed to figure stuff out....I read once the trick with roller coasters is not to get stuck in the highs or lows of them.  So I thought a day would help me process what I thought.

                                                                                                      I’d say those were some of the most fun 15 minutes I’ve had in a long time.  I’m not a super political talker nor am an expert strategist but I am a thinker and passionate about my teaching practice.  I got to ask him a couple of questions about things that really bug me….my first question centered on assessment.  I really tried to explain how assessments run the show in a classroom….and it’s no different when the state relies on this single measure.  Instead I tried to draw a contrast with the kinds of assessments I’m trying to develop…ones that embed my curriculum objectives within a real life problem from the community.  Right now I’m hoping to find a land use project where I can teach my rational number objectives alongside my earth science learning targets…blend in a fair measure of reading and writing…work with a land developer and come up with some new insights that only kids can probably offer.  I ask Secretary Duncan how the BluePrint would ever hope to do that?   to which he told me about the millions of dollars that are set aside for developing new assessments that he hoped will be used to develop the kinds of things I am trying to do.  It wasn’t easy but I had to tell him that I didn’t think that any teacher that I know would ever believe that all those millions of dollars would help them.  We’ve had too many years of promises and the only thing we got was more bubble-assessments, narrowing the curriculum and make school a terrible place.

 Here’s the most amazing part.  I think he really heard me.  I think he sort of thought that I’d be encouraged by the investment of all that money and when I wasn’t…when I sort of thought I’d never see a penny of impact in my classroom…I think he sort of got the idea what makes a gap between the DOE policy and the reality of a classroom.  I told him I thought all the money would be eaten away at by state departments of education, special consultants and academics…. very little of it would ever get to a classroom teacher like me.  Heck if you think about it…why would we even need to go through all those layers if people like me (and I’m the same as most teachers you’ll find) already know what is best practices and we can do it without millions of dollars of help. I don't think he agreed with me, but I think he might have heard how a teacher feels. 

Now I’m hoping it will help him remember we are smart, we are already capable….just unharness from these high-stakes tests shackles and we’ll deliver something that much more powerful and much more engaging and will prepare kids to be good at something other than filling in bubbles.

My next question was about pay for performance.  I see the single step pay as a broken system where you only have to keep from being fired in order to the get the same raise as anyone else.  Why would anyone think that is a good system for paying people?  I told him, though, that paying people for performance of their students on a single test ( for me that represents 3 days out of the 180 that we have school) is just as broken.

To this he responded that, “I hear you, I hear you”.  I thought that was encouraging and I will tell you that he didn't offer me any pat answers either on this topic.  He mentioned what they did in Chicago but he mostly listened…to me….a regular teacher who isn’t an important anyone.  I tried to push him( isn't that a funny possibility) to make sure the Blueprint advocates for multi-faceted pay systems that are solidly built on student learning but also give teachers career paths to explore and grow into.  OK, I know I’m a stup to think it will really make a difference in policy, but maybe it will faintly cross his mind?????  Maybe one day he'll remember that teachers aren't afraid of accountability or transparency and want to be paid based on their performance.  I mentioned work I'd done in the past.

 Several years ago, I worked with a Teachers Solution group on pay.  I told Secretary Duncan about that group where our organizer brought in speakers and we read papers…collecting information from the best programs out there at the time.  We learned about the TAP program (Milken), Denver’s pay system, New Mexico, the growth models created by economists and more.  I couldn’t tell for sure, but I think Secretary Duncan might have been surprised I actually knew about all these.  I’m lucky because I worked with a good group and had time to learn.  I told him our group created a set of ideas around which groups could begin to really study the idea of pay for performance…and that we wrote a pretty substantial paper about it.  He wanted to know more…and as I sort of described the matrix of options….I think he was interested.  I guess so many teacher voices out there had made me think he'd stick to pay for performance linked to a single test or this growth model (neither of which I'm so thrilled about) so I was pretty shocked he was interested.  Eventually he asked me to send him a copy….and I actually think he’ll read it.

From there I just boldly asked him if he'd like to try again to discuss stuff with us.  I told him we could be a great sounding board because we aren't affiliated with any political viewpoint or special interest group.  And I suggested since we tried the DOE tech maybe he would let us do the next one trying our tech!!!  I just asked him if he'd come if we invited him to something on Elluminate and could we begin to develop a working relationship/partnership.  He said "Count me in" .  So at least my group might talk with him one more time...and he could get to hear all the voices from our group because there are people that have just as much to tell him about the thing about which they are passionate.

Count me in????  Are you kidding me???  I was so thrilled.  I was polite but I pushed and I tried to respectfully tell him where they were making mistakes.  Gosh…I just put it out there and hoped that it was taken in the spirit in which I offered it.  Secretary Duncan throughout the call listened and I think he knew I was the good kind of opposition…the kind that pushes you to be better than you will be if you only have “yes” men around you.

 So here’s my big takeaway for myself.  I had agreed to use a script to help me speak more coherently during the first call.  I didn’t.  I don’t know if I would have been OK if the technology worked well, but it didn’t and I felt like I was terrible.  So this time I figured I couldn’t do worse so I just tried to be me.  Not a big shot or a big education authority.  I just spoke from my heart about the things I know I know more about than anyone in the world.  My school and my kids.  I was much better and I’m NEVER going to allow myself to get talked into using a script.  I hope that sincerity and commitment to doing the best for my kids and for my colleagues came through…I think it did.

 So thank you Secretary Duncan.   I know there are many reasons why you called me yesterday…but I’m holding onto the one that you were a gentleman that wanted to hear teacher voices and when things messed up you wanted to set them right.   That’s cool. 

I don’t know if I made a crack in anything or if I helped DOE see what and how teachers feel.  I wish I could because we are a force to be engaged.  For so long we’ve been blamed and alienated….pushed aside because people don’t think we’re very good at what we do.  If DOE could figure out how to talk with us; how to hear us; how to make us believe again….well….educational reform would blow you away.  There are so many of us that know what to do but we’re too far away from the seats of power to help or be heard.  But for my 12 minutes, I was a citizen voicing my ideas and holding up my civic responsibility to try.  And again I’ll say thank you Secretary Duncan.

Photo was from Stefan's Photostream at Flickr and is licensed for use under the Creative Commons licence.

Comments

[Heather Wolpert-Gawron]

Gosh, Marsha,
What a beautiful post. I guess that's the sign of a good leader, you bring out the best in those around you. Wait, I also think that's the sign of a great teacher, you bring out the best in students too.

How could anyone not respond to your straightforward honesty, spoken from the heart and rich in content?

Both sides learned something from this awkward call: they learned we had valuable things to say and we were willing to say them calmly and professionally. But we learned that a script is not for us, that our hearts speak more honestly then any teleprompter, and that those at the DOE might actually be hearing our words.

Congratulations on keeping the door open for us all.

-Heather Wolpert-Gawron

[Bill Ivey]

Most encouraging. Thank you for sharing!

[mratzel]

You're right on....more than anything bout teaching, I learned that I have to be true to who I am and let everyone else worry about whatever it is they worry about. If I do that, then I can always hold my head up high.

I think we were a good team and the other huge take away for me....is that once again, I've found a good friend and colleague through the power of virtual learning communities.

As our buddy Bill would say, Rock On!!!!

[mratzel]

You know Bill....you have the wisdom, too. I wish you were in this group. You have that level headedness that we need plus unbounded insight.

Anyway that I can interest you?

[David B. Cohen]

Nicely done Marsha, from working to make this all happen, to the way you handled the call when it came, to the blog entry. Keep up the good work! I like the way you sold yourself, and the group - unaffiliated, knowledgeable, passionate, skilled. And yes, ditch the DOE tech and the DOE packaged sessions.

[Michelle]

Full disclosure... I am currently employed by the Department of Education (Ask David C.-- he can vouch for me!) I'm also a former classroom teacher of ten years, high school English, from the Silicon Valley and am currently a Teacher Ambassador Fellow in the Department. My role, and they actually PAY me to do this while on leave from my district, is to facilitate teacher voice in federal policy. (Hmmm… evidence, perhaps that they DO value teacher voice?)

However, at this moment, I'm speaking for private self and not my professional self (if that is really even possible-- as a teacher, who I am and what I do are inextricably linked and I think likewise as an Ambassador Fellow.)

I can't believe I didn't know about Letters to Obama group before this week! I guess I should be fired. :-)

I'm sure you will think that because I "drink the Koolaid" now that I am not as credible as I might have been a year ago. I hope that isn't the case.

Far from "selling out"... I promise you I have not. It has been a difficult and exhilarating ride. No day has been the same. I do not agree with every part of the administration's agenda. But that has been true of every administration. This one is no different. There are days I wonder why I'm here, and there are other days that I feel I've had a major impact (i.e. I don't think it's random that the Department is trying so hard to talk to and listen to teachers?-- I like to think (and give them credit for listening to me) that I played a small part in that.

I was thrilled when I heard that Arne (he says, "My mother named me Arne, not Secretary.") had called to speak with Anthony and Marsha.

The man you spoke to on the phone, Marsha, IS listening to you and DOES get it. I wish every teacher in the country could talk one on one with him. My opinion is that we would be in a very different place in terms of how Arne Duncan is “perceived” to feel about teachers.

The Secretary is a man who cares deeply about teachers and the work we do. He has put improving our profession at the center of his agenda, but that doesn't really get any press. What gets press is the more controversial pieces of the agenda.

I have deep respect for the work you are doing because I lived it everyday for ten years. Our work with students is always at the center of what we do.

I have spent the last year listening to teachers from all over the country. I am in the role I'm in because the Secretary feels so strongly about having a program that brings teacher voice into the department.

I'm thankful for the work that you and TLTO have done to mobilize teachers' voices on issues of national education policy. Keep it up. It is making a difference, but as you know, the wheels of progress turn slowly.

All this to say: You are right to be hopeful. :-)