You should read: 12 Huge Mistakes Parents Can Avoid

First and foremost I am not an expert on parenting. Like everyone else I am learning as I go. I am a father of four children and their ages range from eight years old to 11 months old. Like most parents I want to do my best to raise my children. I believe raising children to be productive human beings has got to be one of the toughest things to do. I recently read the book, 12 Huge Mistakes Parents Can Avoid by Tim Elmore. He provides us with excellent insight on the struggles we deal with as we prepare our children for life. I want to share a few key points below.

We won’t let them fail. Life is about failure. If we don’t let them fail along the way how will they ever deal with the harsh reality of life? If we swoop in and rescue them from everything as they grow how will they cope with their first real failure? We see an overwhelming amount of students have their first setback while at college and they never recover. Benjamin Franklin said, “The things which hurt, instruct.” I think it’s important that we put our children in situations to take a risk and experience failure. It’s also important that we talk about our own failures throughout life.

We project our lives on them. Many parents live their lives vicariously through their children. This is hard not to do. For these parents it offers them a second chance to get it right. I can remember when my oldest daughter was four years old, I got her into a soccer league in Minot. At the time I wanted nothing more than for her to be excited about soccer. Unfortunately for me she could care less. She was more concerned about playing in the gopher holes on the soccer field than scoring goals. This was a good education for me as a parent. I realized that I cannot project my personal ambitions on to her. As a parent I can expose her to these different passions of mine, but I need to realize that she will have her own passions and they may not match mine. I need to be okay with that.

We just want them to be happy. Every parent wants their children to be happy. Tim Elmore makes the argument that happiness should be thought of as a byproduct and not the ultimate goal. We often think happiness is related to material wealth, but we all know people who have everything and are not happy. Life disappoints. Being happy is dependent on how we react to or perceive events that occur in our lives. During their early years we should be communicating that they are loved, safe, valuable, uniquely gifted, and supported. As they transition to adolescence our message should shift. We need to help them understand that life is difficult, you are not in control, you are not that important, you are going to die, and life is not about you. These may be perceived as harsh, but they are true statements. If they are to become productive human beings then we should prepare them for this. Happiness is important, but there will be bumps throughout life. Think of happiness as a byproduct.

We remove consequences. You may have heard the term “helicopter” parent, this is when we fight the battles for our children. This type of parenting does not create independence. There are times when our children need support, but we have to be careful in how much support we provide. When we insulate kids and remove consequences from actions, we fail to prepare them for the future that awaits them. Elmore explains, “If we really love our kids, we do not make it our aim to get them to love us back. That is the by-product of our loving them and leading them into adulthood. Our kids don’t need us to be their pals – they need us to be their parents.”

We won’t let them struggle or fight. One of the biggest issues we see in school is the ability for children to delay gratification. Take a minute sometime and search “Marshmallow Test” on Youtube. This is a research study where students were brought into a room and at the table was a plate with a marshmallow on it. The test was to see how long the child could wait until he or she would eat the marshmallow. If they waited long enough they would receive a second marshmallow. Researchers came back years later and tracked the original children that took part in this test. They found that those who were able to wait were highly successful in college and on the SAT. The ability to delay gratification is very important for kids. Do we allow them to struggle for a bit or do we immediately provide them help?

When we affirm looks or smarts instead of virtues, their values can become skewed. Roy Baumeister, a leading advocate of self-esteem research found that self-esteem does not improve grades, advance careers, or lower violence. We need to be encouraging a growth mindset for our kids. I am not saying we shouldn’t praise our kids because I think praise is important. We should praise their effort, creativity, hard work, and persistence – more than the achievement itself.

We prepare the path of the child instead of the child for the path. When we encounter situations that are out of our control, the worst reaction is to force ourselves in and manipulate a better outcome for our kids. If we are focusing on life preparation we need to realize that we are not always going to be able to fight their battles. I understand that I cannot control how other kids treat my child, the teacher they get, my child’s attitude toward me, how happy, talented, smart, or beautiful my kid is. I can influence them and help them find ways to cope with the issues that occur in life. Elmore explains, “You cannot control your child’s attitude, but you can influence it. You cannot do the job interview for her, but you can prepare her for it. Influence is not control.”

Explaining the North Dakota State Assessment Results

This week the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction released the results from the new North Dakota State Assessment (NDSA). All public school students are required to take the test in grades three through eight and 11th grade. Students throughout the state took this test last spring and we are just now receiving the results. This is the first measurement of the newly implemented Common Core standards. The new NDSA has been dubbed a next generation test. The test has been developed to measure more than just rote knowledge. It includes performance tasks and is completely online.

Early results from other states showed substantial decreases in performance levels of students. North Dakota scores indicate a decrease as well. On October 27, the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) released proficiency levels, 46% were proficient in English and 40% were proficient in mathematics. At Rugby Public School District, 44% of our students were proficient in English and 43% were proficient in Math. This year’s scores should be viewed as a baseline set of data.

I have a few concerns with the release of this data. Last year many schools experienced difficulties administering the test. In Rugby, close to half of our fourth grade English data has not been published. During the testing window a few grade levels had to retake the entire test due to errors. We also experienced testing errors throughout the process. It was very clear that the test was not ready to administer last year. Due to the issues mentioned above I personally question the validity of this data. According to the news release from NDDPI not all tests have been scored at this point. It is unclear why NDDPI would rush to release proficiency scores when they could change.

The data from the NDSA are one many components we use to measure our effectiveness. We prefer our own locally developed assessments, the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), and the ACT. Teachers use their collaboration time to develop assessments that provide important data that is used to improve instruction. We continue to administer MAP assessments two times a year and we believe these assessments are much more reliable and easy to administer. The ACT is administered once a year for the junior class and this data is used to measure college and career readiness. I am hopeful that our NDSA testing experience will be better this year and that we don’t panic due to these initial scores.

Link: ND DPI press release

Vertical alignment ideas

We are using one of our upcoming early out professional learning days for vertical alignment.

On October 28th we will be having crucial conversations about gaps and overlaps that exist between grade levels. We expect authentic honest conversations. This is not about pointing fingers, it's about developing awareness. 

Each PLC group will begin to think about weak areas that may exist that are either identified by data or by teacher perception.  

Each PLC group will be led by a facilitator. The facilitator will take notes or assign someone to take notes. The facilitator will guide the conversation and follow the format below. 

Preschool - Grade 8 will use the following format: 

• Each PLC group will review and compare their ELA I Can Statements with the rest of the vertical team. 
• After all grade level teams have presented their ELA I Can Statements. The vertical team will analyze and look for gaps and overlaps that exist between the ELA I Can Statements from grade level to grade level. The vertical team will identify weak areas and discuss solutions within ELA.
• What is mastery and how is mastery assessed at each grade level? 
• Develop action steps for the next meeting on November 18th. What will need to happen between the meetings?

Grade 7-12 will focus cross-curricular activities: 

• Review the data and discuss what we do well and what we need to improve on?
• How do we do more together?
• How do we embed more 21st Century Skills like creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration?
• Develop action steps for next meeting on November 18th. What will need to happen between the meetings?

I think any time when we have conversations about vertical alignment and what kids may be missing it is easy to get defensive. A healthy culture creates opportunities for difficult conversations to occur. 

How have you used vertical teaming to address gaps and overlaps?

North Dakota's Teacher Shortage

We are experiencing a teacher shortage in North Dakota and across the nation. As of October 5, 2015 there were 89 teacher openings across the state. Keep in mind school started almost two months ago. This means that schools are either increasing class sizes or are going without programs. There are less people going into the education profession, which means we are graduating fewer teachers.

Teacher salaries in North Dakota are near the bottom in comparison to the national average. It is difficult in rural community that is not experiencing substantial growth to remain competitive. The state funding formula favors a growing a district. However, I do believe the issue is more complex than just increasing pay for educators although it would certainly help. The following factors should be considered if we are to fix the teacher shortage issues that currently exist.

Respect for the profession:

Teaching is one of the most demanding professions in the world. Educators in the top performing educational systems around the world are deeply respected. In fact the highest achievers go into the education profession in top education systems. In America, there is the perception that teaching is not difficult and anybody could do it. Being an effective teacher is both art and science. Teaching is difficult yet rewarding and it takes special dedicated individuals to make the profession a career.

Support our beginners:

We have to do more to support our beginning teachers. Many teachers leave the profession after only a few years. This is largely due to the level of support they receive after they begin teaching. At Rugby, we assign mentors, provide orientations, and use our professional learning communities to build their support network. One of our school goals’ is to improve our retention of beginning teachers.

Teacher pipeline issues:

Is higher education responding appropriately to our needs? Is it a teacher shortage problem or a teacher pipeline issue? For years we have seen a plethora of teachers in certain fields like elementary education while other fields experienced shortages. Teacher preparation programs may need to redirect students or place caps on certain education fields.

High stakes accountability:

High stakes testing and punitive punishments beat down educators. Standardized assessments have their place in education and provide us with useful data. We use this data and it helps us set school wide goals. However, this single snapshot in time may not explain the whole picture. Each public school district is required to make annual yearly progress based on these assessments. If we do not meet certain proficiency levels we are placed on program improvement. While on program improvement certain sanctions are placed on the school district. These sanctions can be very frustrating and debilitating. There is no silver bullet to immediately boost scores. Improving student achievement takes time and the gains are incremental. What works for one student will not work for another. Standardized assessments are necessary, but the sanctions imposed due to low scores may cause many young people to choose a different career field.

Grow our own:

Do educators do a good enough job promoting teaching as a career option? We are our own worst enemies at times. We should be pushing our best and brightest into the profession. If we do not promote our profession we will continue to see small applicant pools.  This may impact our ability to fill positions with high quality people.

Teaching cannot be seen as a backup career choice for young people.  We need to sell our profession and talk positively about it!