A “silver bullet,” according to the Urban Dictionary, is “a specific, fail-safe solution to a problem (from the notion that a bullet made of silver is necessary to kill a werewolf).”
As reported in last week’s Park Ridge Journal (“Chromebooks Aim To Inspire Dist. 64 Students,” August 20), Park Ridge-Niles Elementary School District 64’s new director of innovation and instructional technology, Mary Jane Warden, is touting the District’s new Chromebooks as devices that will inspire students toward more creativity, more involvement in learning and critical thinking, and collaborating on projects.
In other words, silver bullets…which we sincerely hope they turn out to be.
But as we pointed out in our 07.10.13 and 07.21.14 posts critical of the way D-64 has foisted this Chromebook initiative on the District’s students and, more importantly, its taxpayers, D-64 has provided no criteria for determining whether this initiative will be a success or a failure. Sadly, that should come as no surprise to anybody keeping a critical eye on D-64 for the past 20 years.
D-64 has consistently failed, or refused, to establish any metrics for measuring the success or failure of any of its many initiatives ostensibly implemented to enhance student learning. Consequently, neither parents nor taxpayers have been able to judge for themselves whether the hundreds of thousands, or millions, of tax dollars expended on any one initiative produced an educational boon or boondoggle.
Exhibit A? Try the “middle school concept” and the new Emerson Middle School building.
Exhibit B? The 2007 “Strong Schools” tax increase referendum campaign.
Metrics that provide meaningful transparency and accountability have long been anathema to both teachers and administrators – indeed, to the whole culture – at D-64. And the dozens of School Board members who have cycled through there over the past 20+ years have failed to make any noticeable dent in that culture, even as the cost to the taxpayers spirals upward and the performance, at least according to comparative rankings based on objective measurements like ISAT scores, continues to stagnate or slide.
Seventeen years ago a new way to group students (grades 6-8 in a “middle school” v. the old grades 7-8 “junior high”) and a new $20 million-plus Emerson school building (to replace the then-newest school building in the District) were supposed to “inspire” students to higher achievement.
Seven years ago the inspiration was supposed to come through a boatload of extra funding that would enable D-64 to reduce class sizes, increase programs, modernize technology and provide “a quality education that is competitive with the best schools in the state, which attracts families to our towns, and ultimately safeguard [sic] our investments in our homes” – according to an FAQ Sheet by the “Citizens for Strong Schools” committee that raised and spent over $25,000 to pass that tax increase referendum.
We’re still waiting for D-64 to provide any objective criteria to demonstrate that the new Emerson and/or that 2007 tax increase gave any significant boost to the quality of a D-64 education and student achievement, or made it among the best primary school educations in Illinois. The current D-64 Board, like the boards that went before it, goes stone deaf anytime such a thing is even mentioned, which is a dereliction of duty by the folks we elect to look out for EVERYBODY’s interests, including the students’ and the taxpayers’.
Frankly, we’d have more respect for the D-64 Board if it came right out and simply admitted it doesn’t want to bother with metrics to determine the success of the Chromebook initiative. Or that it doesn’t think taxpayers are capable of making that kind of determination no matter how much data they are given. Or that it doesn’t care what the taxpayers want or need because the Board members are more concerned with keeping the teachers and administrators happy by reflexively rubber-stamping whatever they want.
If we can’t get transparency and accountability out of them, at least a little honesty would be something. But we’re not holding our breath waiting on honesty, either.
Warden may be new to D-64, but she’s got seasoned Propaganda Minister Bernadette Tramm feeding her proven sound bites like: “We want to create a learning environment to help students become lifetime learners.”
Not surprisingly, there are no metrics for that one, either.
To read or post comments, click on title.
14 comments so far
Ok…you asked for it….we don’t have time or inclination to establish metrics, measure them, in order to show that these investments have paid off, will pay off, nor do we even care if they ever would have, could have paid off.
Signed all of the past D64 Elected Officials (in absentia).
EDITOR’S NOTE: Too bad you’re not authorized to make that statement.
Does anyone know why the purchased crumb-books are HP’s? I was reading that HP practically owns the smallest market share in them, something like 7% vs Samsung at 65%, with almost 3 million sold last year. It also did say that the chrome books are more popular with the school districts than the iPad.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We heard all the same yada, yada, yada that you heard. Frankly, we suspect that the actual difference in the various devices’ effect on learning is negligible – but, of course, we’ll never know because D-64 has set no measurable goals and therefore has no plan for measuring success other than with oodles of anecdotes.
We sent our kids to Catholic schools but supported both the 1997 and 2007 referendums because we believed the propaganda. All these years later all we have to show for it is $5000 and change a year to D64 and another $5000 and change to D207.
EDITOR’S NOTE: To paraphrase the immortal words of Eric “Otter” Stratton to Kent “Flounder” Dorfman in “Animal House”: “You f***ed up…you trusted them.”
how can you blame these folks when technological contraptions are sold to us every day, all day as the solution to every problem, from loneliness to hair loss?
Not everything of value is reducible to quantitative measurement, and there are a zillion variables that intevene even when something is that cut-and-dried. Your comments about monitoring our schools’ scores on national tests is perfectly reasonable. However, a good place to start with the qualitative side would be to enroll parents and students in actively providing some version of Yelp about their teachers and administrators (the latter of which are almost all filler, except for maybe Ken Wallace). Most of us can remember that about every third year we lucked into an inspired, inspiring, transformational teacher who we credit for our success (and sometimes even our survival) twenty or fifty years later. The Board’s job is to force the administration to identify and hire and take care of those teachers and create more of ’em. Period. Of course, we’ll have to change the economy so that the two out of three who are just OK or worse can still make a living of some kind, or you’ll never get the union out of the way. Kinda tough in a private sector economy that only rewards a mini-minority of hardworking, even gifted, souls with the basics of life as we know it. Ordinary people tend to have an extraordinary desire not to drop dead when their shift as a bartista or web designer is over…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Management guru Peter Drucker has said: “Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information.”
Since D-64 sets no measurable expectations, however, there is nothing by which to measure the results. Brilliant!
Unfortunately, your relatively interesting comments took a dive into class warfare-style socio-babble – seemingly suggesting that we can’t expect improved performance from D-64 teachers, administrators and students unless we first improve the working conditions of baristas and web designers. What, no nationwide gay marriage, a cure for ebola in Africa and a truce in Gaza?
A little off topic here but not too far. What is the daycare about that is run out of M. South that charges $300. a year. It runs for 2 hours a day, 4 days a week. This is a fraction of the cost the district charges out of its Jefferson program.
EDITOR’S NOTE: No idea – never heard of it. Do you have any more details?
Anonymous at 7:11 a.m. has only him- or herself to blame.
Relatively interesting! Be still, my heart!
I digressed into class warfare sociobabble because ignoring those influences never seems to end well.
EDITOR’S NOTE: NOT “ignoring those influences” will prevent any problem from being solved, including problems like D-64’s overpriced underachievement that have absolutely NOTHING to do with underpaid barista’s and web designers.
These school board members, like their predecessors, must have nothing but contempt for the taxpayers who they are supposed to be looking out for. They just keep tooling along without any attempt to explain why D-64’s test scores are not even in the Top 50, what goals they expect to achieve through Chromebooks, or the many other things you have correctly pointed out should matter to anybody concerned with the quality of education our students are getting.
I think it’s a great program, but for free? Stupid considering there is a wait list to get into Jefferson. At least match the fees.
http://www.maine207.org/assets/8/15/Preschool%20Application%20and%20Policy.pdf
EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s not “for free” but costs a whopping $300 per year. That seems to calculate out to less than $2.50 PER SCHOOL DAY!
Makes us wonder what an actual accounting of the revenues and expenses for this program would disclose, especially since the per diem also includes “snacks and supplies.”
The preschool is run-out of M East, M South and M West.
I wasn’t clear; I meant to say that as long as “you can always teach” has become one of the only places average janes and joes can get a decent (not lavish) paying job with great benefits like that uber-luxury, health care, you will have lots of mediocrities going through the teacher colleges and entering the teaching job world. I suspect those who don’t really love to develop kids and don’t really love their subjects would choose other paths if there were any you could live on and pay student loans back on. Jobs that would expect less than you and I at least plan to expect from our teachers going forward. If those jobs existed, there’d be more slots for gifted teachers. If your resume is the ‘leventy-leventh in the stack, even if you’re astounding, chances are it won’t get seen before the hire deadline. Need to make teaching a more prestigious job — by getting more valuable people to do it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: No, you were plenty clear…as indicated by your clarification that marginal teachers might choose other careers if those other careers paid college graduates enough to “live on and pay student loans back on” – presumably big-bucks loans astutely taken out to fund a fine arts or sociology degree.
But your last sentence’s juxtapositioning of “more prestigious job” against “more valuable people” is a nifty way of saying we’d get better teachers if we paid them more – presumably while maintaining those gold-Cadillac constitutionally-guaranteed defined-benefit pensions that can end up paying out more than a $3 million 401(k) plan.
How come when I google the daycare run by the schools nothing comes up? No advertising or anything. Sounds fishey, maybe a little perk for employees?
EDITOR’S NOTE: No idea. Maybe there’s a secret password.
Wrong. I was not secretly saying they should make more money. Surprise! People go into the arts, the Peace Corps and even into the practice of law to do good in the world. Yes, it does happen. I believe there would be people who wanted to teach for a reasonable living and great benefits who are actually suited for the work and gifted at it but we’d need to at least demonstrate a willingness to suspend contempt for the best and brightest to get into the game. I know you don’t wanna hear this but how come it’s the grade school and high school teachers you feel are so undeserving? Could it be that, like nurses, day care providers and other people doing the really important jobs, they’re mostly women? You do know that research shows work is devalued when women comprise the majority of a job’s ranks. Maybe that’s why the law is getting less respect; too many gals going into it who used to be paralegals? Hmmmmmm.
EDITOR’S NOTE: When people are paid more to produce less, we could care less what their gender – or color, or age, or favorite flavor of ice cream – is.
Hello Franklin School Parents & Guardians,
The District 64 1:1 Learning Initiative focuses on designing learning environments that actively engage students to develop skills and experience in critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and communication/collaboration. We are partnering with BrightBytes, an educational software company, in order to learn more about our students’ school and home technology use for learning. For that reason, we are reaching out to ask you to take part in this questionnaire. Your participation is essential in helping us form a more complete picture of technology use for learning in your students’ lives.
Please know that all of your responses will remain anonymous to protect your privacy.
Click on this link that will take you to this 5-minute questionnaire. Thank you in advance for your participation and your partnership in the District 64 21st Century Learning Plan.
http://www.BByt.es/877QP
Sincerely,
Mary Jane Warden
Director of Innovation and Instructional Technology
Park Ridge-Niles District 64
EDITOR’S NOTE: Not surprisingly, the questionnaire is a piece of GIGO fluff that appears designed primarily as market research for BrightBytes. And because it can be taken by the same person multiple times, it can be easily rigged.
Consider this the first shiny object from D-64’s new technology guru who apparently wants to continue to bamboozle easily manipulated School Board members and parents who never learned Coach John Wooden’s maxim: “Don’t mistake activity for achievement.”
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