Mayoral "BANdates" are not the answer for preparing 21st century students for success

Mayor Bloomberg has been open about the fact that he doesn’t really get social media in general and it’s clear its value as an educational tool alludes him. So when the recent story came out that mislead the public to believe Facebook Got Teachers Fired, I was concerned that as in other states, uninformed policymakers might get involved in the business of education making snap judgements and proclamations that provide the public with a facade of safety, scapegoating the tool, rather than addressing the behavior of those abusing the tool.

Unfortunately, my fear was realized in a NY Post story this week with a headline stating, “Bloomberg calls teachers 'friending' students inappropriate. I am concerned that a politician unfamiliar with how to harness the power of social media is judging what is appropriate for educators. Innovative educators and educational leaders across the globe know being involved in the online worlds of their students can contribute toward achieving essential competencies necessary for success in today’s world. As educators and school leaders become increasingly tech-savvy, more and more are empowering students and parents to harness the power of social media. Doing so IS NOT inappropriate. What is inappropriate is our mayor, or any politician or administrator , making a blanket judgment about teachers who use a platform he doesn’t himself use or understand. (Note: I recognize he has social media accounts but he admits they are staff run). Additionally, I fear that Bloomberg will impose another bandate like he did when he banned students from using their digital devices even if teachers wanted them to use them for learning.

As a result, for many innovative educators, preparing students for success remains a subversive activity. The few passionate, tech-savvy educators who are brave enough to think outside the local ban and follow the guidance of the U.S. secretary of education and others who believe educators should work with students to harness the power of the mobile devices they own... have to do so like criminals, behind locked, closed doors. These unsung heroes do this work in the shadows secretly allowing students to use the tech tools they love and connecting with them in the online forums in which they thrive.

We need policy makers to get out of the way or get on board with letting educators do what they do best....making decisions that will best serve their students learning needs. Or, at least if they do want to take a stand and make blanket statements, perhaps they can get feedback from innovative educators who know the importance of thinking outside the ban and harnessing the power of technology and online environments.

If they did they would discover that when a responsible adult interacts appropriately with students in their environments - online or in the physical world, everyone wins. The adults interacting with students serve as mentors, guides, connectors, advisers, and protectors whether they do so in virtual or face-to-face interaction. If we don’t charge those who work with children to do so, we need to rethink who it is we are hiring. Adults engaging with children in their worlds IS appropriate. The sexually lude and elicit behavior the teachers in the Post story engaged in is what is inappropriate. Policymakers, administrators, and teachers need to be educated not to confuse appropriate tools with inappropriate behavior. Facebook doesn’t make someone act inappropriately. We must deal with the behavior not ban adults and students from such spaces whether these spaces are Facebook, Twitter, playgrounds, classrooms or homes.

If we continue to accept that adults take the easy way out and ban rather than embrace the power of social media and digital tools, the result will be students unprepared to succeed in a world that counts on these tools and communication mediums for success.

Our city’s next mayor will need to know how to harness the power of social media to win a seat in office. If we continue in the direction of these bandates, a child educated today, won’t be prepared to

• Run for office.
• Start a movement.
• Make a difference.

While it may not be easy, we need schools to be a place where students will learn the many skills necessary to make a difference, because of, not despite school. Rather than condemning innovative educators, instilling fear, and tying their hands to do what is in the best interest of students we need to empower them to enable students to harness the power of these tools for learning

As a society we need to move away from segregating students and teachers in any environment and instill safety and responsibility in all of them. Rather than segregate, we need to encourage caring adults to be more involved in and connected to the worlds of their students. Let’s stop keeping the real world outside of classrooms and put the focus back where it should be. Rather than removing adults from student’s worlds, instead lets focus attention on policies that prevent these creeps from entering and remaining in the system for any length of time. We need to take a look at how we are surveying students (in a non-invasive manner) to find out information about those who are acting inappropriately in their lives. Addressing behavior of educators and supporting them in being role models, mentors, supporters, in all the environments in which students exist, will move us full speed ahead toward preparing students for success in the real world.

Let’s put the decision-making power about what is appropriate for educators back where it belongs...In the hands of teaching professionals and educational leaders whose job it is to make and implement such decisions. .

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Interested in a school district with a sensible approach to educator use of social media? Read this district's policy here.

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Mayor Bloomberg Announces to Millions that Innovation in Education is One of His Key Initiatives

Despite some of the disappointment in the agenda at the Education Nation Summit, there was a ray of light that I’m optimistic about. At the Summit Mayor Bloomberg announced the launch of a project I’m thrilled to have been involved in since last year called the iZone. The fact that real innovation is on the forefront of the mind of the mayor of the biggest city in the U.S. is promising. What is more promising is that he doesn’t see innovation as simply data driven assessment, but as actually incorporating true innovative ideas into New York City schools.

His announcement follows the official kickoff of the iZone which I had the privilege of attending in person where Chancellor Joel Klein addressed over 100 iZone partners, including principals and teachers from the 80+ participating schools, to mark the beginning of this transformative initiative.

One area I’m excited about is the move toward online learning and virtual schooling. Another is the move away from traditional seat time requirements and toward mastery demonstration that allows students to move through courses at their speed and in different ways. I was also thrilled to learn that Bloomberg is pushing for the abolishment of an old State law that requires schools to buy printed textbooks rather than the digital content. He notes that may be good business for the textbook industry, but it really is a bad deal for our students in this day and age. I’ve been talking about the long over-due demise of the textbook for years. It’s exciting to see the Mayor is behind moving into the digital age providing for more meaningful and engaging content for our students.

The iZone was developed to ensure students are better prepared for college and careers by challenging longstanding assumptions around “business as usual” in K-12 education. The Mayor highlighted the iZone as one of his key priorities for the next three years. You can watch the video here.



You can get involved by visiting the iZone site and clicking here where you can enter your email to receive tailored updates and notifications around new activity within the iZone.

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Innovation is Finally in the NYC Education Conversation

I’ve been working in education more than a decade having to work on the DL to sneak innovation into the classrooms and schools in the name of taking the risks that our students need for success. In a system of banning, filtering and outdated mandates, I’ve been morally compelled to sneak in, break in, and secretly help teachers and myself prepare students for real-world success. Unfortunately, for much of my career, my idea of innovation and preparation did not match with the powers that be who saw success couched in standardized tests that make testing companies richer and can affect the success of a politician, but do a horrible job of actually doing what they are touted to do. Assess student and school success.

It seems, New York City is now moving in the right direction. Mayor Bloomberg addressed NBC's Education Nation Summit outlining his education priorities for the next few years. I’m finally psyched to be a part of the educational vision and priorities of my district. Bloomberg outlined a four step plan which you can read in full here.

What I’m most excited about is the city’s strategy for supporting kids for career and college readiness. This involves fundamentally redesigning classroom learning. Bloomberg describes this as follows. “By empowering teachers to use cutting edge technology, we’ll help them tailor lesson plans around the individual learning needs of students – and give every student more personal attention.”

He adds, “Our work to connect students to college and careers, is nothing short of revolutionary. Imagine, for a minute, looking into a classroom, and instead of seeing some kids raising their hands to every question, and others just daydreaming, you see a small group working with a teacher in one corner, other kids working individually on their portable computers, and other kids working together on the same project, online.”

• I’d like to add to this and take the learning out of just school walls and inside traditional building hours, but it’s definitely progress.

He also shares that “Everywhere you go in this school, rather than lecturing at students as a class, teachers will be working with students as individuals or small teams on projects and lessons specifically tailored to their own learning styles and needs.”

• To this I’d like to add that as scary as it is for some to let go of tradition, I hope we learn to dispel the myth of the traditional teacher owning this role. Bringing teachers who are experts into the learning from the community and across the globe via the internet is impactful and oft times these experts may themselves be students. This also means, at time that time or place are unnecessary constraints when speaking of global connections and that students escape the walls of school to tap into community resources for local connections.
  

Bloomberg explains that “those scenes are playing out more and more every single school day here in New York City I’m happy to say. We’ve created 80 Innovation Schools that have started down the ground-breaking path of using technology to design individual learning plans for each child. In an iPad world, our students shouldn’t be stuck looking at overhead projectors. With funding help from our State, we can make every single school in New York City ready for this high-tech program, and we can work with teachers to transform 400 of our schools into Innovation Schools over the next three years. But to make them fully functional, we’ll also need the State to take two other steps.

• These next two steps are exciting news and something myself and colleagues have been pushing for passionately for years including last week in Albany. How exciting to hear this come from the mayor:

“First, an old State law requires schools to buy printed textbooks rather than the digital content. That may be good business for the textbook industry, but it really is a bad deal for our students in this day and age. Second, we’ll work with the State to end what is called ‘seat time,’ which requires that all students spend a certain number of hours in their seats on every subject – even if they’ve already learned what’s expected of them.”

• All I can say is, “Hear! Hear!!!!”

Bloomberg asked, “What if Maria has mastered 10th grade biology by April, instead of June? Why not let her jump-start on chemistry? Technology can empower our teachers and students – and we must take advantage of it.”

• Agree! Grouping students by what Sir Ken Robinson has dubbed as “date of manufacture” really makes no sense at all. Let’s group students by talents, passions, interests, and abilities. Students are age grouped in life? Squashing this artificial construct is long overdue!

“The 400 Innovation schools we are planning reflect our determination to give parents more top-quality school choices – and that’s our fourth and final strategy for connecting students to college and careers.”

• And, I am thrilled to be a part of this vision where more and more students and parents will discover that You Can Get a Dalton Education at a NYC Public School.
  

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Joel Klein's Mayoral Control of Schools Update

Educators in New York City and beyond have been following the news around what is taking place in Albany as the gridlocked Senate failed to take up a bill to reauthorize mayoral control of the public school system. Today School Chancellor Joel Klein spoke to his staff and shared this email about where the NYC DOE currently stands.

Dear Colleagues,

I am sure you have been following the events in Albany and have many questions about the future of our school system. While we obviously have many questions, we cannot put the education of New York City’s students at risk because of Albany’s inaction on mayoral control of the public schools. In this e-mail, I will outline what we know and what we don’t know.

• Community Education Councils: The 2002 law that put the New York City mayor in charge of the City’s public schools expired yesterday. This same law also created the Community Education Councils and the Citywide Council on Special Education. Since the law has expired, these education councils no longer formally exist. However, I am urging the Community Education Councils and the Citywide Council on Special Education, as well as the Citywide Council on High Schools, to continue meeting, at least until September when we hope to have more clarity. During this time, we will continue to support their administrative assistants. If the Councils decide not to continue their work, we’ve asked them to notify us immediately.
• Panel for Educational Policy: The Panel for Educational Policy also ceases to exist today. The borough presidents and the Mayor have reconstituted the Board of Education to replace the Panel for Educational Policy.
• Board of Education: The newly reconstituted Board of Education met at Tweed Courthouse this afternoon. It approved two resolutions:
  -First, the Board appointed me to continue serving as chancellor and delegated to me all of the powers that can be delegated under the law. This allows us to maintain continuity in our school system.
  -Second, noting that the State Assembly had adopted Assembly Bill no. 8903-a, which would extend Mayoral Control until 2015, while the State Senate had failed to act on an identical bill, Senate Bill no. S5887, the Board urged the State Senate to take immediate action to enact S5887.
• Summer School: Summer school started today, as planned. School staff is expected to report to work as usual and serve our schoolchildren.
• Support: Our central and field operations also remain in place and continue to support schools. This means School Support Organizations, Integrated Service Centers, and central staff are continuing to fulfill their responsibilities. We have instructed principals to call their SSOs and ISCs with any questions about the current situation or any regular issue related to school operations.
  

We have made great strides over the past seven years, and, together, we have implemented significant reforms that have improved the City’s public schools and our students’ academic results. I know we are working in an environment of uncertainty and that we all have many questions. I will work to keep you updated as we move through this period. I thank you all for your continued efforts to serve the students of New York City to the best of your ability, even during these uncertain times.

Sincerely,

Joel I. Klein

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