Education Week - April 5, 2017 - 24

LETTERS to
the EDITOR

PRESIDENT & CEO Michele J. Givens
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Gregory Chronister

When It Comes to Student Discipline,
Empathy Makes a Difference
To the Editor:
"Mistrust in School Can Have Lasting
Negative Effects" (Feb. 15, 2017) is a critically
important article. Everyone wants to be treated
with fairness and respect. It is significant that,
as your article reports, students' perception of
teachers' mistrust of students of color increases
between 6th and 7th grade, a time when boys
are becoming teenagers and boys of color are
facing many hurdles.
As educators, we must deeply probe the
question of how schools discipline. This
includes how we define "defiant," a term used to
label many students of color.
As a former principal, I have seen the
same behavior defined as the more positive
"assertive" and the more negative "aggressive,"
depending on who was exhibiting the behavior.
Having hard conversations among ourselves
as educators and engaging in professional
learning communities around discipline can
be very helpful. This is not about blame, but
rather to help us with biases that we all have.
After all, as the saying goes, the last one to
discover water is the fish.
The article also reminded me of one
Education Week published last summer, "Dose
of Empathy Found to Cut Suspension Rates"
(July 20, 2016). By showing understanding,
true respect, and empathy, educators can
make a huge difference in how they approach
discipline practices and, at the same time,
strive to create nurturing schools for all
students.
Rebecca Wheat
Point Richmond, Calif.

Performance-Based Assessments
Bring True Reform to Schools
To the Editor:
I write in response to an article in your
Quality Counts report titled "Offered Chance to
Craft Tests, States Moving With Caution" (Jan.
4, 2017), which addresses the most significant
issue leading to innovation in the history of
education.
While many people talk as if changing the
name or the owner of a school is "reformminded," the reality is that those actions are
simply akin to shuffling the deck chairs on the
Titanic. Nothing changes.
However, true reform is on the horizon. As
the article notes, shortly seven states will
be accepted into a small group allowed to
develop performance-based assessments as
well as other innovative assessments in lieu of
standardized tests.
Because assessment drives the curriculum,
I believe that the system and philosophy of
education would take a large step toward
inclusion of critical and rational thinking if
performance-based assessments became the
norm. Schools would be acknowledging what
a child can do, rather than what that child is
able to mark with a No. 2 pencil.
It is time for states to step up and prepare
for this dramatic innovation in education. I
realize it may be the most difficult project some
teachers have ever faced. But the results would
be teachers taking back their profession and
students finding their pathway to success.
It is time we protect our children from those
monsters, ogres, and other politicians who
are forcing our children into a tiny box full of

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORS

ASSISTANT EDITOR, Education Week Teacher
Madeline Will

Mark W. Bomster, Stacey Decker

INTERN, Education Week Teacher Kristine Kim

MANAGING EDITOR Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

word games and math riddles in pursuit of
standardized learning. It is time to expect our
children to think while it is still permissible to
do so.
Eldon "Cap" Lee
Burnsville, N.C.

Online Education Is Only Option
That Works for Some Families
To the Editor:
I write in response to the Digital Education blog
post about the New York University and RAND
Corp. study on online education in Ohio ("Online
Charter Students in Ohio Perform Far Worse Than
Peers, Study Finds," www.edweek.org, Feb. 16,
2017).
While we at the Ohio Connections Academy
support the need for research to determine what
works best for students, we are disappointed by
studies that fail to recognize areas of success.
The education outcomes reported in the study
focus on student-achievement assessments and
the Ohio Graduation Test, or OGT, from 2009 to
2013. During that time, the Ohio Department of
Education rated our academy "excellent" for the
2009-10 school year, and "effective" for the 2010-11
and 2011-12 school years. We met state averages
or indicators for the OGT for school years 2011-12
and 2012-13.
More recently, during the 2014-15 school year,
there were some bright spots in Ohio Connections
Academy's report card. The academy's K-3
literacy score was a B, and it met state proficiency
reading averages in the 4th through 8th grades.
The academy also met state standards for most
OGTs, and received an A in each broad category
measuring student progress.
As policymakers and opinion leaders seek to
bring accountability to online schools, they first
should understand how these schools work. This
is why we invite legislators and reporters to visit
our learning centers to see how our students are
engaged and how their progress is monitored as
they work through the curriculum.
As discussions continue about making online
education more accountable, I would argue that
lawmakers are also accountable for maintaining
school choice in Ohio. This choice should include
online education, if for no other reason than this
is the only option that works for some families.
That choice should not be taken away from parents
just because some schools fail or some measures
obscure the accomplishments of students who are
doing well. That's true of traditional schools, too.
We should all be focused on doing a more
thoughtful job of measuring results, so we all can
be truly accountable.

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Superintendent
Ohio Connections Academy
Mason, Ohio

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24 | EDUCATION WEEK | April 5, 2017 | www.edweek.org/go/commentary

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Education Week - April 5, 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - April 5, 2017
