Education Week - October 22, 2014 - 22

LETTERS to
the EDITOR
New Organization Questions
Military Presence in U.S. Schools
To the Editor:
Amidst alarm over the militarization of
school police officers, it is worth remembering
that it's likely only 20-plus school districts
have participated in the Pentagon's giveaway
program ("Military Surplus Gear Given to
School Police," Oct. 1, 2014). Moreover, in
most cases the military weaponry will remain
safely out of sight unless there is a true
emergency. So, why the outrage? Scenes from
the suburbs of St. Louis shocked the nation
this summer, and no one wants school police
to resemble Ferguson's warrior cops.
Militarized school police officers are also
disturbingly out of sync with our long-held
tradition of civilian control of education.
Recall that John Dewey was a vociferous
opponent of military involvement in schools.
Armor-plated tanks rolling through a high
school campus? This peculiar sight, we'd like
to believe, is more fitting in North Korea
than in the United States. Except that it's
not. In fact, since 2001, military gear and
personnel have become a common sight on
many K-12 campuses. Thanks to a provision
in the No Child Left Behind Act, schools
must open their doors to military recruiters;
some schools take this a step further, giving
recruiters carte blanche access to cafeterias,
classrooms, and athletic fields. At more than
3,000 high schools, retired military officers
teach marksmanship, physical fitness,
leadership, communications, geography,
and civics through Junior Reserve Officer
Training Corps (jrotc).
Last month, in a move that would have
made Mr. Dewey proud, a coalition of more
than 50 K-12 leaders, academics, and nongovernmental
organizations launched A
National Call: Save Civilian Education to
push back against further incursions from
the military. We hope their voices will help
stimulate a much-needed debate about U.S.
school militarization.
Seth Kershner
Reference Librarian
Northwestern Connecticut Community College
Winsted, Conn.
Scott Harding
Associate Professor of Community Organization
University of Connecticut
West Hartford, Conn.
Reader: Hawaii Early-Childhood
Measure Blurs Church and State
To the Editor:
Amendment 4 on the November ballot in
Hawaii ("Voters Will Weigh Ed. Measures,"
Oct. 8, 2014) would authorize tax support for
To the Editor:
The Curriculum Matters blog post
"N.Y.C. Chancellor Pushes for Schools to
Reinstate Independent Reading Time"
(www.edweek.org, Aug. 27, 2014) states
that there has been "little media attention"
given to the issue of free reading in
school. There has, however, been a great
deal of attention paid to this question in
professional educational publications.
Contrary to the conclusions of the
National Reading Panel in 2000, study
COMMENTARY POLICY
Education Week takes no editorial positions,
but publishes opinion essays and letters
from outside contributors in its Commentary
section.
For information about submitting an essay or
letter for review, visit
www.edweek.org/go/guidelines.
private early-childhood education programs
in secular and faith-based private schools.
While the proposed law and Article X,
Section 1 of the Hawaii constitution
both prohibit tax support for any form of
discrimination (by race, religion, sex, or
ancestry), Amendment 4 would not seem to
prohibit sectarian indoctrination in the taxaided,
faith-based private schools.
So Hawaiians could be taxed to support
sectarian training that they would not choose
to support voluntarily, and this would violate
language in the state constitution that
protects religious freedom and separation of
religion and government.
Edd Doerr
President
Americans for Religious Liberty
Silver Spring, Md.
Debate Over Free Reading in
Schools Dates Back Decades
after study supports the practice of
sustained silent reading in school. Some of
my responses to the panel were published
in Education Week, and others appeared in
the Phi Delta Kappan and Reading Today.
I also discussed the panel's errors in the
book The Power of Reading (2004).
In short, the panel missed many studies
and in my view misreported several
others. In my first response to the panel,
published in the Phi Delta Kappan in
2001, I reported that sustained silent
reading, or ssr, was as effective or more
effective than comparison groups in 50 of
53 published comparisons, and in longterm
studies, ssr was a consistent winner.
Since then, quite a few more studies have
been published supporting ssr in first- and
second-language education.
Stephen Krashen
Professor Emeritus of Education
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, Calif.
ONLINE www.edweek.org/go/commentary
OPINION BLOGS
In K-12 Schools Beyond the Rhetoric,
Jack Schneider and Julian Vasquez Heilig
continue their conversation. They recently
discussed the "damage" done by Teach For
America. Now, they take on voucher plans.
www.edweek.org/go/vouchers
"As I try to give my advisees a sense of belonging in
our school, home visits remind me that community
building is a two-way street," writes
Melissa Agudelo, the dean of High Tech High
Media Arts in San Diego. Read her personal
account of visiting the homes of new students on
the Learning Deeply blog.
www.edweek.org/go/home-visits
EDUCATION WEEK TEACHER
In "How I Learned to Lighten Up in the Classroom," Mark T. Kissling shares how
an embarrassing classroom moment during his first year of teaching helped
him understand why it's important not to take everything so seriously.
www.edweek.org/go/lighten-up
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21
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observe, coach, and co-teach with each other by hiring
roving substitute teachers when budgets allow.
Authenticity in instruction, assessment, and
learning is the norm in successful schools. In
schools where students spend most of their time engaged
in reading and writing high-quality real-world
texts, students are far better readers and writers,
which translates into greater achievement gains.
Reading and writing lessons, assignments, and assessments
across the curriculum are practical and
relevant. For example, students write with purpose for
a specific audience, engage in scientific and historical
inquiry, read critically for pleasure and information,
and respond to and raise higher-order questions.
The key to maintaining authenticity is prioritizing:
keeping the focus on what's most essential
for students to become proficient, selfdirected
readers and writers. Successful principals
and education leaders encourage colleagues to establish
rich and extensive classroom libraries with all
kinds of texts, including student-authored texts. They
give students choice and easy access to books they
can and want to read with understanding. They
encourage more time for independent reading
and conferring with students. The most effective
principals and education leaders also take their
own professional learning seriously and become
highly knowledgeable so they can ably guide and
coach teachers.
Because writing is one way we work out
our thinking, effective principals also
ensure teachers make sustained,
daily writing time as important as
reading time. Also, they partner with
teachers to ensure that all resources
and texts used in the classroom are well
written and are crafted by notable authors
who can serve as exemplary models
and accurate sources of information
for students and teachers. When using
What Reflects a Great School?
Not Test Scores
technology, such as iPads, savvy principals make sure
the technology use yields an academic benefit.
Finally, for a culture of high trust, collaboration,
and authenticity to take hold and be sustained,
the direct and unwavering support of
the superintendent is required. Engaged superintendents
ensure that effective principals stay in a
school for a minimum of three years, in order to make
sure the school's culture remains stable and achieving,
even as some staff members leave. These superintendents
also work closely and amicably with the
teachers' union to ensure sufficient time is allotted for
regularly scheduled professional development. They
also make it high priority to schedule time regularly
with the principals in their schools. Such visibility not
only shows the principal and staff that the superintendent
supports the school's leader, but also that the
superintendent is a partner in the teaching and learning
process.
It doesn't take much for a stable school culture to
deteriorate and for test scores and achievement to
decline. It is a paradox of our assessment-obsessed
culture that when principals and teachers are expected
to have a laser-like focus on test prep
and raising achievement, they
actually teach worse, not
better. Having standardized
assessments, credible
standards, curriculum documents,
and learning outcomes
in place is necessary, of course,
but they are insufficient for
school improvement.
It is primarily the quality of
relationships within the school and across the community
that ultimately determines whether achievement
occurs and is sustained schoolwide. Those relationships,
built on trust, are the foundational glue that,
in a collaborative and authentic teaching and learning
environment, makes it possible for all students to
become competent and confident readers, writers, and
thinkers. n
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http://www.edweek.org http://www.edweek.org/go/guidelines http://www.edweek.org/go/commentary http://www.edweek.org/go/vouchers http://www.edweek.org/go/home-visits http://www.edweek.org/go/lighten-up http://www.edweek.org/go/commentary
Education Week - October 22, 2014

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