Let's Get Serious! Together, we can ALL profit from our diversity Stevan J. Kukic, PhD

1. Let's Get Serious! Together, we can ALL profit from our diversity Stevan J. Kukic, PhD VP, Strategic Sales Initiatives Cambium Learning/Voyager stevan.kukic@voyagerlearning.com

2. The Problem We talk and talk and commiserate and talk and, often, take no sustainable action to solve our diversity problems.

3. Beyond his worries about intervention, Seward had little faith in the efficacy of proclamations that he considered nothing more than paper without the muscle of the advancing Union Army to enforce them. “The public mind seizes quickly upon theoretical schemes for relief,” he pointedly told Frances, who had long yearned for a presidential proclamation against slavery, “but is slow in the adoption of the practical means necessary to give them effect.” Goodwin, 2005

4. As Albert Einstein said: “The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”

5. Circle of Influence Circle of Concern

6. We are all caught up in an inescapable web of mutuality. Martin Luther King, Jr.

7. And now for something completely different! • A major economic “reset” • Barely civil politics • Stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act • A new preK – 12 Comprehensive Literacy Act – The LEARN Act • Reauthorizations of ESEA and IDEA

9. Pres. Obama’s Five Pillars of Educational ReformMarch 10, 2009 • Investing in early childhood initiatives • Adopting world class standards in every state • Recruiting, preparing, and rewarding outstanding teachers while getting rid of teachers who do not get results • Promoting innovation and excellence • Providing quality higher education for every American

10. Stimulus Money • The stimulus money, in the absence of an appropriate whole system reform conception, will fail. • There is already evidence that states will find ways to use stimulus money to alleviate budget cuts in other areas, and even if the money is spent on intended strategies, these strategies themselves are incomplete, partial remedies. Fullan, 2010

11. The Comprehensive Literacy Bill: The LEARN Act • Maintaining the research based principles of Reading First • Literacy basis of ESEA Reauthorization • Using RtI (Multi Tier System of Supports – MTSS) • Defining Evidence Based Practice • From a coalition led by the Alliance for Excellent Education to Rep. Polis (D-CO) to the Congress

12. MTSS in the LEARN Act MULTI-TIER SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS The term ‘‘multi-tier system of supports’’ means a comprehensive system of differentiated supports that includes evidence-based instruction, universal screening, progress monitoring, formative assessment, and research-based interventions matched to student needs, and educational decision making using student outcome data.

13. Evidence Based Practice Definition The term “evidence based” means those practices, instruction, interventions that have independent validation that they will produce gains in student outcomes when used with fidelity.

14. The Reauthorizations are coming! Soon!ESEA • Change name (to Every Child a Graduate) • RtI • Growth model • Inclusion of ALL (NAEP limits on exclusion of EL & SWD) • Sub group to student group • Eliminate 2% rule (Harkin, 5/5/09) • Common standards

15. US Department of Ed on ESEA:A Blueprint for Reform-Priorities College and Career Ready Students-raising standards for all students, better assessments, a complete education Great Teachers and Leaders in Every School-effective teachers and principals, our best teachers and leaders where they are needed most, strengthening teacher and leader preparation and recruitment Equity and Opportunity for All Students-rigorous and fair accountability for all levels, meeting the needs of diverse learners, greater equity Raise the Bar and Reward Excellence-fostering a race to the top, supporting effective public school choice, promoting a culture of college readiness and success Promote Innovation and Continuous Improvement-fostering innovation and accelerating success, supporting, recognizing, and rewarding local innovations, supporting student success

16. The Reauthorizations are coming! Soon! IDEA • One law? • MTSS (RtI) for all • LD in the law • Students with Disabilities in accountability • Maintain stimulus level of funding (Harkin, 5/5/09)

17. It’s much easier to ride the horse in the direction it’s going. Gabie Frazier 2009

18. Improving Education in the United States In 1980, the United States had one of the most accomplished public education systems in the world. Over the past 30 years, it has slipped while other countries have steadily passed it. All this while quadrupling its education expenditure. How fascinating! Fullan, 2010

19. NAEP Reading & Math (age 9) scores and cumulative textbook spending

20. How U.S. Schools Stack Up Rank Country Days in School • FINLAND 187 • SOUTH KOREA 204 • NEW ZEALAND 194 • AUSTRALIA 198 • JAPAN 210 • GERMANY 193 • CZECH REPUBLIC 194 • U.S. 180 Intelligence Report, Parade.com, 2009 Rank based on reading, science, and math scores

21. As You Know…. • On a national basis, 68% of 4th grade students are below proficient in reading performance. The problem is more acute with English Learners, Special Education and economically disadvantaged students – where between 8 to 9 out of 10 students perform below grade level. These three important sub-groups account for over 40% of all students • A one-standard deviation increase in educational achievement is estimated to increase GDP by two percent1 • Nationally, only7 in 10 studentsare successfully graduating from high school 2 1 Education Quality and Economic Growth, The World Bank 2 EPE Research Center, 2008

22. The Early Catastrophe Extrapolated to the first four years of life, the average child in a professional family would have accumulated 560,000 more instances of encouraging feedback than discouraging feedback, and an average child in a working-class family would have accumulated 100,000 more encouragements than discouragements. But an average child in a welfare family would have accumulated 125,000 more instances of prohibitions than encouragements. By the age of 4, the average child in a welfare family might have had 144,000 fewer  encouragements and 84,000 more  discouragements of his or her behavior than the average child in a working-class family. Hart & Risley, 2003

23. The Racial Achievement Gap On average, black and Latino students are roughly two to three years of learning behind white students of the same age. The racial gap exists regardless of how it is measured, including both achievement (e.g., test score) and attainment (e.g., graduation rate) measures. McKinsey & Co., 2009

24. All things being equal, a low-income student in the United States is far less likely to do well in school than a low-income student in Finland. McKinsey & Co., 2009

25. The educational achievement gaps in the United States have created the equivalent of a permanent, deep recession in terms of the gap between actual and potential output in the economy. McKinsey & Co., 2009

26. What can we do? Let’s get serious!

27. It’s about how you live your life. Pausch, 2008

28. Trustworthiness • Character • Integrity • Maturity • Abundance Mentality • Competence • Technical • Conceptual • Interdependency Be Do 1993 Covey Leadership Center, Inc.

29. The Heart, Art, and Science of Teaching One must first have the heart for teaching. One can then learn the science and the art of teaching. Dea Allan, 2010 Confidential

30. We can, whenever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far. THE Conundrum of American Public Education Ron Edmonds, 1982 in DuFour et al., 2004

31. Science without Passion is uninspiring. Passion without Science is self centered. Science with passion is THE key to student success! Conquering the Conundrum Kukic, 2008

32. Rosa Parks

33. Change is good. You go first! Judy Elliott, 2004

34. The only person who likes change is a wet baby.

35. Always do right (things right). This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. Mark Twain and Stephen Covey

36. MindsetFixedv.Growth Dweck, 2007

37. The fixed mindset limits achievement. It fills people’s minds with interfering thoughts, it makes effort disagreeable, and it leads to inferior learning strategies. What’s more, it makes other people into judges instead of allies. Dweck, 2006

38. Marva Collins: She defined the growth mindset! On the first day of class, she approached Freddie, a left-back second grader, who wanted no part of school. “Come on, peach,” she said to him, cupping his face in her hands, “we have work to do. You can’t just sit in a seat and grow smart…I promise, you are going to do, and you are going to produce. I am not going to let you fail.” Dweck, 2006

39. My success and..education can be companions that no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, and no enemy can alienate. Without education, (one) is a slave…Time and chance come to us all. I can be either hesitant or courageous. I can...stand up and shout: “This is my time and my place. I will accept the challenge.” School Creed West Side Prep Marva Collins, Founder 1987

41. Four critical questions to prove you are a PLC What is it we want all students to learn—by grade level, by course, and by unit of instruction? How will we know when each student has acquired the intended knowledge and skills? How will we respond when students experience initial difficulty so that we can improve upon current levels of learning? How will we respond when students learn quickly so we can improve their current levels of learning? DuFour, et al., 2004

42. Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunk full of strategies. Plus allies in learning. This is what the growth mindset gives people, and that’s why it helps their abilities grow and bear fruit. Dweck, 2006

43. Dominant Discourse It is the language of the educated, the language of the ruling and decision-making class. Those who master this language can influence others and are the least susceptible to being manipulated by those who wield language for unwholesome purposes. Delpit, 1995

44. I Have a Dream …We have come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of NOW… Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963

45. I Have a Dream …We have no time for the tranquilizing drug of gradualism… Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963

46. Desegregation will break down the legal barriers and bring men together physically, but something must touch the hearts and souls of men so that they will come together spiritually because it is natural and right…True integration will be achieved by true neighbors who are willingly obedient to unenforceable obligations. Dr. Martin Luther King

48. The Standard All policies, programs, and practices are considered through the lens of “How does this impact student learning?” Those that encourage learning are embraced. Those that interfere with learning are discarded. DuFour, et al., 2004

49. If it works, don’t break it. If it doesn’t work, break the sucker! Kukic, 1993

50. Covey, 2004