Sometimes Silence is a Better Course of Action
“if people begin by thinking rationally, the danger is that they may end by acting rationally also.”
― Grant Allen, The Woman Who Did
Let's get the not-directly related-to-education things off of our plate first. At first blush, they may not seem connected, but on closer inspection...very much so.
Two weeks ago, I was talking country music with a friend who's been a music business executive for decades. We discussed artists and changes, and country music's commitment to diversity. I argued that it always comes down to songs. If you have songs, you're good to go.
We argued a little bit about Luke Combs's recent hit with the Tracy Chapman hit "Fast Car". A big deal has been made about Tracy having the number one hit in a format that would never play her version. This is not necessarily true.
I cut my teeth on a country radio station out of Tyrone, Pennsylvania with 50K watts of flame-throwing power that regularly injected AC hits into the playlist. "Fast Car" was one of those hits,
The flip side is, how many black stations are playing Comb's version?
When I was a club DJ, people would regularly come to the booth and say, "Can you play some black music?"
I'd present the record to them and respond, "As you can see it's all black music." But I digress.
As part of that conversation with my friend, I offhandedly said, "Take Jason Aldean, when was the last time he's done anything?" Famous last words.
"He's still releasing records." He said, "They just all sound the same you don't realize that they are new ones."
What a difference a couple weeks make.
Aldean is now front page and has the number-one record in the country. You can thank his critics for that. They took a mediocre song, and a much worse video, and elevated it to iconic status.
And it all feels like one big successful marketing plan.
What would have happened had CMT left the video play out in rotation? The song has been out for 2 months and basically ignored.
What about if Rolling Stone had not chosen to write a scathing review? What if liberal commentators had not made social media posts referencing the "pro-lynching" video?
It likely would have gone in the trash bin, unnoticed, save by the artist's shrinking fan base.
Instead, it's been embraced by folks sick of being forced to look at everything through the lens of race and sexuality. They know it sucks, but hey if it offends Jason Isbell and The Washington Post - hell yea, we are down.
A similar incident is playing out in Nashville's mayoral race. CM Freddie O'Connell this past week launched an attack on downtown business owner Steve Smith after Smith had taken out two ads opposing O'Connell.
Smith is not dissimilar from Aldean, but his impact on the rise of downtown Nashville is inarguable. Hate it or love it, Smith led the surge and Nashville's tax revenues have benefited from those efforts.
O'Connell has made the idea of returning Nashville to Nashvillians a central theme of his campaign. A primary focus of those attacks is the bachelorettes who have come to populate the city's tourism industry. The councilman eludes to plans to curb those interlopers should he become mayor. Under his leadership downtown will become a place where Nashville families can frolic and enjoy unimpeded by the so-called woo-girls.
It's a silly argument and fails to recognize the financial impact such an initiative might have. It reeks of the old, why don't people pack stadiums for math contest arguments.
The last couple of weeks, on a Saturday I've walked from upper Broadway to the stadium. I've seen the economic engine that is downtown. it's massive and while not my cup of tea, appeals to millions. I've also reached a conclusion about the bachelorettes, what do I care if they flock downtown and enjoy themselves? How's it hurting me?
Apparently, that's not a sentiment shared by O'Connell and his supporters.
O'Connell's campaign slogan is "We want you to stay".
Here's a news flash, downtown employs thousands of Nashvillians. People who would not be able to stay in Nashville without the income generated by businesses you've deemed unwelcome. So the questions become, which Nashvillians do you want to stay in Nashville?
Social media trolls tried to make a big deal out of two of the mayoral candidates appearing at a Republican event during their campaigning. Why is this a big deal?
Last I checked, the guy or girl with the most votes wins the election. Where those votes come from doesn't factor in. Shouldn't matter where you get the votes, unless it's just a certain segment of Nashville residents you "want to stay".
But back to O'Connell's counter ad, why should anybody be surprised that Smith is in opposition to O'Connell? But why should O'Connell care that Smith is opposed to him?
“If every place owned by Steve Smith closed, the city would be safer, Broadway would be less obnoxious, and the beer would be cheaper,” O’Connell wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “Any candidate who’s funded by Smith or his cronies should be embarrassed and should return it.”
Really? Beer would be cheaper? I'd love to see that math.
For the record, all of Smith’s establishments are within O’Connell’s Metro Council district. Smith blames him for the higher rate of crime in the district compared to others. Maybe.
The point is, I was becoming comfortable with O'Connell as mayor until he reconfirmed my fear that he would become distracted by stupid things and lose focus. Things like making an argument personal with a downtown business owner, as opposed to just winning the election.
The bottom line is every stupid thing said or done, doesn't need elevation. We don't have to constantly seek to reconfirm our virtue by showing we believe in all the right things and say all the right things.
Sometimes we just need to do the right things, and that seems infinitely more difficult.
That's a lesson my kids have taught me.
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The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released district results for Spring's TCAP testing. Simultaneously they released a new version of the state report card. The report card, while it didn't provide a grade, provided a deeper understanding and invaluable insight into district performance.
Metro Nashville Public Schools, of course, was quick out of the box with a press release proclaiming their success:
Metro Nashville Public Schools is thrilled to announce the remarkable progress of our students in the 2022-23 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP). The district has not only demonstrated significant growth but has also exceeded the state’s growth in 7 out of 8 categories and met their growth in one other. These results reflect the tireless dedication of our students, teachers, families, and the entire community in fostering a culture of academic excellence, along with targeted investments in high-quality instructional, social, and emotional supports for our students.
All right, but let's dive a little deeper.
Let's start with the number of students enrolled in metro schools. Currently, MNPS is home to 77,479 students. That's only 765 less than last year, but it is 4,945 less than it was in 2018.
In 2018, the district's operational budget was $866,2999,700, this coming school year it tops $1.2 billion dollars.
While the state’s second-largest district did see growth in its scores, they continue to lag behind state averages in achievement.
The state average in English language Arts (ELA) proficiency for all three grade levels was 38 percent; Metro Nashville was 28.5 percent. The current gap of 10 percent between MNPS and the state has remained consistent at 10 points since 2017.
The state average in math was 33.8 percent, with MNPS at 22.5 percent. Once again, the gap between the state and the two large urban districts has remained relatively consistent since 2017.
Over the past several years, MNPS has focused on creating equity and addressing student achievement gaps. This year’s scores do not reflect that commitment. In ELA, only 19.6 percent of black students and 19.6 percent of Hispanic students met or exceeded expectations. In the case of white students, 51.1 percent hit the mark.
Take a look at the data from this year's test and it shows that in ELA MNPS has more students scoring below expectations (29%) than it does those meeting exceeding expectations combined (28.5).
In math, it is even worse. Forty-two percent of the district's students scored below proficient.
Growth is nice, but ultimately it is the achievement that counts, and I'd argue that the MNPS ain't achieving.
Is it the test? That's likely part of the problem.
Is it due to factors outside of MNPS's purview? That's likely a big portion of the problem as well.
But it's also a leadership issue, and a question of are MNPS schools focusing on the right things, and, are giving teachers the space to succeed?
Whatever the cause, these numbers should not be acceptable to anyone.
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Came across this article last week in a blog called Answer Key. The blog article offers advice from a veteran teacher offering advice to a new teacher. This passage stuck out for me:
"You’re just human. You’re a teacher. You might be working in a public school or private, a charter, could be elementary, middle, or high school. College maybe. Wherever you are--even retired!--I hope you have found what I’ve said here today encouraging and helpful. Or, we could have just skipped to the end because this is the secret. This is everything: Your only job is to love them.'
Everything is salient until, the final statement. I don't need my kid's teachers to love them, or even like them. They have more than enough love at home. I need them instead to impart knowledge. It's that knowledge, and not their love that will impact children's future success.
Yes, admittedly there are kids that don't get that love at home, but it's still not a teacher's job to fill that deficit. It's also wrong to assume that those kids make up even close to the majority of American schoolchildren.
Here's an additional news flash, you are not going to love every child you teach. Just like you don't love every adult you meet. That doesn't mean you can teach them and make a positive impact on their lives.
Imagine if you were a manager at your job and the position came with the edict that you have to love every one of your teammates.
Most of us will, at some point, have to work for bosses that not only don't love us but don't like us either. At some point, you have to learn to navigate that.
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MNPS has decided they are not going to apply for state grants that fund a Student Resource Officer in every school. They were hoping that the state would allow them to use allotted SRO funds for the Metro Police Department's ‘Rapid Response Team’ for schools or overtime for officers.
Ain't gonna happen. The state has denied their request. So the money available to the district for SROs in elementary schools goes unused.
According to Fox 17 News, Metro Nashville Public Schools is the only district in Middle Tennessee that will not have an armed guard or SRO in every single school.
The district does employ them in middle schools and high schools. Opponents of armed SROs in schools argue that they would be a source of trauma for younger kids.
I don't quite understand that argument, because the potential threats to elementary kids are mostly external. Whereas, with the upper grades the threat is both external and internal. A guard could be placed in a position where he has to employ his weapon on a student with whom he has developed a relationship. That should be more concerning than a student witnessing an armed officer.
Here's my favorite part of the Fox Report:
Fox 17 News reporter, Payton Muse, emailed, called, left voicemails and sent a text to every single MNPS Board Member to see if this were something they would consider.
Board member Cheryl Mayes told me over the phone she is unavailable and directed me to metro schools.
Board member Erin O’Hara Block responded via text that she sent my request to the right folks at MNPS.
Board member Christiane Buggs responded via email that she’s out of town and forwarded me to the chair, Rachel Anne Elrod.
So far, no response from the others.
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Tennessee's public schools open up in the next week, but districts still don't have a clear picture of the number of students in third grade who will be retained. In an effort to bring the picture more into focus, the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) has released final data on third-grade retention appeals this week.
On Wednesday, the department shared that they’ve received 10,572 appeal forms, representing 9,054 unique students during the appeals window. Of these unique students, 7,812 – a little more than 86 percent – received approval on their appeal, and 685 received a denial of their request. An additional 557 appeals did not meet the requirements for consideration.
Data released after the initial Spring TCAP showed that roughly 44,000 students did not score proficient statewide on the spring TCAP English Language Arts assessment. By law, those students are eligible for a retake exam. According to the TDOE, over 25,000 students took advantage of the opportunity provided.
Results from those retakes showed that half of Tennessee’s districts had between 10 percent and 20 percent of their students achieve proficiency through the retest. Additionally, a third had between 10 percent and 20 percent of students improve from “below” proficiency to the next level of “approaching” proficiency. Roughly 3,350 students passed the re-take exam and as a result, will move on to fourth grade.
Between retakes and appeals processes, just over 11,000 third-graders have avoided retention.
With two weeks remaining before most Tennessee districts reopen schools, the fate of approximately 33,000 at-risk third-grade students remains unclear.
I'm sure this makes planning a breeze.
MNPS's Sean Braisted told The Tennessee Star, “While we are still validating and reviewing district-level totals for the upcoming school year which should be available next week, individual schools have already identified which students are required to be retained or receive tutoring in the upcoming school year and have been contacting families with that information with a deadline of July 24 to notify them of their student’s status.”
Braisted added, “District Support Hub members will be assisting principals in the coming week to ensure students who require tutoring are able to have them assigned so they can continue with the 4th-grade promotion"
Hmmm....seems to me somebody raised questions initially about the timeline.
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If somebody sees TEA's head lobbyist Jim Wrye, ask him how the state's new raise in teachers' starting salary is going. In case you didn't know, that increase is being held up while a panel of judges considers whether the portion of the law connected to teacher pay that outlaws payroll deductions for union dues is constitutional. That teacher salary increase was slated to go into effect July 1, it's almost August now. raises the question, what's more important to Wrye, that he gets his money, or that teachers get theirs?
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