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Office 549 Court Street Reno, NV 89501

Mailing PO Box 14855 Reno, NV 89507

Phone 775/657-8411 Fax 775/453-1017

Supporting Success for All Students

through Local School Board Leadership

For the May President Message, I want to spend a little time reviewing some key elements from the presentation we heard from Erika Hoffman [California School Boards Association] during our training on Saturday, May 7. I was impressed with her ability to take a huge, massive piece of federal legislation and distill it down to some critical pieces important for us as school board members. Because not everyone was able to attend the training, perhaps having those critical pieces in our NASB newsletter will reach board members in all parts of the State. First, what is called the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) passed the Senate with a bipartisan vote of 81-17. The House of Representatives approved the bill on a vote of 359-64. Imagine that! In view of the divisions often seen in Washington, these are huge majorities. What we now know as P.L. 114-095 became law on December 10, 2015. All flexibility requests/waivers granted in connection with the previous Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) are null and void as of August 1, 2016. The 2016-2017 school year is a transition year. ESSA requirements go into effect for the 2017-2018 school year. One of the pieces that strikes me as really important about ESSA is that positive learning outcomes are still expected for all students. There is a 1% cap on the number of students who can take alternative assessments. Another important piece is that ESSA ends federal mandates on teacher evaluations, provides

resources for educator induction programs and professional development, and it ends High Quality Teacher requirements. From our perspective as policymakers, it is significant that there is a set of new prohibitions that apply to the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education now has nothing to do with evaluation, elements of the evaluation process, professional standards, certification, or licensure. In other words, ESSA restricts the overarching federal role in public education and gives states and school districts greater responsibility on critical policy elements such as setting annual targets for student academic performance as well as deciding how to identify, support, and intervene in struggling schools. The new law establishes a new competitive preschool program while consolidating and eliminating many other NCLB initiatives. There have been no major changes to Title I formulas; however, there is a greater emphasis on poverty and providing appropriate services/programs for children living in poverty. Among its major provisions, ESSA establishes college and career readiness expectations by requiring that state education standards be aligned with the entrance requirements set by each state’s public higher education system and with the state’s career and technical education standards. The new law also sets important new requirements intended to strengthen instruction, assessment, and student supports, so that students graduate from high school with essential skills, in addition to mastering rigorous content. Student data disaggregation and reporting, and achievement gap closures are also continued as priorities under the new law, including requirements for school support and improvement. Since ESSA became law, a series of rulemaking meetings has been taking place involving a twenty-member Committee. No school board members were included on this Committee, although a range of constituents were represented. The Committee reached no agreement on issues related to “supplant” vs. “supplement,” which was to be expected perhaps as we see some of the same disagreements here in Nevada discussions. According to Erika, there is discussion about legislation to reshape and update the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act [FERPA] which was enacted 41 years ago. Issues of data collection and privacy protection continue to be of concern to many parents.

A

Message

from

NASB’s

President

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The Child Nutrition Program is also up for reauthorization. There is discussion about raising the threshold poverty rate for school participation. Senate and House bills are pending. It is anticipated that the reimbursement rate may increase by two cents. On Saturday, May 7, we also heard a presentation from Dana Bennett, President of the Nevada Mining Association. I am sure that none of us knew that the number of mines in Nevada has grown from 700 in 1912 to about 1,100 today. Nevada is responsible for 15% of all the total mineral production in the U.S. I did not know that Diatomite is one of the important minerals produced because of its use in fertilizer, laundry soap, and to filter beer and wine. I was also surprised to learn that my own Pershing County has the fifth most mines in Nevada, with more located in Nye (1), Churchill (2), Elko (3), and Humboldt (4). Mining is responsible for more than 11,300 direct jobs in Nevada with an additional 17,000 jobs related indirectly to industries/services. The average wage in mining is $91,936 while the Nevada average wage is $44,720. About 90% of all mining employers provide benefits for their employees. Ms. Bennett shared a number of other details, particularly related to the inter-connectedness of mining and Nevada’s economy. We are grateful for her willingness to spend time with board members on Saturday morning, and appreciate the continuing support of the Nevada Mining Association. It is about time for high school commencement ceremonies across the State. I know that many of you will be attending a number of these programs. Congratulating our young people on their accomplishments is one of the brightest points of my job as a school board member. I know it is for you, too. I join you in saluting them during each of these exercises and commending them on their many achievements. To quote Lou Holtz—my favorite American football coach and commentator—“We can all be successful and make money, but when we die, that ends. When you are significant is when you help other people be successful. That lasts a lifetime.” It is my hope that we can apply this concept to all of the work that we do day by day as school board members. Thank you for all of your work to increase opportunities for learning and achievement for all of our Nevada students attending all of the public schools in our communities. With warm regards,

Joe CrimJoe CrimJoe CrimJoe Crim Joe Crim, Jr. NASB President

Speaking of

Graduation—

Mispronouncing

Students’ Names:

A Slight That Can Cut

Deep By Corey Mitchell

When people come across Michelle-Thuy Ngoc Duong's name, they often see a stumbling block bound to trip up their tongues. The 17-year-old sees a bridge. A bridge spanning her parents' journey from Vietnam to the United States. A bridge connecting the U.S.-born teen to Vietnamese culture. A bridge to understanding. "My name is where I come from," Michelle-Thuy Ngoc said. "It's a reminder of hope." A junior at Downtown College Prep Alum Rock High School, a San Jose, Calif.-based charter school, Michelle-Thuy Ngoc (Michelle knock twee) is among the students backing "My Name, My Identity," a national campaign that places a premium on pronouncing students' names correctly and valuing diversity. The campaign—a partnership between the National Association for Bilingual Education, the Santa Clara County Office of Education, and the California Association for Bilingual Education—focuses on the fact that a name is more than just a name: It's one of the first things children recognize, one of the first words they learn to say, it's how the world identifies them. For students, especially the children of immigrants or those who are English-language learners, teachers who know their names and can pronounce them correctly signal respect and mark a critical step in helping them adjust to school. But for many ELLs, a mispronounced name is often the first of many slights they experience in classrooms; they're already unlikely to see educators who are like them, teachers who speak their language, or a curriculum that reflects their culture. "If they're encountering teachers who are not taking the time to learn their names or don't validate who they are, it starts to create this wall," said Rita (ree-the) Kohli, an assistant professor in the graduate school of education at the University of California, Riverside. It can also hinder academic progress.

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A divide already exists between many English-learners and immigrant students and their native-English speaking peers. Despite a national increase in the overall graduation rate, the dropout rate for foreign-born and immigrant students remains above 30 percent, three times that of U.S.-born white students. Before transitioning into K-12 administration, Santa Clara County Superintendent Jon Gundry taught middle and high school English-as-a-second-language classes for 16 years. Many of his students were newcomer English-learners and he made it a priority to learn the proper pronunciation of each student's name on the first day of class. "I was their first connection to a new culture, a new country," Gundry said. "As a teacher, I felt that if I didn't make an effort to pronounce their names correctly, it showed I didn't care about who they were." Rendered Invisible

Effort is the biggest obstacle to learning how to correctly pronounce a person's name; teachers have to want to do it, said Jennifer Gonzalez, a former teacher and author of the education blog Cult of Pedagogy. To even suggest that a child's name is difficult to pronounce is problematic, she said.

"Even the word 'difficult' is a pretty loaded word," Gonzalez said. "It's only difficult because it's culturally different." As a kindergarten student in 1950s Brooklyn, Carmen Fariña, a native-Spanish speaker, had a teacher who marked her absent every day for weeks because she didn't raise her hand during roll call. The teacher assumed Fariña was being defiant, but the future New York City schools chancellor never heard her name called; the teacher had repeatedly failed to pronounce it correctly, including rolling the r's. "Mispronouncing a student's name essentially renders that student invisible," Fariña said during a keynote address at the National Association for Bilingual Education annual conference in March.

Kohli produced a study with Daniel Solórzano, a professor of education and Chicano studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, on micro-aggressions, the subtle slights that are painfully obvious and hurtful to the person receiving them, but unintended and unnoticed by the person saying them. The work, "Teachers Please Learn Our Names! Racial Micro-aggressions and the K-12 Classroom," is littered with stories of students who endured shame, anxiety, or embarrassment, and sometimes a mix of all three, when their names were called in class. There's the tale of a Portland, Ore.-area student with a traditional Chinese name who had her name garbled by a vice principal during an honors ceremony. Set to present the student with an award, the principal laughed at his mistake, drawing chuckles from the audience.

To avoid embarrassment, the student slumped in her seat, refusing to rise to receive the prestigious award. She later skipped her graduation. The mispronunciation wasn't an isolated event. Having endured years of slights, she felt the need to become invisible long before the principal's laughter marked the tipping point.

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The woman, who went on to become an educator, changed her first name to 'Anita.' "If someone mispronounces your name once as a high school student, you might correct them," said Kohli, whose parents immigrated to the United States from India. "But if this has been your entire existence in education, what do you do?" Kohli's own brother had a teacher mispronounce his traditional South Asian name, Sharad (shu-rudth) as Sharub during a 9th grade class. The teacher and the students decided it was easier to call him Shrub, and it stuck for the rest of high school. The nickname forced him to check part of his identity at the door. Michelle-Thuy Ngoc didn't always embrace her full name, figuring that it would make other people uncomfortable. For years, she ignored the Vietnamese half of her first name, simply going by Michelle. The order in which Vietnamese names are spoken differs from English. "I came to accept [my full name] over time," she said.

Building Bridges

If students have teachers who share their cultural backgrounds, they're more likely to hear their names pronounced correctly. But while the diversity of the nation's public school student body has exploded in the last few decades, the number of African-American, Latino, and Asian teachers hasn't kept pace. Gonzalez, a former teacher in school districts in Kentucky and Maryland, said she often observed a 'these people' attitude from her mostly white female colleagues. "They approached it like 'It's your fault for having a weird name,'" Gonzalez said. To some degree, Gonzalez understands the struggle students face. She grew up with a Russian surname, Yurkosky, that befuddled teachers and classmates. She said it rhymes with "her-pots-ski," minus the "t" sound in pots.

"But I did not experience all the other stuff and other ways that a person can feel discriminated against," said Gonzalez, who is white. Kohli, a former Oakland Unified School District teacher, recommends that K-12 educators identify and expand their cultural limits and recognize the influence they wield over a student's sense of self. While frustration or confusion may seem like a natural response when a teacher faces an unfamiliar name, it can leave a "lasting impact on the way that children see themselves and their cultures," the study's authors argue. Butchered names are not just a problem for English-learners and immigrants; students from a number of cultural backgrounds have their names garbled or ridiculed. Hawaiian and African-American students, with names that link to their ancestry, also shared stories of how constant mispronunciations made them feel uncomfortable with their names. Mocking Names?

In an extreme case, a teacher in Wayne Township, New Jersey, lost her tenure status and job in 2015 for mocking a student's name on Facebook. Several letters in the student's name spelled out a profane word, legal documents show. More often, the mocking is more direct and reflexive: laughing at mispronunciation, asking the student to take on a nickname, or making a spectacle of their name, Kohli said.

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"It matters what you do when you're in front of children and struggling with their names," Kohli said. "Is it framed as my inability to say someone's name or is it framed as the student doing something to make your life more difficult?" Michelle-Thuy Ngoc attends Downtown College Prep, a 210-student high school that primarily serves first generation, low-income Latino students. "We're taking the time to understand each person's story," said assistant principal Moises Buhain. "It's as simple as starting with a name." As part of a social media campaign, the "My Name, My Identity" initiative is seeking name stories with the #mynamemyid hashtag. The push is personal for Yee Wan, the national association's president and the director of multilingual education services for the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Wan came to the United States as an adolescent English-learner, and almost immediately faced pressure from instructors to adopt an "American name" to replace her given name, which means "warm friendship" in Cantonese. Gundry and Wan developed "My Name My Identity" after hearing a principal share a story about his effort to build connections with English-language learners in school, then feeling the push fall flat when he mispronounced the students' names at graduation. "As educators, we have the power to bring awareness to valuing diversity ... so that all of our students will feel included," Wan said. [This article appeared in Education Week Online, May 20,

2016.]

Research and Best

Practices—

What Can We Learn

from the Atlanta

Cheating Scandal? By Andrew Saultz, Kristin M. Murphy, and Brittany

Aronson

In April 2015, 11 educators were convicted for their roles in the cheating scandal in the Atlanta Public Schools. Widespread media reports on the trial, as well as the report by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) detailed the scheme by teachers, principals, and district administrators to alter student answers on standardized tests. The GBI identified 178 teachers and principals; 82 confessed to cheating of some kind. The main report and subsequent trial used the high number of erasure marks on criterion-referenced competency tests to demonstrate that cheating had occurred. Although the Atlanta episode is the largest cheating scandal in U.S. history, it is not unique. Cheating scandals, altering test scores, or other maleficence have occurred in Ohio, Washington, D.C., and Texas. In Columbus, Ohio, schools officials were found guilty of falsifying student attendance and grade records. The Atlanta scandal provides three main lessons that can better prepare teachers and principals to navigate the high-stakes environment in chronically low-performing districts. We’ve spent the last year reading through newspaper articles, investigation reports, and court records regarding Atlanta’s cheating scandal.

Thanks to NASB’s corporate friends for their generous support—

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While many have written scathing editorials and opinion pieces about the administrators involved, we hope to shift the conversation from detailing past mistakes to identifying lessons learned from this set of unfortunate actions. While it is easy to portray those involved as funda-mentally different from other educators, conditions in the district were similar to many urban, chronically underperforming districts throughout the country. In fact, the Atlanta scandal highlights many areas where we can improve our educational system.

Lesson #1: Systems must identify and address

warning signs of potential cheating.

We were struck at the vitriol in interactions between the Atlanta administration and faculty in years leading up to the cheating scandal. A section of the GBI report entitled “Culture of fear” chronicles how intimidation, fear, and retaliation plagued the Atlanta district for years. Many teachers interviewed by the GBI said there were direct and indirect threats of firings or poor performance evaluations for individuals who reported suspicious activity. Principals also faced retaliation for voicing concerns. At a meeting of Atlanta principals, one middle school principal raised concerns about how many students were multiple grade levels below grade level but still had high test scores. This principal spoke at the meeting about students’ questionable performance and was reprimanded for his comments. The middle school principal was instructed by the district leader not to bring up such concerns at future meetings because it disturbed other principals. This principal resigned from his position shortly thereafter. A second early-warning sign was the dramatic year-to-year increases in test scores. The GBI report chronicles some of the more extreme cases spanning from 2004 to 2008. For example, in one year at one elementary

school, the percentage of students “exceeding expectations” in English language arts went from 28% to 79%. A number of other schools reported gains of over 20% from one year to the next. Throughout the report, teachers, principals, and other former school officials reported that these dramatic increases raised considerable doubt about the validity of the scores. However, according to the report and court documents, few in leadership questioned these results, and those who did were either relocated or terminated. Before celebrating dramatic increases in district test scores, school officials should make sure that they are validated. Teacher and administrator preparation programs must address issues that are common in high-poverty, high-need school districts across the country. District leaders must create an environment that allows disagreement and encourages individuals to express concerns over suspicious activity. Some Atlanta teachers reportedly questioned the gap between student knowledge and test scores. If the Atlanta administrators had had the autonomy to respond in an ethical and effective manner, fewer students might have been negatively affected by the alterations to test scores. Lesson #2: Single measure reward systems are

problematic.

Historically marginalized students—students of color, from low-income homes, or students with disabilities—may have been disproportionately affected by the overemphasis on test scores. Atlanta’s manipulation of data could have reduced the number of students classified with special needs. Test scores are common instruments in identifying students who are below grade level, and their phantom high scores likely kept some of them from getting special services. Educational policy makers should create more sophisticated accountability systems that examine multiple measures of school quality. Placing too much emphasis on standardized tests has created perverse incentives for individuals and can put them in compromising situations regarding their continued employment or salaries. Evidence suggests that emphasizing high-stakes tests also has caused teachers to teach to the tests, give higher priority to tested subjects, and use drill-and-kill teaching strategies that do little to improve student achievement. Using multiple measures—perhaps including graduation rates, student surveys, administrator observations, and both formative and summative student assessments—would create a more stable system and a system that would be harder to rig. We strongly recommend developing accountability systems based on multiple measures.

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Lesson #3: Improve teacher and principal

preparation.

When individuals perceive their working conditions as problematic, they are likely to grow frustrated, burn out, and, if they remain in the job, suffer from deteriorating levels of professional commitment and quality (Rosenholtz, 1989; Gersten, Yovanoff, & Harniss, 2001). Teacher and administrator preparation programs must address these factors as high-poverty, high-need school districts across the country face pressures similar to those in Atlanta. Teachers and principals were unprepared for the adverse working conditions in Atlanta Public Schools. District officials were pushing for fast improvement, regardless of costs, lack of infrastructure changes, or the staff’s knowledge and experience about evidence-based practices necessary to guide academic growth. Educators are tempted to make improper decisions when there is a heavy emphasis on standardized tests and often struggle with the dilemma of having to cheat to help a struggling student, often finding ways to justify these actions (Nichols & Berliner, 2007). Teachers and principals reportedly did not know how to respond to the culture of fear and intimidation in Atlanta. Examining such scenarios and providing teachers and administrators a space to analyze accountability conditions can support them in navigating how they might handle future situations. Teacher preparation

When teachers enter classrooms feeling underprepared, they are more likely to develop a diminished sense of self-efficacy, leading to a perception that their actions at work are unlikely to yield success (Cook, 2007). The risk for emotional stress and a sense of failure is high when working in a high-pressure environment without the right supports (Chang, 2009). When teachers don’t feel capable of success, they face the risk of a “burnout cascade” (Osher et al., 2007). As teachers react to the perception of failure, their negative behavior increases. Students respond accordingly, leading to a cycle of increasingly deteriorating behavior that ultimately affects students and teachers. Under such conditions, teachers may burn out and leave their jobs. If they stay, their increasingly negative behavior yields negative results for students, especially those with the most significant academic and behavioral needs (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). The burnout cascade is a particularly important phenomenon to acknowledge when thinking about high-poverty urban school districts. These historically marginalized children are affected most by the degree of academic and emotional support offered by teachers (Hamre & Pianta, 2007). When these students are in

classrooms characterized by less support, they experience poorer academic achievement and increased conflict in the classroom. For example, students with disabilities represent a significant portion of the total student population in U.S. public classrooms. However, research indicates that many teachers and principals may be underprepared to effectively meet their needs (King-Sears & Baker, 2014; DiPaola & Walther-Thomas, 2003; Villani, 2006). Conversely, when students are in classrooms with strong instructional and emotional support, they can attain academic achievement on par with their classmates (Hamre & Pianta, 2005). The conditions in Atlanta were similar to those found in many urban, chronically underperforming districts throughout the country.

Teacher preparation programs must help prepare teachers to be competent and confident in carrying out evidence-based practices that support all students in classroom instruction and testing season, and they must understand the laws that drive these practices (King-Sears & Baker, 2014). While general and special education teacher preparation programs historically have been prepared in separate pathways, we recommend that all teaching candidates be given course and field-based opportunities to foster knowledge about evidence-based practices and an understanding of school law and current educational policies for all students (Pugach & Blanton, 2009). When educators know about education policy and practices that align with the law, compliance should improve (Gagnon et al., 2013). However, teachers may still face ethical dilemmas at work and should be prepared for how to respond to intimidation, fear, or threats from school officials. Although whistle-blower legislation may provide cover for teachers to report illegal activities, few if any teacher preparation programs train teachers to identify and implement solutions such as collaborative consultation, mediation, or submission of reports. Furthermore, teachers’ unions and school districts would be well-served to incorporate professional learning opportunities that foster

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knowledge about how to react to inappropriate environments and test facilitation. Administrator preparation

Administrator preparation programs also should incorporate these lessons. Future administrators need course and field-based experience pertaining to policy and evidence-based practices aligned with the law in order to gain knowledge and an understanding of the tools and infrastructure necessary to effectively lead systemic change. For any change to occur in a school community, an effective administrative team is necessary. Administrative teams direct the trajectory of school practices based on the working conditions they build. Those working conditions help determine the degree to which personnel are motivated and the effectiveness of their practices (Boyd et al., 2011). Preparation programs also should help candidates for administrator leadership roles prepare for school boards and district officials setting high expectations for turning schools around quickly. Finally, we recommend that principal preparation programs incorporate information about whistle-blowing and other confidential ways of reporting suspicious activities. While these protections exist in most states, very few preparation programs currently incorporate this information into their programs. Principal and superintendent associations also should expand professional learning opportunities to foster awareness and equip school leaders with strategies to build fair climates for instructional and testing environments.

Conclusion

Controversies involving the manipulation of student data have occurred recently in Washington, D.C., Ohio, and Texas. These scandals hurt the reputation of public schools, and ultimately they hurt students the most by damaging the morale of teachers and leaders and wasting taxpayer resources. Intimidation, fear, and retaliation plagued Atlanta Public Schools for years. As schools across the country navigate high-stakes, accountability-driven pressure, preparation programs and districts alike should consider how to incorporate lessons learned from the Atlanta scandal into their practices. Teacher and principal pre-service and ongoing professional learning opportunities should include: o Course and field-based training that fosters knowledge about policy and evidence-based practices aligned with the law and o Methods of identifying and reporting suspicious behavior related to data manipulation. Further, policy makers should look to expand the accountability system to include multiple measures of school quality. This would provide a more holistic depiction of schools and could lessen the temptation to alter scores, since

altering scores would no longer dramatically shift the overall rating. Finally, school officials need to be trained in how to address unethical behavior in their school districts. Fear, intimidation, and verbal abuse need to be reined in by school leaders before they spiral out of control.

Congratulations to

Shayla Hudson,

Humboldt CSD Trustee On May 7, Shayla Hudson joined more than 25 of her school board colleagues who have completed the Certified Public Official Program. Wayne Carlson, POOL/PACT Executive Director, presented the certificate and a check in the amount of $1,000. The Program is designed to assist Nevada’s incumbent, newly elected, and/or appointed officials in meeting the managerial, legal, financial, ethical, and political challenges of public office. In addition, the Program provides a thorough overview of the skills and knowledge required of the public official. NASB participates in the CPO Program in collaboration with the Nevada Association of Counties, the Nevada League of Cities and Municipalities, and Extended Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno.

PLAN AHEAD!

2016 NASB CONFERENCE

November 18-19

NASB GOVERNANCE MEETINGS

November 17

Reno—Atlantis Casino Spa Resort

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Resources Available

from the Federal

Deposit Insurance

Corporation In April 2015, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) launched Money Smart for Young People, a series of financial education curriculums for four age groups—Grades PreK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12—including lesson plans for teachers and resources for parents and caregivers. The free resources are designed to improve financial education and decision-making skills among young people.

The FDIC worked in partnership with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to develop these new educational tools. The parent/caregiver guides are available in English and Spanish through www.consumerfinance.gov/parents a website developed by the FDIC and CFPB. Educators can download the full curriculum, including lesson plans, at www.fdic.gov/consumers/education/torc/curricu

lumtools. “It is important that financial education begin at a young age so that children can build long-term, positive financial habits,” FDIC Chairman Martin Greenberg said. He added that new tools for parents and teachers will help kids “build financial capability and take advantage of opportunities to reach their financial goals.”

School Board Members

Are Active Outside the

Board Room

NASB President Elect and Lincoln CSD Trustee Wade Poulsen is a long-distance runner. He is shown here completing the Ogden Marathon held annually in May and also known as Utah’s Spring Run Off. The race has gained national attention as one of the most scenic in America and has been voted one of the “Top Ten Marathons in the World.”

NASB Past President and Churchill CSD Trustee Dr. Greg Koenig and his wife, Tara, enjoy traveling. In January 2016, they traveled to Belize and visited one of the most famous ruins in Belize called Lamanai or the “Submerged Crocodile.” Research places the first dwellings at around 1500 B.C. One of the most spectacular features at Lamanai is a pair of jaguar masks as shown here.

NASB President Joe Crim, Jr., has been a hunter since he was five years old growing up in Arkansas. He is shown here with an antelope taken two years ago in Pershing County. The antelope scored 79 ¾ based on the length and mass of its antlers. Joe also hunts with his family and is an avid fisherman.