The Elephant In The SEL Room

The Elephant In The SEL Room.

The terms Social Emotional Learning is a hot topic in schools today. I am glad we are paying attention to this. We are told that children and their teachers need to focus on the Whole Child, find time to take care of each other and themselves emotionally. The work being shared is rich in best practices. This is a real need. This is all good. 

BUT, But, and but again people, we should be honest that there is no bigger impediment to the Social Emotional Well Being of our nation's children and their teachers then the constant use of High-Stakes Testing in our public schools.

Our nation's policymakers, legislators, and education reformers think assessing children requires standardized testing. It is easy for people who have little or no experience working with children to view high stakes testing as a way to measure learning. They lack the experiences of sitting with children, learning and growing with them on a daily basis.  Teachers see the child not the score. 

The Latin root of "assess" is “to sit beside.” Not do something to someone. It means both teacher and children learn from each other, they learn together. Teachers get this. They understand everything they need to do comes from sitting besides the children they teach. The data that matters to teachers isn't found on some data wall, it isn't found by logging into some expensive online data gathering system. The data that matters is found in real classrooms sitting next to children we teach. Everything needed to move a child forward is found sitting together. Teachers don't need to go online, or wait for the data to come in. Everything they need is sitting right next to them. In that "sitting beside place". Where it's not about some strategic learning objective, but about caring to follow the child not the score. That place where teachers learn to differentiate their instruction not based on test scores, but directly from the child.  The data that matters isn't found on some magic Bell Curves. it breathes, feels, and sits next to us in our classrooms.  If we really care about the well-being of our children in public schools, we would end this love affair with High-Stakes Testing. start paying attention to child sitting in our classrooms. They are the living breathing data that no testing company ever talks to. It's time to kick the Elephant out of the room.

I walked from Connecticut to Washington DC in 2010 and 2105 to protest High-Stakes Testing and inequity in our public schools. What did I discover about standardized testing in our public schools on those walks? I discovered it was demoralizing teachers and destroying the desire to learn in their students. Those 400 plus mile walks took 40 days to complete each time. I met over a thousand teachers and parents on those walks. All the teachers I met shared that constant testing was destroying the motivation to teach. Destroying the desire to learn in the students they taught. They said they spent 8-12 weeks of the school year preparing for, practicing for, and giving mandated testing. Parents told me the testing is making their children hate going to school. Not one teacher, not one parent, not one student expressed anything positive about the testing in their schools during walks.

What else did I learn about our nation's love affair with High-Stakes Testing? It is stealing 2-3 months of valuable learning time.  It is costing our nation BILLIONS of dollars.  There is no evidence that more standardized testing ever improved learning in our public schools. The Literature does contain numerous studies documenting an over emphasis on standardized testing increases the number of students labeled special education, students with behavior problems, and anxiety concerns.

18 years after NCLB turned our children into test scores, it should not come a surprise that Social Emotional Learning is emerging as a hot topic. America spent over 1.2 billion dollars on NCLB and RTTT. The real surprise is that after 19 years of testing reform failures our leaders can't see the Elephant in the room. Trust me on this one thing, teachers, children, and parents see that Elephant. 

I say if educators and parents are really concerned about Social Emotional Learning then we should demand that testing money go to supporting and bringing SEL into our schools. Once the testing is gone we will get back the time and funding needed to truly support SEL in our public schools.  Time to kick the Elephant out of the room.

Respectfully,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner 
CCSU Literacy Center Director

Parents and teachers together can't be defeated

If you want to listen to the song that inspired my morning walk today its Crosby, Stills, and Nash singing Teach the children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztVaqZajq-I

See The Gifts

See the gifts.
I was talking to one of the teachers I work with this week. She told me about a young child who has a para all day long, and suffers from dangerous brain seizures, and the staff was told he is not expected to live for more than a few more years. He has had many surgeries, and has the scars to show it on his head.

She said he wants so much to interact with the other children, and they like interacting with him. But, we were told do not stress him. He sometimes appears so fragile, and others times he doesn't. He is not able to move about without the assistance of his Para. At first we were afraid, and then we came to know him, his laughter, his smile, and he melted our hearts. The other day, he was playing catch with the other kids, everyone was having fun, and he was laughing away. The Para and I were worried, but everyone was smiling, laughing, and enjoying themselves. The Para and I thought let it be.

She asked Dr. Turner, what would you have done? Physical activity might trigger a seizure. I said "Celebrate the wonder a child who gifted his teacher, Para, and classmates with a perfect moment of humanity" and I just might have join in the game. I certainly would have awarded him one of my Plastic Gold medals, bow down to him, and said there has never ever been a better catcher than you.

Play is not stressing, laughter is not stressing, joy is not stressing, and you and your Para did exactly what I would have done. She said he often has seizures during the week when this happens, the children and I leave the classroom, the Para stays, and the nurse comes. My students worry about this child, sincerely care about the child, and always treat him with dignity and respect. On the catch day he suffered no seizures, but we every one of us felt his joy and love. She said those are the days I live for. Trust that those are the days this child lives for.

A dear old friend an Elder Danny Lopez from the Tohono O'odham Nation who past away some years ago.... once told me: "Jesse the creator sends us children we sometimes think are broken, but we are mistaken. They are not broken, they are beautiful strategic gifts the Creator places to in our lives to prove our humanity. It's not the gifts that are broken, it's us, and they have come to help heal us."

See the gifts,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner

In case you are wondering what song inspired my morning walk today...it's Natalie Merchants Wonder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v611MlWMtL8&t=112s

The things Standardized Testing Can't Tell Teachers

It that season of "Much To Do About Nothing" time!

It is that time of year again,
Leaders talk about SBAC results,
They shout that SBAC data out, as if they actually tell teachers something important.
Things these SBAC Scores won't tell Connecticut teachers.

Who did not eat dinner last night, or breakfast this morning,
Who is being physically abused at home.,
Who lost their sibling to violence last night.

Whose family is being evicted,
Whose parent is incarcerated,
Whose parent lost their job,
Whose parent has cancer,
Whose parents can't afford to pay the repair bills for their car,
Whose parent died last night.

Which child is being bullied in school,
Which child is being sexually targeted,
Which child's parent was taken by ICE last nigh,
Which child is feeling suicidal,
Which child is thinking about harming others.
Which child's house burn down last night,
Which child's parent is suffering from addiction,
Which child has no clean clothes to wear today.

Whose school has no art teacher,
Whose school has no music teacher,
Whose school has no librarian,
Whose school has no recess,
Whose school has no time for play.

What do SBAC Scores tell teachers?
Nothing actually useful.
Things SBAC doesn't tell teachers,
The color of a child eyes,
If a child is living in Trauma,
What a child could learn in a public school system where teachers and children are given the resources and supports needed to succeed.

How do I know this?
Is it because I have A PhD. in Language, Literacy and Culture?
NO, it is because,
I was a homeless child,
I was a hungry child,
I was a cold child,
I had was a child with no,
Coat
Gloves, or
Socks,
I was a child living in trauma once.


No test ever fed me,
No test ever gave me a bed,
No test ever gave me a,
Coat,
Socks,
Hat,
Gloves,
No test ever told me things will get better.

But, a teacher once,
Fed me lunch for a year,
Told me things will get better,
Gave me a,
New coat,
New gloves, and
Warm socks.

A teacher who stepped outside his classroom.
A teacher once visited my mother at the train station lobby we were sleeping in.
Mrs. Turner, I am sorry to hear you living through some bad times,
Mrs. Turner, I am sure things are going to get better,
Mrs. Turner, may we talk about Little Jess?
A teacher came to talk with my mother, not down to my mother, but with her.

He said "Mrs. Turner, forgive me, I called your daughter Jessica today,"
We talked about when she was in my class,
We talked about married life,
We talked about Little Jess,
Mrs. Turner, she talked with her husband James,
They both would like to help Jess out. Jessica and James want to take young Jess into their home until you can get back on your feet.
Your Jessica, said my mother is proud,
This isn't charity, this is family.

What can a teacher do for child living with trauma?
Sometimes when the stars are aligned, A teacher can change a child's world.

I was this young child,
I would live for the next 8 years in his sister's loving home.
Homelessness and Poverty are cruel and difficult to climb out of.
It took eight years, but Momma climbed out, and her son would live with her in her loving home, and earn two college degrees in her house of love.

Things a teacher know,
Teachers know how to make a difference.
Teachers are my heroes, and
Family is my rock. 
How do I know what teachers know?
A teacher once saved my life.


What this teacher knows?
No Standardized Test ever saved any child's life.
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Moral Monday Connecticut Education Ambassador

If you are wonder which song inspired my morning walk today...its Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's song sang by Barry Lane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz1Sp1mubpQ