OEA Discussion Board

By Phil Hayes, Columbus Education Association

As this year’s election nears, I remember the early years of being a teacher. During election season, I remember how often veteran teachers in my building would talk politics in the teachers’ lounge. I am a social studies teacher by certification and a political junkie by nature, so I always appreciate political discussions.

The discussions in the teachers’ lounge down the hall often times involved politics, especially education. It was interesting, but I tried to change the topic to economics or foreign policy. More often than not, the discussion shifted back to politics and education. I couldn’t understand why.

One day after school, a veteran teacher friend pulled me into his classroom.

“Why do you think we talk about the role of politics in education so much?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I think that politicians just talk about education and say things like ‘Good schools are important’ but they don’t really do anything else. When I close my door and teach, I’m in control of my classroom, not politicians. Their decisions have no effect on how I do my job.”

My friend looked me in the eye with an intensity I hadn’t seen before.

“When you close your door,” he responded, slowly and thoughtfully, “the politicians are already in charge. Their decisions have an effect on nearly every aspect of your job.”

Young and stubborn, I didn’t want to believe him. I shook my head in denial.

“Think about it,” he continued. “The textbooks you teach from behind that closed door were purchased from money raised by a recent levy that the voters passed.  Our school board voted to put the levy on the ballot, and they also approved the purchase of those textbooks. It’s because of the levy that you still have a job. But your job is affected by more than just those district-level political decisions.”

“The district creates the curriculum we teach our students based on the state content standards. Those standards were adopted by a vote of the elected state board of education. Let’s be honest—what we really focus on in the classroom is what is on the Ohio Graduation Test.”

“All of the achievement tests that the state forces our students take were created by legislation passed by members of the Ohio House and Senate. The Ohio House and Senate passed laws that specified everything about those tests.”

“All those tests came about because of No Child Left Behind’s passage in 2002. That law mandated all this endless testing for our students. The Ohio Legislature passed all these laws about testing because we wouldn’t be eligible for federal money that comes with NCLB. Don’t forget Ohio Senators and Representatives voted in the US Congress to send that legislation to the President for his signature.”

His voice took on a more urgent tone.

“Make no mistake about this— every aspect of your job is to some degree decided by politicians. Things like teaching credentials, the subject and content you teach, what kind of a pension State Teachers’ Retirement System will provide for you; those are all things decided by politicians. Many of them were never teachers and therefore won’t understand what we need to help our students succeed unless we tell. We need friends of education at every level of government.”

“You mean Democrats?” I asked.

“No,” he said emphatically. “There’s a misconception that teachers just vote for Democrats. That’s not true. The defining factor of whether or not a politician is a true friend of education is their stance on the issues that will affect our ability to educate our students. Their political party is irrelevant.”

“What else can we do besides vote?” I asked.

“Call or meet with the politicians that represent you and talk to them,” he said. “Even if they’re in a different political party than yours, they still need to hear from you. Write letters to the editors of newspapers and explain what our job entails. Talk to your neighbors; even other teacher friends.”

“How long have you been doing these things?” I asked.

“As long as I can remember,” he said. “I’ll keep doing it until I retire. When politicians get out of education, then this educator will get out of politics.”

by Susan Ridgeway, Streetsboro Education Association

Despite the fact that Ohio did not place in the top 20 on Forbes’ list of America’s Greenest States (we came in a dismal 39 out of 50 in 2007), or that there are no Ohio cities that made the top 50 list of greenest cities in America, according to Popular Science (2008), Ohio schools could still take the lead, since our legislators won’t, by adopting curriculum and developing policies, so that the next generation of Ohioans will have the knowledge and know-how to live green, sustainable lives.

All school districts should not only be recycling all materials, including plastic, cell phones, and ink cartridges used by the district, they could work with local waste management agencies and act as repositories for their communities as well. Student organizations could be set up to act as monitors and in some cases make money at it while completing community service hours. There are several national organizations such as Teens Turning Green, Earth Force, or Roots & Shoots that help students get organized and teach sustainable living practices.

Districts could complete energy audits and invest in green energy sources such as small solar and wind power technologies. Students could help raise the money to purchase them and study the installations and technology behind it. This would resort in smaller energy bills and hands on science experience. Ohio schools, either statewide or individually, should participate in the Wind for Schools Project sponsored by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory under the U.S Department of Energy. There are currently 11 states involved with this program. Unfortunately, Ohio is not one of them.    New schools should be built according to LEED standards sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council, which supports purchasing natural, renewable products from local vendors, thus investing in local businesses.

Middle and high school teachers could request that all assignments be done through cloud computing, reducing paper and printer ink waste and developing 21st century skills. Districts should change their font styles when printing to Century Gothic. It requires less ink, saves money and less cartridges end up in landfills polluting our waterways. School field trips should be provided to our solid waste sites to fully understand what we are doing to our land in Ohio. This is being done in other states.

Perhaps, the most important thing our schools can do is to teach our students to be active in petitioning local and state governments to do more to save our environment, reduce our landfill waste, adopt green building codes and offer incentives, like bottle bills, that would entice the public to become active participants in greening up Ohio. Students should be required to attend city and township council meetings to ask our representatives the tough question, “Why aren’t you doing more?” and then be ready to respond and debate with pertinent information to inform their legislators and the public. I’m tired of being a follower of other states. I want Ohio to be a leader. Our school districts and students can make that happen.

by Melanie Krause, Dover Education Association

Districts, classroom teachers, and families have been forced to cut back on spending year round. What does that look like during the “Back-To-School” shopping season?

For districts, the next school year actually begins before school lets out for the summer. Budgets must be determined and supplies must be ordered.  For many schools, it is a hard lesson in “Wants vs. Needs.” In our district, an activity called “Build the Budget” helps determine where district money will be spent.  Staff members from all departments – administrators, teachers, cooks, secretaries, aides, custodians, and bus drivers – are asked to help make decisions that will impact the district’s ability to maintain, improve, or change education.  The group gathers together to assess the needs of the district (i.e. staffing, curriculum, tech, supplies, roofs, buses, etc). When we return to the classroom this fall, we will see which of our wishes have been granted.  Will we have new computers, SmartBoards in every classroom, updated textbooks, new carpet, clocks that work, or smaller class sizes?

For classroom teachers, the excitement of back-to-school shopping is still there, but the focus has changed. When I began teaching fifteen years ago, I remember my principal showing me a closet full of supplies that I could help myself to at anytime.  To a young teacher with a limited budget, it was exciting to have an endless supply of markers, pencils, glue sticks, highlighters, sentence strips, and chart paper.  All of these wonderful supplies were available to me for free, which left my personal budget wide-open for the fun stuff! I then hit Holcomb’s for decorations to make my classroom a colorful and brilliant place for learning. Now I must reuse the same decorations and make many of my own on the computer or with scrap booking supplies.

This year I will likely find all of my “free” supplies in my mailbox…a few pens, a highlighter, a pack of Post-it® notes, and a box of paperclips.  My personal back-to-school shopping spree will be strategically planned around the “Back-to-School” sales that begin in August.  I will scour the Sunday ads so I can purchase items on sale for a penny or a dollar. I will stock-up on pencils, erasers, glue sticks, folders, notebooks, and index cards. These are the items that students will need on a daily basis and usually run out of early in the year. These items may not be as fun to buy and don’t add color and excitement to my room, but they are necessary for day-to-day operations. I will hit some stores every single day for the length of the sale. I might even have my children or friends stand in line to pay for some of these amazing deals.

For many families, Back-to-School season is one of the most financially stressful times of the year.  While my own children are only in elementary school, I find I spend a little more every year. New clothes, shoes, haircuts, lunch bags, backpacks, and all the individual supplies, as well as a contribution to the classroom supply of tissues, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and Ziploc® baggies certainly adds up.  As a teacher who knows the frustration of dwindling supplies and the line “I don’t have a pencil,” I often find myself dipping into my own stockpile as my children’s teachers request donations throughout the year. While I do not usually spend money on Scholastic book orders and other fundraisers, I am always willing to send in donations that will help keep their classrooms running.

As a parent and a teacher, it is a challenge to get through August and the pressures and temptations of Back-to-School shopping. A combination of financial responsibility, common sense, and some creative shopping will help me keep the reality of my “wants” and “needs” in check.  Just like our district, I must build a budget that ensures my children, my students, and I will have what we really need for a successful school year.

By Susan Ridgeway, Streetsboro Education Association

I am encouraged that the House of Representatives has passed emergency legislation that may save 100,000 education jobs around the country, even though it is estimated 300,000 jobs are at stake. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Unfortunately, pundits like Charles Lane of the Washington Post, think this “scary” number was pulled out of thin air by teacher unions and district administrators to save education jobs. “Indeed, given that the unemployment rate among health and education workers is only half that of the work force as a whole, you could argue that it’s the teachers’ turn to absorb some of the pain that they have been spared to date.”

Mr. Lane needs to step off Capitol Hill and walk in the trenches with the rest of us.

This is a bill for public education, a system where each state devises different methods and amounts of funding, and some states, like California, have been slashing funding for years. I know this because I lived in California for 17 years and raised my children in the public schools where I also taught 4th grade. My last class in 1999 had 32 students, of whom 12 were English language learners. There were no classroom aides and parents paid for busing and school sports.

Fast forward to 2010, to a state like Ohio, where home foreclosures are running high and tax collections are running low. This reality hit my district hard in the fall of 2009 as we faced funding shortfalls of $1.6 million dollars. Appeals were made to limit copies and printing. We turned off lights and canceled field trips. A 9.5 mill levy was placed on the ballot in November. It failed.

Funding for databases, books and equipment was halted. In the middle of winter, children living within two miles of their school had to walk or find rides. All high school students were left without busing in a community with little street lighting, no sidewalks and no crossing guards. Ten bus drivers and one mechanic were laid off. Funds ran low and the district had to borrow $1 million dollars at a cost of $13,000 in interest. Next, our special services director was laid off. Three library aides, a computer technician, five custodians and 11 playground monitors were also axed. Everyone worried they would be next.

Levy attempts in February and May, also failed. Sports fees were implemented. A buyout plan was proposed for senior staff members. Their positions would remain unfilled. The school was closed after 4:00 pm to all outside organizations due to the lack of janitors. We threw out our own trash.

The Winter Ball was canceled. Libraries at the middle and high schools were closed half of the week and I ran each location without help. Students were late to school due to the lack of busing and precious class time was lost for teaching. Administrators became traffic cops in the morning and afternoon, and precious staff time with principals was lost. Administrators froze their salaries and the unions made contract concessions.

In the end, ten additional teachers were laid off, as well as the athletic director and curriculum director. Principals will take on the duties of those laid off. Some administrators, like our treasurer and two principals, have found other jobs. The day before school was out, someone set the high school on fire, and the gymnasium and cafeteria were destroyed. Our superintendent applied for a new position in another district. I, too, joined the exodus for a new job in Wooster City Schools. Their levy is on the ballot for August.

Mr. Lane will be happy to know we have not been spared any pain. It was demoralizing, not just for the staff members who have lost their jobs, but especially for the students who wondered what happened to them when they returned from winter break. No field trips, closed libraries, no high school dances: the traditions of the American school experience have been compromised. Those memories of school that I cherish from my childhood have been eliminated for this generation of students.  American public schools need help now! Please contact your congressional representatives to support emergency funding.

By Melanie Krause, Dover Education Association

As this summer began I was excited to start up with my summer reading. It seems during the school year there is never enough time or energy to read an entire book.  As I hit Border’s during the second week of June, I quickly decided on the 10^th Anniversary Edition of The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell and her students from Long Beach, California.

The Freedom Writers Diary is not an easy read and doesn’t help you escape from the real world like many books can. However, it’s a book you just can’t put down. Even when you do lay it aside for an afternoon or over a busy weekend, the images and experiences shared by the students, the “Freedom Writers,” are hard to dismiss. Reading the anonymous journal entries of 150 students can be compared to the bad accident that you simply can’t turn away from, even though you know it’s gruesome and painful. Living in a gang-ridden neighborhood where drugs, violence, and crime are more prevalent than a snow day in February seems unimaginable and heartbreaking. Ignoring the similarities of the lives of the Freedom Writers and the students we teach is unforgivable.

There is so much more to the book than the tragedies these students have faced.  This book focuses on intolerance, personal rights, and the need for change. This book reminds us that the times are not getting any easier for anyone and that students need to have a safe place to share their experiences and, not only escape the reality of their day to day lives, but move beyond the destiny they believe awaits them. With the right kind of attitude and a philosophy like Erin Gruwell’s, we can all touch students in ways that will help them see they are not alone in their pain, and despite the way their lives have gone up until this moment, there are no limitations to what they can do.

Yes, many of us are fortunate to teach in upper to middle-class schools in areas that are financially stable and typically safe.  Many of us work in schools that have “Excellent” ratings, high graduation rates, constantly improving test scores, fairly supportive parents, and veteran teaching staffs that stick around because the reward usually exceeds the effort.

I challenge anyone to read just five of the 150 diary entries in The Freedom Writers Diary and not think of one child who has experienced similar pain and suffering during his or her childhood.  Be it the loss of a parent, unplanned pregnancy, eviction and homelessness, fear for one’s safety, dropping out, suicide, addiction, harassment, or even murder – we all know a student, or two, who has dealt with at least one of these problems. After reading the innermost, uncensored thoughts of 150 students, you will realize that you actually work with many more of these students than you believed.  In fact, read the whole book, and you might be able to identify 30 students, which is almost an entire classroom.  Think of the changes a summer read, like The Freedom Writers Diary, would bring not only to your classroom and your school this fall, but also to you.

By Susan Ridgeway, Streetsboro Education Association

Having attended the American Library Association (ALA) annual conference and Library Advocacy Day in Washington, DC, this past week, I was disheartened to read a recent AP story on my return home by Donna Gordon Blankenship, “Libraries Fading as School Budget Crisis Deepens.” She describes in detail how school systems all over the country are cutting school library media positions in an effort to balance budgets. Many districts have dismantled their libraries, eliminated book budgets, database budgets and put librarians back in the classroom since many of us were teachers first. While I concede that money is lacking across the board, the media positions are the last that should be cut when current standards are calling for 21st Century Skills to be implemented. For many children below the poverty line, a growing population, there is little hope that sophisticated technology skills will reach them simply through osmosis. As the middle class shrinks and their buying power diminishes, technology skills will be a valuable commodity that few can afford unless administrators and school boards begin to understand the expertise of school librarians, how they and school libraries help to implement these skills, and that equal access is essential.

The American Association of School Librarians, which I am a member of, states in their Standards for the 21st Century Learner, that students must be able to think critically, draw conclusions, make informed decisions and create new knowledge. They must participate ethically and productively as members in a democratic society, share that knowledge and be able to pursue personal and aesthetic growth.  Who are we kidding? These standards aren’t worth the digital software program they are written in. The numerous studies that have been conducted in the last 20 years that unequivocally support having school libraries are being ignored. Forget that studies done in 2000, by Keith Curry Lance and others, prove that the highest achieving students come from schools with good library media centers. Forget that the public spends nine times more on video games and entertainment software than they do on books and other printed formats (2004). Sadly, even the U.S Department of Education conceded in 2004 that libraries are the heart and soul of the public schools experience, but the federal government has done little to support its own findings, or reverse the national trend that seems hell bent on destroying this sacred vestige of public education.

I am asking Ohio educators to contact their Congressional representatives to fund the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program at $100 million so that students all across the country can obtain the 21st century skills they will need to succeed in college and the workplace. We also need to fund the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) at $300 million for FY 2011. LSTA funding is distributed to states by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through population-based grants and is the only source of federal funding for public libraries. Our democracy depends on our libraries and the services they provide. In a global economy, our future depends on our youth and how much they know. You can call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to ask for your member of Congress.

Instead of dismantling our libraries and getting rid of school librarians, our administrators and school boards should ask a librarian to find more information on their importance, since the results of these studies mentioned have been on the internet for years and are easy to find, that is, if you know where to look.

By Jennifer Cross

Compare the state report cards of charter and public schools in the same city, Youngstown for example, and the numbers don’t lie.  Charter schools, by and large, do not educate students any more effectively than public schools in the same district.  OEA research bulletin, October 2009, Dayton Daily News, 8/21/09 and 2008-2009 Ohio Department of Education Report Cards verify that only 11% of students attending charter schools are in “excellent” or “effective” schools compared to 77% of public school students, and only 25% of students attending charter schools graduate.

Articles like “Why We Must Fire Bad Teachers” (Newsweek, March 6, 2010) garner support for charter school advocates. Perhaps President Obama supports charters because the only programs brought to his attention are the exceptional successful ones—such as KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program), highlighted in the Newsweek article—that do improve student achievement, have relatively high graduation rates and outperform the urban public school counterparts in several cities across the country.  However, the first premise of these programs are that the students and parents must sign contracts in order to be accepted, and accountability is not just expected, it is demanded of them. How many students are required to sign contracts to attend traditional public schools?  How many lawsuits would be filed if they were?  So from the very inception of these programs, taking money for students from the budgets of districts very likely to be in deficit already, are completely unfair and playing by a different set of rules.  As for accountability, well, who knows, there are several charter schools in Youngstown and every time one of them is supposedly closing according to the local media, a new sign is erected and the exact same children are attending the exact same school with the exact same teachers the next year.  Yet the Ohio department of Education requires “failing” public schools to either close, convert to a charter school, fire the administration and over half the teaching staff, or undergo a rigorous array of professional development and programming that will add to the school day and effectively put every teacher through the proverbial wringer.  But somehow that’s considered equitable accountability.

Why do so many in the media assume because the schools underperform that the teachers are bad? Social problems, crime and inner city violence, neglect, and a general lack of parenting skills are the reasons children aren’t coming to school prepared to learn.  When they aren’t prepared to learn, they will not achieve, simple as that. Going round and round with the overall problems of evaluation and accountability, it is easy to see why teachers are the targets; the politicians know they cannot solve the social problems set in motion in the inner cities so therefore, they need to find scapegoats.  Perhaps constituents need to continue to raise these difficult questions to the legislators.  Why is there so much more funding for Job & Family Services in Ohio than in education?  Why isn’t House Bill 1 funded fully?  Why is it that when money is placed in inner city schools through grant program after grant program, performance still hasn’t improved significantly?  The teachers can attest that they have changed how they plan for instruction, they’ve adjusted and learned how to use new technologies, they’ve utilized new strategies learned in professional development, and they’ve even accepted pay cuts!  But what hasn’t changed, is by and large, how districts are run and how the children are coming to school.  If there is any change in the children over the last ten years, it’s for the worse, not the better.

So what about open enrollment and voucher programs? Certainly those programs can’t be as bad for the urban areas as the charter schools?  Well, that’s a yes and no answer.   The movement of higher performing children out of the inner city to a higher performing school devastates the performance scores of the school losing the children from its enrollment.  Do the math:  if fifty children leave a building and they all traditionally score proficient or higher, and those children are replaced by fifty children who have yet to pass all of their assessments, and teachers in this school are expected to reduce failure percentage by 12%, how exactly is that going to work?  Perhaps by having the students and parents sign contracts of accountability?  It works for KIPP, doesn’t it?  When schools are turned upside down by redistricting, relocation due to reconstruction, biannual changes in the grade level make-ups of the schools, and on top of that losing at least half of the district’s higher performing students to other school systems, how in heaven’s name are they going to improve performance?  Throw on that the fact that the majority of the children left in the district are at or below the poverty level and a high percentage of parents who haven’t graduated school themselves, crime and violence in the neighborhoods, and for many of whom, hysterical drama is a way of life.  Now is there any question why some inner city schools perform poorly?  Is there ever going to be a politician brave enough to look for a cause other than “bad teachers”?

If teachers in low performing districts are so bad, does anyone ever bother to follow the performance statistics of a teacher who has left the inner city to teach in a suburban district?  Does that teacher suddenly become outstanding after having been hired in an “excellent” district, when he or she had less than half the class at proficiency in the previous school? There must be data out there somewhere – people who have moved and knew their scores, perhaps some of those statistics can be brought to light in the legislature, it’s the only pure experiment with a single independent variable.  Throwing the legislature’s mistakes back on them does provide a temporary and plausible solution to the problems many teachers are now facing.  By holding politicians who write the laws that choke the teaching profession responsible for their own actions, and showing them purposeful and blatant examples of situations that defy the spirit of the laws enacted in the name of reform, perhaps then teachers can breathe a little easier and all students may have a better chance at a brighter future.  Perhaps when the powers that be acknowledge their systems of accountability are faulty and instead of focusing on accountability of all students, they try to rethink how we “do” education and research models that are working and allow those models to become the test cases for law.  Wouldn’t all teachers be relieved to work in a school where accountability by the students and the parents is demanded as well as from the teachers?  It could happen first in Ohio, and then maybe the rest of the country.  Spoken like a true (and hopefully not delusional) idealist.

A study released Tuesday by Mathematica Policy Research Inc. about a Chicago program that contains performance-based compensation for teachers, shows no evidence that the program boosted student achievement on math and reading tests, compared with a group of similar schools that did not use the performance-based compensation system, Education Week reported.

The study also found that the Chicago Teacher Advancement Program (TAP), a local version of the national TAP program, did not improve the rates of teacher retention in participating schools or in the district.The Chicago Program is a Teacher Incentive Fund grantee.

The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), a $600 million federal grant program supports the creation of pay-for-performance systems. Created by Congress in 2006, TIF was expanded and supported with ARRA funding in 2009. TIF’s stated goals include reforming teacher and principal compensation to support rewards based on improved student performance; and increasing the number of effective teachers teaching poor, minority, and disadvantaged students; and creating sustainables.

According to Mathematica’s site, the five-year, $7.9 million study for the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences involves a rigorous national evaluation of TIF. The study was mandated by the legislation authorizing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Their study is evaluating these performance-based compensation systems to measure issues like student achievement and teacher mobility. Download the report.

OEA is opposed to any form of merit pay or pay for performance as:

Pay that is conditioned or tied to student outcomes (such as test scores) or employee evaluations subject to the employer’s discretion. (This is in alignment with OEA Resolution F-25 merit pay.)

OEA takes this position because research has consistently shown that there is no correlation between merit pay and improved student performance.

However, OEA understands that some local OEA affiliates may be interested in exploring a system of alternative compensation. OEA understands that this is a critical move that could, if entered into lightly, greatly impact OEA members.

OEA defines Alternative Compensation as:

A pay system that supplements a single salary schedule and is accessible to everyone on a voluntary basis. Examples include, but are not limited to, National Board certification, master teacher designation, hard to staff schools, hard to staff subjects, recruitment pay, retention pay, career ladder, and/or licensure status.

An acceptable system of alternative compensation will follow all of the principles listed below.

Alternative compensation MUST:

1. Be negotiated with the full participation of the local OEA affiliates and be in accordance with Ohio’s collective bargaining laws.
2. Include a strategic process for implementation that includes professional development and continuous improvement strategies.
3. Be understandable to all stakeholders, including the public.
4. Promote collaboration and not competition.
5. Be accessible to all members of the bargaining unit.
6. Be voluntary.
7. Be adequately funded and sustainable.
8. Provide sufficient resources and time, on-going professional development, and opportunities for collaboration.
9. Support best practices that improve instruction at both the individual and the collective levels.
10. Allow current salary schedules to continue to grow.

Alternative compensation MUST NOT:

1. Be tied to student outcomes, such as test scores.
2. Reduce or compromise current salary schedules.
3. Be limited by quotas.
4. Be tied to subjective evaluations.

By Phil Hayes, a social studies teacher at Brookhaven High School, Columbus EA, who writes on his own blog, Room 18

One of those countless Friday after-work discussions we have with our teaching colleagues has stuck in my mind for the past year.

“We’re the only profession in the world,” stated a fellow teacher, “where we are judged not by how we perform, but by how other people perform.”

That stopped me in my tracks. Usually I have a snappy comeback to just about anything that’s thrown my way involving education, but I was left speechless, thinking of a response.

“Except for college coaches,” I replied, after much thought. “They’re judged on how well their team does.”

“Maybe,” they said, “I never thought about it that way.”

I’ve continued to think about that exchange in the year since it happened. I’ve come to the conclusion that I was wrong-I think college coaches have it a lot easier than we do as teachers, especially when it comes to state achievement tests.

When I teach my sophomore students at Brookhaven, I use a lot of sports analogies-especially football-it’s in my DNA.

My paternal grandfather’s father was a teacher, principal and later superintendent. It was only natural that after graduating from Denison my grandfather also became an educator, teaching high school social studies and coaching high school football on the side.

He enlisted in the Navy shortly before the attack at Pearl Harbor, seeing the gathering storm clouds of war on the horizon-such was the mettle of his generation. After being honorably discharged, he worked as a head football coach for Denison, Miami, and was hired on at Ohio State after Wes Fesler resigned due to too many losing seasons.

He was hired by Ohio State’s Board of Trustees to achieve one goal- to have a winning season, but especially to beat Michigan each and every year.

I was hired by the Columbus Board of Education to achieve one goal- to help my students graduate, something that cannot happen unless they pass the Social Studies Ohio Graduation Test (OGT).

That is why the Social Studies OGT is my Michigan game.

Building His Team

In his years at Ohio State, my grandfather actively recruited the best talent for his team. He knew who was returning from the previous year and had a total of 88 slots to fill on his team roster.

A select group of Ohio State football loyalists called frontliners helped to funnel talent onto the team. By phoning in the names, scores and stats of prospects from their corner of the state my grandfather knew which houses to go to for a recruiting visit. His tried and true pitch was delivered not to the Ohio State hopefuls, but to their parents over the kitchen table.

“If your son comes to Ohio State,” he would say after eating a home-cooked meal with seconds of the best pie he’d ever had, “he’ll get an education and graduate with a diploma. I’ll make sure of it.” That inevitably cemented the decision of the parents and he would walk out of their home with another slot on his roster filled. He was one player closer to beating Michigan.

There were a few remaining spaces on the squad left open for walk-on hopefuls. Countless college freshmen from every corner of Ohio as well as the nation tried out every year for the few slots before the season began. Many tried out, but few succeeded.

Building My Team

The 150 spaces for my players are filled each year by a computer– I can’t recruit. My players hail from every corner of the district and many come from other countries. Each one of my players are walk-ons, and all succeed in joining my team.

I have no frontliners to tell me the tales of my players’ previous performances, but I do have access to my players’ stats. Every conceivable piece of data on each one of my players, including their scores on state achievement tests, grades, attendance and disciplinary record is just a few mouse clicks away.

Many times my first contact with my players’ parents is over the phone during summer after they’ve decided that their child is attending my school. Usually our first face-to-face meeting is during Open House, and I can’t remember the last time I was invited over for dinner.

My goal is the same as my grandfather’– the players on my team will get an education and graduate with a diploma too, but they have to pass the Social Studies OGT first-it’s their Michigan game as much as it is mine.

Ohio State Practices

My grandfather’s practices were legendary for their frequency, length and intensity. Two-a-days in the summer were a foregone conclusion, as were practices over holidays and breaks during the season. A typical practice lasted for hours, and wasn’t over until he was said it was over.

Daily practice for his team was brutal. New and returning players were expected to memorize the team playbook– it guided his practices. Fundamentals were emphasized from the moment a player joined the Ohio State team. A skill not learned was practiced again, again and again until the player mastered it. His objective was to push his players beyond their limits; he believed that practice should be hard and that the game should be easy.

“If you’re going to fight in the North Atlantic,” my grandfather would say, referencing the hard-hitting preparations his players endured day after day, “you have to practice in the North Atlantic.”

Freshman players were required to attend my grandfather’s mandatory literacy course after practice, Word Power book in hand. He knew it would prepare his players to be victorious off the field. Knowing the word “apathy”, for example, might not help them in the huddle, but it would in a business meeting.

My Practices

My practices are no less brutal than my grandfather’s, but I am limited to just one per day, totaling 5 per week. Instead of lasting hours, my practices last precisely 48 minutes a day. I do not have the luxury of ending them when I truly want to- the bell does that for me.

My players don’t have a playbook-I do. Mine is a three-ring binder labeled “Curriculum Guide” and it sequences my practices everyday. I emphasize fundamentals for my players as well. They practice skills again and again until I am satisfied they have mastered them.
I push my players to their limits so that their practices are hard and their Michigan game-the OGT-is easy.

“If you’re to pass the Social Studies OGT and graduate,” I tell my players, “you’re going to take every quiz and test in my room under the same conditions of the OGT. That means no talking during the quiz or test, and I can’t help you on questions you don’t understand-you’ll have to figure it out on your own.”

My players need word power, but I don’t use a book with that title. Literacy strategies are embedded within my players’ practices. Knowing the difference between the word “Legislator” and the word “Legislative” could spell the difference between a victory and a loss for my players.

Ohio State’s Season Begins

My grandfather knew well in advance of the regular season what the schedule was for his players. His season would consist of games where his players would regularly face off against the Boilermakers, Spartans, and of course the Wolverines. Some games were played in the familiar setting of the Horseshoe; others were played on the road, in an unfamiliar town and a foreign stadium.

Armchair quarterbacks and analysts throughout the state awaited the first game of the season between the Buckeyes and their non-conference opponents. My grandfather was oblivious; he saw the first game of the season as the first of many tests for his players. For him, it assessed how they applied the lessons they had learned throughout summer practice, their endurance, and ultimately their will to win.

The first game of the season was always played during the sweltering heat on a Saturday in late summer, and the visiting team knew they were cannon fodder for a group of Buckeye players who wanted nothing more than to win.

At the first game of the season, tens of thousands of fans fit themselves into the Horseshoe’s then 80,000 stadium seats to see the Buckeyes win. The noise level in the stadium was always deafening- sometimes my grandfather’s team could barely hear the play that was being called for the next down. At the end of the first game, my grandfather’s players would go to the locker room. The media was always there, clamoring to interview the players and their coach.

My grandfather would stay late into the night at his office deep in the bowels of the stadium after the Buckeyes’ first matchup, reviewing game films to assess how his players performed. His assistants would always be present, and by the end of the long night, my grandfather had pinpointed mistakes made by individual players and the team as a whole. His players would learn from their mistakes in the coming practices until they got it right for the next game.

My Players’ Season Begins

I know what the season’s schedule is for my players as well, though unlike my grandfather, I have the luxury of being able to reschedule a game if I think my players aren’t ready. My season consists of games where my players regularly face off against the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, Imperialism and types of economic systems, to name a few. Almost all of my games are home games, played in the same stadium-my room.

My first game is played in the sweltering heat of a September weekday, and it is always a test for my players-the literal kind, not figurative. Some of my players believe they are cannon fodder for a test that wants them to do nothing more than fail. For me, their first game assesses how they apply the lessons they have learned throughout our practices and their will to win.

My players fit themselves into the thirty five desks in my stadium during their first game; I am the only fan allowed in. The noise level in my room is non-existent and my players can always hear a pin drop during their game. At the end of the game, my players are dismissed by a bell-no reporters are there to conduct interviews.

I, too, review my players’ films-their results from the first game. Usually I am up late that night assessing their performance as well. I have no assistants, but I am able to pinpoint mistakes made by my individual players and my teams as a whole. My players will learn from their mistakes in the coming practices until they get it right for the next game.

Countdown to His Michigan Game

After each game, my grandfather would continue to prepare his assistants and his players for the next match up, the impending game with Michigan drawing closer with each practice. It was always in the front of his mind-and his players’. My grandfather knew that each player’s performance on the field for the game must be perfect, and that his team had to rely on each other to claim a victory in their upcoming battle.

He reviewed every film of every game Michigan had played against their opponents in current and past seasons, memorizing the intricacies of each. He would be up at night and early in the morning in front of the projector screen, rewinding and fast forwarding to catch the mistakes the Michigan team on the field and exploit it for the success of his players in their upcoming battle. To do this, he spent hours devising a counter to every play and strategy Michigan employed on the field against their opponents, and made his players practice it to perfection.

In the week of the Michigan game, my grandfather would run extended practices. He had his players run through every play that would be used against Michigan, insisting on perfection from his players. Failing to prepare his team to beat Michigan was out of the question for him. Losing this crucial battle could have cost him his job during some of his years at Ohio State if his players didn’t perform.

My grandfather started an Ohio State football tradition the week of the Michigan game-the senior tackle. Seniors that would graduate in the spring would get to drive the tackling sled a few yards as the official send-off before their final regular season game. It was his way of thanking the players for their hard work and focusing them on the task that lay ahead.

The night before the Michigan game, my grandfather always sequestered his players in a hotel to keep them focused on the game to be won the next day. Lights were out at 11 P.M., and there were no outside distractions.

Countdown To Their Michigan Game

I continue to prepare my players for each next game of their season, their impending matchup with the OGT drawing closer with each practice. It is always in the front of my mind-and most of my players’.

I have spent hours devising lessons for every potential strategy the 42 members of the Social Studies OGT squad will use against my players. I have reviewed every game played by the OGT, and have memorized the intricacies of each question in the four seasons the state has exchanged game films with the education community.

I have spent late nights and early mornings in front of the computer screen, clicking back and forth, knowing full well that the OGT will perform flawlessly; it will make no mistakes that my players can exploit. My players’ performance must be perfect and they will enter the game as a team of one, and must rely on themselves to claim a victory.

In the week of OGT testing, our class schedule is dramatically altered, and if I see my players, it’s for no more than a half an hour, a far cry from an extended practice. I can’t review for the OGT with my players because failure to abide by the Ohio Department of Education’s rules for testing could cost me my job at Brookhaven.

My players attend an OGT pep rally in the auditorium the Friday afternoon prior to the week of testing. A few released test items are offered on the LCD screen, some of which are old Social Studies questions. Their heads turn towards me during the relative silence as I yell “You better get this one right!”

My players spend the night before the Social Studies OGT at their own homes, in their own beds, and there are plenty of distractions-TV, radio, cell phones, and the internet.

The Day Arrives for His Players: What Could Be?

The morning of the Michigan game, my grandfather would have a breakfast of toast and orange juice with his captains-a tradition at Ohio State. They would talk strategy, of the plays to be called, the situations they could encounter, the unforeseen that they tried to prophesize. When everyone was properly dressed in coats and ties, the players were led by my grandfather to chartered bus. The group arrived at the stadium early, and continued going over plays and diagrams for the battle that was about to ensue.

There was endless media coverage the day of the Michigan game; media representatives from far and wide crowded the stadium. The players were subject to endless media speculation on every aspect of the game that would be played in a few hours. It was always a foregone conclusion that the contest’s results would decide the outcome of the team’s season and their chances at a Bowl Game.

Seniors on my grandfather’s college team desperately hungered for a final victory against Michigan. To lose in the final matchup against their arch-rival would deny them the privilege of bragging for the rest of their lives.

The Day Arrives For My Players: What Must Be.

The morning of the 2009 spring Social Studies OGT, my players had breakfast with each other-every one of them a captain of their team of one. They board their school bus and arrive at their stadium before students who aren’t testing, but there are no last-minute review sessions for their upcoming personal battle.

My players are lucky if there’s a mention of the OGT on the news; no reporters of any kind come anywhere near their stadium. The players on my teams are subject to endless self-speculation; it is state law that the contest’s results will decide the outcome of their own season and their potential chances at a diploma.

The handful of high school seniors on my teams desperately hunger for a final victory against the social studies OGT. To lose in the final matchup against what has become their arch-rival would deny them the privilege of participating in graduation with their peers.

Game Time At The ‘Shoe

When players on my grandfather’s team took the field, they ran at breakneck pace from the locker room to the field, and were met with deafening cheers from the tens of thousands of fans in the stadium. Despite the overwhelming noise, I don’t think my grandfather heard any of it. The millions of armchair quarterbacks throughout the nation that were tuned in to see the pending battle of wills hooted and hollered in front of their television sets too, but he didn’t hear them, either.

Immediately before the game, the PA crackled to life.

“Please join us in singing the national anthem,” a disembodied voice always said. Hats were removed, and the stadium reverberated with tens of thousands of voices singing in unison as the Stars and Stripes were hoisted up the flagpole at the closed end of the stadium.

Throughout the game, my grandfather stood with his squad gathered together, and stalked the sidelines like a caged animal. A chalk-dust line was the only thing separating him from his team on the field, sometimes failing to hold him back. During the game, he received constant updates from his assistant coaches as to the progress of his team. He could and did bark “Robust Fullback Delay” or the other names of plays to his players on the field from the sidelines to influence the course of the game.

If the referee flagged my grandfather’s team on a play for an irregularity on the field, the decision would come quickly and could have been a setback to the team, but would not necessarily cost them the game.

My grandfather always knew who had the ball, and what down it was. If there was any question as to the progress of the game, he could quickly glance over at the scoreboard. Fans and my grandfather alike counted down the last few seconds of the sixty minute game from the scoreboard. The players on my grandfather’s team would know the final score of the season’s most important game as soon as the time ran out.

Fan reaction would vary at the end of my grandfather’s players’ game. If the players won, the thousands of fans would swarm the field, tear down the goalposts and bedlam would ensue. If the players lost, the mass of Ohio State fans would quietly file out of the stadium.

Game Time At The ‘Haven

Shortly before my players take the field, the PA crackles to life.

“Teachers, please make sure you remove all of the flags from your room before the students arrive to take the Social Studies OGT,” the disembodied voice says.

The directive is well intentioned, but a mistake. In the previous state achievement test given before the OGT, there were questions asked about the significance of the number of stripes and stars on the Flag-none exist on this test. In rooms across the school, teachers hurry to move Flags to rooms where students aren’t testing.

When players on my team get ready to take the field, they walk, calmly and carefully. No fans cheer them on, save one-me. As each passes me by, I give them each a “Deal or No Deal” Howie Mandel “fist bump”, meeting their gaze with mine and saying only three words.

“You got this.”

Throughout my players’ game, they are separated into different rooms-split up, categorized by last name. My players are scrutinized by the silent gazes of two teachers assigned to their room as proctors-referees, not fans. They are the only individuals that will bear witness to the game that my players have been training for over the past six months that is about to play out before them.

I am not even on the field with them-I am assigned to be a hall monitor. I catch glimpses of my players throughout the game as I stalk the halls. During the game, I have no updates regarding the progress of my team. Even if I was on the field with my players, I cannot bark “Constructed Response Delay”, lest I lose my teaching license.

If my players are flagged by the referees in the room for a perceived testing irregularity, the state is the final arbiter. Their decision takes months and could cost one or more of my players their game.

I am intentionally kept in the dark as to the progress of my players’ game-even if I have questions, I cannot find out answers during the game. The two proctors in each one of my students’ stadiums count down the last few minutes of the two and a half hour matchup.

The reaction of the proctors at the end of my players’ matchup is always the same, three short sentences:

“Stop. Put your pencils down. Testing is now over.”

The players on my team won’t be notified by the state of the score of their most important game until nearly two and a half months from when their time ran out.

After His Michigan Game: Everything’s Coming Up Roses

My grandfather’s players prepared for the game as a team and won or lost as a team. For the senior players on the squad, a game-winning score was met with jubilance- smiles, hugs, high-fives, even tears of joy. Seniors who didn’t win their game walked out of the stadium in a somber mood; most were quiet, dejected. Others were visibly angry-some cried. Spring graduation couldn’t come quickly enough for some of them.

Regardless of whether his players won or lost, my grandfather was always besieged by the media to comment on the game, its significance to him, his players, Ohio State’s football program or college athletics in general. If my grandfather did comment, he would always credit the hard work of his players and his assistant coaches.

After My Michigan Game: Is Everything Coming Up Roses?

My players prepared for the game as a team but will win or lose as individuals.

My senior players won’t learn the score of their game until a month before they are supposed to graduate.

My seniors will greet their game-winning score with smiles, sighs of relief, hugs, high-fives, even tears of joy

If there are those who don’t win their game, they too will be somber. Most will be quiet, many will be angry- some may cry. Only a month away, graduation with their class is not a possibility. They must take the OGT again, endure the long wait for their score and graduate in late summer.

No reporters will stay to talk to me when I learn my players’ scores and ask me about the game I didn’t see, its significance to me, my students, Columbus City Schools or the future of urban education. If I were asked, I would credit my players for their hard work and their families for supporting them in the biggest game of their lives.

The Saturday after the OGT, I begin to prepare for the remainder of my players’ year.

What’s Really Important?

In his early years, my grandfather was met by ivory-tower opinion from a handful of Ohio State faculty members about the growing emphasis on the University’s football program over its academic program.

“Football,” they opined privately and publicly, “should always come after academics.”

Education armchair quarterbacks who have never set foot in a classroom like mine question teachers who they think put too much emphasis on their students passing achievement tests alone. In their ivory-tower opinion, “teaching to the test” debases the very point of standardized achievement testing and “dumbs down” the curriculum.

I don’t teach to the test; I teach around it, behind it, through it and over and above it.

My grandfather used football as an analogy and a metaphor for life-the lessons his players learned on the field was more than X’s and O’s, playbooks and statistics. From him, they learned about hard work, about perfection and especially the will to win-lessons that would be used repeatedly throughout their lives.

I use the time I have with my students to get them ready for what lies in wait for them. I want them to learn more about hard work, about perfection and especially the will to win-lessons my students will use repeatedly throughout their lives.

Words of Wisdom

Several of my grandfather’s statements about hard work have gained a life of their own.

“In all my years of coaching,” he would state at his speaking engagements, cleft chin jutting out, “I’ve never seen anyone make a tackle with a smile on their face.” Crowds would nod their approval, murmuring among themselves.

“And,” he would inevitably add at some point later on in the same speech, “you win with people.”

In all my years of teaching, I’ve never seen anyone pass the OGT with a smile on their face either. And you do win with people.