For teachers in the Joplin R-8 School District, who were not thrilled with Core Collaborative, the expensive consulting firm brought in by former curriculum director Sarah Stevens, the 4-3 vote that booted the group was welcomed enthusiastically.
The Collaborative and its pied piper, Paul Bloomberg, repackaged theories that have been around for years, including some that had been discredited, and passed them off as a miracle cure for an administration that had few people who could tell the difference between professional development that worked and professional development that was a disaster.
As the R-8 Board of Education is considering yet another consulting firm to turn out a group of Stepford teachers, the original one is putting its spin on its time here, cashing in on Joplin with the release of a self-serving case study of its one year in the district, titled One School's Journey- The Story of Joplin Schools: An Impact Teams Case Study.
The study begins with a bleak assessment of the teaching that was taking place in Joplin:
Totally absent was
an aligned, engaging curriculum
that was standards-based. In
addition, high-quality, standards based
formative assessments to
measure student progress were not
evident in most classrooms.
The study details what Core Collaborative did in Joplin and takes credit for improvements in MAP scores, though there is no evidence to indicate the consulting firm had anything to do with those improvements in the little time it was here.
Remarkably, the case study ends on a positive note talking about the new direction Joplin is moving in ... but failing to mention that the R-8 Board kicked Core Collaborative out, just one year into a three-year program:
I n 2015, the Joplin School district being guided by a new superintendent, Dr. Norm Ridder, went through a human-centered design plan to gather stakeholder voice and create a five-year strategic plan complete with a new mission and vision.
With the help of community members, administration, teachers, parents, and students the vision of Joplin Schools is to engage a community of learners through integrity, empowerment, and opportunity.
The plan has three main goals: Goal 1: Joplin Schools will prepare every learner to be physically, socially, and intellectually ready to take on the challenges in the next level of learning. Goal 2: Joplin Schools will be a team of empowered adults who are student-focused through their actions, resources, and continuous improvement cycles. Goal 3: Joplin Schools will be a customer-focused culture that demonstrates responsible management in a purposeful manner to add value to the system for the benefit of students, staff, and patrons of the district. In order to achieve these goals, Joplin Schools will build a high performing community of learners engaged in their future through a culture of continuous improvement.
The next step is to continue to build capacity within the system by developing models of success and providing feedback through the Impact Team process. Taking the classroom model approach, a repeatable seven-week plan to support schools has been created in continuing to roll out student-centered learning one team at a time.
Of course, the study fails to mention that Ridder's plan began and was created after Core Collaborative was history in Joplin.
The study also includes glowing recommendations from two current upper administration members who pushed hard for the retention of Core Collaborative.
Executive Director of Student Services Mark Barlass offered the following testimonial:
I’ve been working for 17 years
in special education and special
programs, and in doing so I know
what it’s like to be a segmented part
of the educational process.
Working
with The Core Collaborative with a
focus on the Impact Team Model
has finally given our district a central
focus.
The work done by The Core
Collaborative consultants has had a
profound effect on all aspects of our
district. For the first time in 17 years,
I see all departments speaking a
common language, from our special
education programs, our English
Language Learner programs, even our
juvenile detention programs, everyone
is speaking the same language.
Positive things are happening in the
way teachers are approaching their
instruction, pedagogy is changing,
and more best practice instructional
strategies are being utilized.
It used
to be the only place you could get
high quality instruction was in the
general education setting, with
implementation of The Impact Team
Model, standards based instruction
is taking place in the hallways, in the
special education department, it’s
happening all over our district and
it’s something I’ve never seen before.
Teacher team, school teams and
teacher teams all working together
towards a common goal is what
anchors this work.
Jennifer Doshier, the current Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, was also effusive in her praise:
Our leadership and
administrative team
have gained a much
deeper understanding
of teacher clarity and the
formative process through
leadership training on
classroom walk throughs
and specific feedback to
students.
With a strong
focus on teacher clarity,
self-regulated learning
and specific feedback
in communication arts
from Dr. Bloomberg, we
saw large percentile
gains in our proficient
and advanced students
on state testing.
Impact
Teams were developed
at one of our elementary
schools and we saw
gains in this already high
performing school. We
are looking forward to
taking Impact Teams and
the formative process to
our other schools. Paul’s
support was instrumental
in this process and the
success we have seen thus
far. We look forward to
the student achievement
results in the future.
Surprisingly, one person whose testimonial was not included in the case study was the former Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment (executive apparently was added for Doshier when she was moved to the job to justify her much higher salary) Sarah Stevens.
Stevens was removed from her position after aggressively pushing Core Collaborative, to the point of trying to have teachers get student video testimonials about its effectiveness and trying to convince area school districts that they should hire the firm.
Stevens submitted her resignation and is now listed as Director of Professional Learning for Core Collaborative.
10 comments:
Please for the love of children dispose of Doshier. She is another cancer left from the old and needs to be dismissed. The sooner the better.
I really wish you would do your homework. Not every initiative is bad, cognitive coaching helps teachers reflect and work better collaboratively. I heard, Randy, that you were anti collaboration and relied on laminated lesson plans. These statements came from you co workers. You sound like the embittered cynical teacher who is ready to retire.
As I type this, I'm not a CJ person, but a teacher from another district who uses this stuff effectively. Investigative reporters would check to see if area schools used it and how effective it is. Hmm....
@8:33
"...a teacher who uses this 'stuff' effectively?" I hope you have better teaching skills than vocabulary skills. Stuff. Wonderful. You also have three errors in punctuation. Perhaps you might have benefited from some of those laminated lesson plans. If they were good enough to laminate, they must have been pretty effective. That is a term the henchmen of Angie Besendorfer used to throw around after the tornado when they were shoving the 1-to-1 initiative down teachers' throats. That initiative was a disaster, as were all the others. That is why so many of us left JHS.
The point here is that the Core Collaborative is profiting from a district that canned them and pushed their newest employee into resigning. Their findings were only partially correct, and their plan is not in place in R8 as touted. What they say is inaccurate, and therefore is of interest to the community. The one who sounds a little cynical is you, 8:33, if you didn't catch that because you were too focused on criticizing Mr. Turner.
Appears R8 and the "Joplin Experience" is once again being used to promote something. Did those two have permission to be the voice of R8? It is insulting to hear about poor teaching skills prior to this latest PD wonder. Joplin was Accredited with Distinction, and therefore must have been doing a pretty good job, before any of these folks came to town. (And, before the bloated Admin numbers and costs: back when teachers' salaries were competitive in the area.)
Not all teachers know every technique of teaching. Experienced teachers already know this stuff but lets face it, at least half of our teachers have less than 5 years experience. If we expect them to come to the district fully prepared to be at the peak of their career, we need to pay more. Until then we need to develop the teachers we have. This training is for 20% of the teachers. Don't you think at least 20% need another technique to pull from??
Randy,
What is your recommendation for PD in the district?
I am glad you asked. I will write about it tonight.
Jesus Christ....this ought to be good.a disgruntled, fired ex-teacher giving suggestions on how to make teachers better. Go figure.
Barlass sounds moronic.
@6:02
I could be as snarky as you, but I will take the higher road. I was writing it on my cell phone and it is difficult to edit it.
I apologize... I posted my comment on the wrong blog entry.
Laminated lessons are not necessarily good lessons, just lazy teachers refusing to hone their art of teaching.
By the way, I am a difference maker. I am one heck of a teacher... changing lives everyday.
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