... testing were organized in a sane way and communicated to the staff beforehand?

PSSA. NAEP. PSSA Make-up. Weekly assessment. Constructed responses! All of these take time to implement in the classroom - time that could be spent actually teaching our students. The past two weeks saw all of them at once - a mandated weekly bubble assessment; constructed responses in all core classes, the PSSA taking 1st and 2nd period away from ALL 11th grade students, and then a retake to give them another opportunity to take it (during which many of them cut). And, to top it all off, the NAEP test took some of our best students away from classes they need without very much warning (an announcement telling students to go to various different rooms without explaining it beforehand is not enough). These tests are taking valuable time away from instruction - valuable time away from learning. If we want to call ourselves educators, we should spend more time educating and less time being so testy!

By the way, if you ever have comments/questions/suggestions please do not hesitate to send them to me at this email address or to whistle.blower1682@gmail.com. Or, if you missed the email this week because of a block on District addresses, please send me a non-SDP email address you would like me to send to.

...professional development were developed professionally?

Teachers are told early and often to differentiate their instruction to ensure all students are motivated and engaged. It does make sense - students enter classrooms with different background knowledge and need to be taught with that in mind.

But what about instructing the teachers? They definitely come with different background knowledge and, after all, we should most likely practice what we preach. Professional development should be useful and tailored to the needs of teachers so that they can be effective at what they do. Instead of having a large group all focused on the same mundane topic that has been beaten to death, give the teachers the opportunity to lead discussions with each other; allow them time to meet as a department; provide them with materials with which to plan lesson together. Give them something useful to do with their time so they feel like they are being considered too, just like their students should be.

Check out the report on professional development from the National Staff Development Council here: www.nsdc.org/stateproflearning.cfm.

... staff and teachers knew about school plans at least one day ahead?

Correct me if I am wrong, but planning ahead is generally seen as a good thing. In fact, the administration uses this argument to require teachers to have their lesson plans written down in the official PA Lesson Planning booklet two weeks in advance. Why, then, do teachers and staff find out about assemblies, Credit Recovery meetings, fire drills, etc the morning (or in some cases 5 minutes before) they occur? There seems to be a gap in communication here - one that needs to be filled ASAP in order for all staff to do their jobs correctly. I'm pretty sure when an organization is contacted to come in and do professional development, they are given fair notice - make sure to give the teachers that too.

If you need some help to coordinate, there are some great resources out there. http://www.when2meet.com/ is just one of them.

... we had computers that were actually maintained and available for use.

In a school with at least four large rooms filled with computers it is a sad state of affairs when only a handful of them actually work for what we need them to. One of the labs that does have working computers is so old even USB keys are unable to transfer files. Moreover, since we have restricted all downloads to those with specific passwords, students cannot even email themselves important documents. Is this really creating an environment where technology is assisting in the educational process? We understand that computers can be used for nefarious purposes and are at risk of being stolen, but if we squander our resources (*cough* smartboards and laptop carts behind lock and key *cough*) we will have achieved the waste of thousands of dollars.

A solution to security worries: http://www.lojackforlaptops.com/