The Carol Gresser
Forum: Changes in Teaching and Assessment
Written by: Katie Beleckas, 2012
While the rain was falling down last Wednesday night, on October
19th, a stream of people could be seen making their way into Bent
Hall. The reason for this was The Carol Gresser Forum,
which took place from 6:30 to 8:00PM. Although the weather was not
ideal, Room 277 A & B stayed packed throughout the
night.
Dean Jerrold Ross took to the podium, thanking everyone for
coming before introducing Carol Gresser, herself, saying, “Carol
Gresser is, of course, one of the most distinguished if not the
most distinguished of our graduates.” Dean Ross went on to briefly
describe her responsibility and history as an educator, as well as
her position as the district leader for the Democratic
Party.
Carol Gresser has been in the field of education for over 40
years and started as an elementary school teacher. Over time she
also rendered her services as the PTA president. She is a former
member of the New York City Board of Education, where she was
elected to serve as a fourth term President. Currently, Ms. Gresser
is a member of the Board of Governors at St. John’s University and
the Leadership Committee of St. John’s School of Education.
After sharing her joy at seeing everyone present and claiming,
“This is my alma mater and every time I show up on this campus it
is a wonderful feeling,” she introduced the main speaker of the
evening, Mr. Shael Polakow-Suransky.Mr. Polakow-Suransky is the
Chief Academic Officer and Senior Deputy Chancellor of the New York
City Department of Education. He oversees all of the school
system’s instructional work and related policy making.
Mr. Polakow-Suransky made a point to show the increasing
difficulties people face going into the job market today. He
explained how more and more jobs are asking for higher
qualifications and completed levels of schooling. Mr.
Polakow-Suransky presented statistics showing the average income a
person with different levels of schooling could expect when going
for a job today. The message was clear in his statements, “A new
challenge has come into view. It is not actually good enough just
to graduate high school…the world has changed in ways that demand
much more.”
As such, Mr. Polakow-Suransky explained how it is the duty of
the teachers and those involved in the realm of education to
prepare students to succeed and go onto college, as well as to
finish it. As a result, Mr. Polakow-Suransky focused on the Common
Core Standards, President Obama’s Rise to the Top plan, as
well as the need for teachers to work together.
The Common Core Standards are meant to “build a common set of
academic standards throughout the country.” The intent is to
provide a consistent and clear understanding of what students are
expected to learn and what teachers are meant to focus on and
teach. They are designed to focus on critical thinking and
understanding, as well as relevance to the real world, reflecting
the skills students need for success in college and later their
careers.
One of the major purposes of President Obama’s Rise to the
Top plan as Mr. Polakow-Suransky discussed is the need to
design and implement rigorous standards and high-quality
assessments. Mr. Polakow-Suransky stated that part of the problem
with implementing such standards, even now, is the doubt that
teachers feel in their students’ abilities to perform up to these
new expectations. Therefore, it is important to set your
expectations high as a teacher. You might just be surprised at what
your students will be able to accomplish if given the chance and
someone who believes in them.
When discussing assessments, Mr. Polakow-Suransky had this to
say: “This is a case where we get what we paid for.” He explained
that when the No Child Left Behind Act came in, they
quickly bought assessments—cheap assessments that measure very
basic skills and end up narrowing what people focus on in the
curriculum. This created a challenge for the teachers and continues
to create one now. Now, we are faced with the question: How do we
create a new generation of assessments that are worth focusing,
unlike like the bubble test we see now? The key focus is to find
assessments that trigger students’ ability to reason for
themselves, as opposed to simply restating what they have been
told.Mr. Polakow-Suransky went on to explain, “I don’t want to
discount what current assessments are measuring. They are
gatekeeper skills for kids, but if that’s all that you’re measuring
than that’s all that you are going to see in the classroom.” He
also made a point of saying that the state needs to “use
measurements to show teachers what we want to see in their
classrooms.” In other words, teachers tend to “teach to the test,”
or how they know their students will be measured.
Another part of President Obama’s plan is “attracting and
keeping great teachers and leaders in America’s classrooms.”Mr.
Polakow-Suransky focused on the idea of how it is
determined if someone is a good teacher, saying “How do you know
good teaching when you see it? Well, how would you describe it?
–it’s hard to describe it. It’s more of a gut feeling.”
As such, he further explained that with teacher
assessment. They do not just look at test schools; 60% of that
assessment is actually based on observations by supervisors. Mr.
Polakow-Suransky also claims, “We have parent and student voices
coming through in surveys.” He continued to explain more in-depth
the idea of qualitative review, which includes interviewing
students, viewing classes, talking with parents and principles,
sitting in meetings, and talking to teachers about the work they
are doing along with professional development. After this is
completed, Mr. Polakow-Suransky said that an in-depth report goes
up on the site about the school about a week later.
This actually leads into another major issue that Mr.
Polakow-Suransky mentioned. Some big schools which are not
performing up to standard have been “phased out” and replaced by
multiple smaller schools, which all reside in the same building,
usually on different floors. Although it is not always the case,
Mr. Polakow-Suransky explains his experience with such a
phenomenon, saying that the old school continued but refused to
take new students, while the new schools started with only
9th grade and then added a new grade every year until it
had all four grades traditional to high school. Mr.
Polakow-Suransky provided statistics showing the large increase in
the graduation rate that occurred as a result.
Finally, the last major issue that Mr. Polakow-Suransky brought
up at the forum ties back to the important changes in curriculum,
expectations, and assessments mentioned earlier. With changing what
questions teachers ask and what they expect of their students,
relations between teachers also occur. They need to work together
and have conversations of what they are doing and how to
improve.
Mr. Polakow-Suransky also mentioned the idea of teaching in
teams, where teachers who teach the same students work together and
coordinate work and lessons with each other. These teachers can
talk about the students needs and problem-solve together,
especially in the case of a student not doing well in both their
classes.Mr. Polakow-Suransky also stressed the importance of
implementing the teaching of literacy and the focus teachers place
on it. He claims that “there is something going on as kids start to
engage in academic language” and that it is necessary to focus on
and use literacy “not just in English.” Teachers of all content
areas need to become effective at teaching literacy in their
classroom, even in math and science.
While all these changes Mr. Polakow-Suransky presented are
occurring in the field of education, it is important to note that
the changes are not going to be put into effect by New York State
everywhere at once. However, as Mr. Polakow-Suransky said, “While
we wait for this to happen, we don’t need to wait for this to
happen…We don’t need to wait for NY state in order to start the
rigorous work and assessments in our schools…It’s not too soon to
begin that process ourselves.”