The Helicopter Parent

Writing my last post made me think of another incident that occurred last week related to student/parent access to grades on the internet. Opening internet access to student grade information for parents did not occur without some objections from faculty.

Unless you are a teacher, you might wonder what is wrong with “grade transparency.” Most objections from teachers revolve around the idea of correcting papers. When grades are transparent to parents (posted on-line) there is an expectation that papers will be graded in a timely manner. This is not in the nature of some teachers. One English teacher complained that they would feel pressure to grade exams after they were given instead of putting them in a folder and waiting for a week or two. I did the car-pool thing with another teacher for a few years a while back, and he was one of the worst at getting things graded. Term grades are usually due on Monday, and the Friday before he would be panic mode over the pile of ungraded assignments and exams on his desk. It was so bad that he would usually spend 24-48 hours without sleep over the weekend trying to catch up. I would pick him up on the Monday grades were due and he would spend the whole drive finishing up filling out the grade sheets on his lap, while bitterly complaining about the deadline. This was before the days of internet grade access so he got away with it. Another teacher argued that posting grades would increase child abuse. I thought he was kidding–but he was serious.

It is much worse for some of the public school students I tutor. One poor Geometry student would have no new grades posted for weeks. When I emailed his teacher asking how he had done on a previous test or quiz I would get an aggravated reply indicating that she had a family and didn’t have time to grade anything now. A talk with a teacher I know in her district informed me that even though their parents had internet access the teachers contract said that no grades needed to be recorded until the end of the quarter. I was told that a significant portion of the faculty never entered grades until the day they were due. I suggested that such an attitude defeated the purpose of internet grade access. My teacher friend told me that this could be negotiated in the next teacher contract but would require some concession from the district in another area. “We will not agree to increase our work load” I was told “unless we are compensated for it in the contract.”

At my school we need to enter new weekly grades by Tuesday; the day before extracurricular eligibility is determined by the administration. I always grade student work within a day or two of collection and record it immediately online. My students are used to taking an exam and finding the grade online that evening. I can access each student/parent account and find out when and how often they check their grades.

In the case of the girl I wrote about in my last entry with the “absence” problem, I was surprised to find that the parent had never accessed the girls records. This explains why she didn’t seem concerned about the failing grade–the parent was unaware of it. The girl has accessed her information 88 times this school year and probably asked the mother to intervene in her absence situation without letting her know about the grade. I took care of that by emailing the mother back to tell her that I took care of the absence and asked why she wasn’t as concerned about her daughter’s grade. Now we will see if attendance is really more important than grades.

The other main objection to internet access to grades is the “helicopter” parent; a parent who hovers around their child, obsessively contacting the teacher about every assignment. I had to deal with one such parent earlier this year. She would email me every time I posted an assignment her child didn’t get an “A” on. I was told in each contact that her child was gifted and could not possibly have gotten a “C” on a quiz. I was asked to recheck each assignment to make sure I didn’t make a mistake in my grading. Each time I reminded the parent that the student had the assignment and she should look at it, and if there was any mistake to let me know. After about 12 emails she stopped contacting me.

One current parent is the worst I have ever encountered. If you look up “helicopter parent” in the dictionary his picture will be there. Since the beginning of the school year he has accessed his daughters grades 653 times. The printed record covers 5 pages and includes almost every day since September when school began. Three days stand out among all the others. On March 19th he accessed her grades 11 times, spending at least 7 minutes online each time! On February 28th they were accessed 14 times, and January 28th , 10 times. The average is 4-5 times each day.

We recommend that parents check their student’s progress once a week.

Going For The Gold!

As you can imagine, I get voice-mail messages weekly from parents who want one thing or another from me. Surprisingly often it is a request to talk to their son or daughter about something; a failed exam, poor attendance, questions about lab... I tell my students in the beginning of the year that they don’t have to have their mommy call and ask me to work with them....they can ask themselves. I usually reply to these requests by telling the parent to have their child come to see me...many times they don’t.

Last week I got a new request; one I had never gotten before. A parent called and asked me to change an marked absence I had recorded for the student to a present. The student had not been in my class when the bell rang that day, arriving late after attending a meeting with a guest speaker. The student had permission from the administration to attend this meeting and arrived with a pass about 20 minutes into the period. I collected the pass and went along with class, failing to change the “absent” to an “excused tardy” on my computerized attendance list.

A few days later the student approached me to tell me that she was marked absent on a day when she was here...though not here at the beginning of the period. When students are marked absent and not on the formal absence list for the day the attendance office calls them in and questions them on where they were. I returned the pass to the student–I keep all passes of this kind just for this occasion–and told her to show it to the attendance person when called in. She seemed satisfied and sat down with her pass in hand. About a week later the girl came to me again and said that her attendance record still showed an absence and that the attendance office had not called her in to discuss it. I told her not to worry–the attendance office must have a list of the students who missed class that day and didn’t need to check with her. I assumed that she was worried about being accused of skipping class. I learned the truth last week.

Last Tuesday I got a call from her mother asking me to go to the office and have the attendance record changed. She explained that her daughter had not missed a day of school--not even a period--in all her years of school. Perfect attendance for 10 years. She explained that her daughter was “going for the gold”, whatever that means, and it was a “matter of family pride” that she have perfect attendance, my absence mark the only blemish on her otherwise perfect record. Her voice on the recording was close to hysterical.

Many other teachers would have made a big deal about her really being absent, even if still in school, but they teach English. On a scale of 1 - 10 where 10 is an important issue to stand firm on, this is a 0.03. I went to the office and convinced the attendance person to change the record to reflect that she was there that day. It took all of 90 seconds to accomplish. The next day I noticed that her attendance record had changed.

Students can check their attendance and grades online from home. Parents can also access the information. The attendance and grades appear on the same page when called up by either parents or student, making we wonder why the call wasn’t about the fact that the girl was failing my class. She has a 53% and 47% on the two exams so far this quarter and two missing assignments. Apparently “going for the gold” doesn’t apply to grades. I still find it troubling that a parent would appear so concerned about a one period absence and so uninterested in failing grades.

Teacher Training

This week marks a kind of anniversary for me. It was March 11th, 1974 when I first got in front of a class of students to teach. That was the date I started my student teaching at Hempstead High School in Dubuque Iowa.

My student teaching duties included four regular Biology classes and a section of General Science. I don’t remember any of the specific students I had that quarter, or much about the school. I generally spent my time in the classroom or in the department office grading papers or planning lessons. I never meet any other teachers in the building, except for the other members of the science department, not even going to the faculty cafeteria for lunch.

I attended a faculty meeting where the “dress code” was discussed. A number of teachers were upset because of the reveling dress that some of the young ladies favored. What was reveling then is tame by today’s standards. Anyway, after a lengthy discussion it was decided that the faculty would recommend a change in the dress code policy for the school to be passed on to the school board for approval. To this day I still remember the wording of the recommendation:

Students shall be covered by an opaque material from the neck-line to three inches above the knee.

There was quite an up-roar when a smart ass young teacher (not me) sarcastically commented that the students could come to school wearing a garbage bag with holes cut in for their head and arms, and still be in dress code. I don’t know how the whole dress code issue ended up because my assignment ended and I graduated before anything was resolved. The students I taught at Hempstead are now 49 or 50 years old; some may even have grandchildren by now.

I was a terrible teacher during my student teaching experience. About the only thing my supervisor could say was I had a excellent command of the subject material and would probably become an adequate teacher given time and experience. It took five years of full-time teaching before I knew what I was doing even though I thought I had it down after my first full year. It was a delusion. Even now, I feel like I get better every year. There is always something new to learn.

Which brings me to my point today --- How should teachers be trained?

The requirements differ from state to state. In the best states prospective teachers need to major or minor in a subject to get an endorsement, in the worst all that is needed is a major in “Education” and a minimum number of hours in the subject. In either case a minimum number of “Education” classes are required to be certified. In some states, a person needs to pass a proficiency exam in the subject to be certified. I will be honest with you, nothing I was taught in any “Education” class I ever had was of any use to me. I actually have a Masters Degree in “Science Education”, and if I were pressed I could not identify one thing I learned in any of the graduate course that made me a better teacher. I became a good teacher by “teaching” and being open to learn from my experience. Even now I know I could be better, and will constantly work to improve my skills.

Let me suggest an alternative program to train teachers.
High School teacher training would begin with undergraduate study of a specific subject area, along with a related minor. Students would take three years of college courses including “General Education” credits and courses from an intended major. This would be followed by three years of advanced study. In the fourth and fifth years students would concentrate on advanced study in their subject area and intensive study of “teaching methods” specific to their subject. The “methods” curriculum would include significant observation time with a master teacher where the candidate would learn the day to day job responsibilities. The last year would a paid internship where the “student teacher” would teach a full class load for the entire year. Sometime in the fifth year the candidate would have to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) in their subject area and minor to demonstrate competence. The minimum score necessary for moving on could be determined by the State Boards of Education. After completion of the paid internship, the student would be awarded their B.S. degree in the major subject, and a EdD in their subject area(s). I might receive a B.S. in Chemistry with a “Doctor of Science Education.” Granting of the degree would automatically certify you to teach high school in that subject area.

After teaching successfully for at least five years, I could become a master teacher and take on a student in his or her “methods” year. Ideally, after 7 years, a teacher could take a semester off (sabbatical). The teacher could take on classes or work related experience in their subject area as enrichment.

I am aware of how “impractical” an idea this might be. The question shouldn’t be whether, as a society, we can afford to do this. It should be judged as to whether it would improve teaching and learning enough to make the investment pay off in more qualified teachers and better educated students.

Freshmen Placement Day

Getting incoming freshmen registered for classes is a “hands-on” activity. The 450+ 8th graders who were invited to attend my high school based on their entrance exam taken in January attend one of four sessions on a Sunday in March. These sessions begin with a group gathering in the new cafeteria and a welcome address by both the principal and president. Before the session begins, students and their parents pick up packets that contain their scores on each section of the exam.

These scores can be a real shock to the student and parents. Most people think that if their child is a straight “A” student at their grade school they will score in the top few percentile of the incoming class. We realize, after decades of experience, that grades in Jr. High School are useless at placing students in freshmen classes. There is so much variation in difficulty level at the 70+ feeder schools we draw from that there is no way to compare students from different schools based on grades. The single activity all incoming freshmen compete in is the entrance exam, and we have found that it is extremely accurate at placing students. Sure, some students who score lower on the exam just had a bad day. These students usually excel once here and are moved up early in the year.

After the welcome session, students and their parents go to smaller sessions consisting of 10-12 students with their parents and a guidance counselor who explains the scores and how we use them for placement. Earlier in the week, department chairs mark which course each student qualifies to begin in on the registration sheets. I placed all 450+ students in one of the levels of Biology. Incoming students are placed in Honors Biology if they scored in the 90th percentile or above on the entrance exam. Students who scored in the 40th to 89th percentiles are placed in a regular biology class. And, if they are below the 40th percentile, they will be placed in a “modified” level of biology.

Most students accept the recommended placement, turn in their registration information, and go home. Needless to say, some do not. The next stop, for those who want to argue about the placement decision, is the department chairs. We all have assigned tables in a large room—library or resource room—where parents can come and plead their child’s case. Fathers tend not to challenge the placement decision made by the department chair. Most placement “arguments” are with mothers who are shocked to see how the entrance exam failed to identify the genius in the child and place them in the highest possible level of everything. If the child is close to the required score, I move them up without a fight.

When their scores are far below those required, I attempt to talk them out of it. We are told not to tell them they are wrong but, rather, re-explain the placement requirements and try to get them to calm down. When that doesn’t work I explain to them that in the first few weeks of school teachers will be looking for students who are excelling in lower levels and move them up, agreeing that sometimes the test scores are not a true indication of ability. This pacifies 80% of them and all is well. Every fall teachers do move about three or four students up in placement, but most stay where they are when they discover that the exam placed them correctly.

When even this accommodation doesn’t satisfy the parent I tell them I will place their name on a list of students that want to be placed higher. I ask them to have their grade school science teacher contact me so we can talk about the placement. When I speak with the grade school teacher I ask them to compare the incoming student with a former student they have taught who attended our school. Most of the time the Jr. high teacher either doesn’t have a former student to compare them to who would have excelled at my school, or the student they remember ended up being just average when here. Either way, I deny the new placement. Sometimes the parent tries to go over my head to the principal, but that almost never works. Sometimes the teacher does compare them to a former student who excelled here and I move the new student up as requested.

This year I have four students on my “list” and am waiting for contact from the grade school. I have already heard from one teacher who identified the student as not very capable and said he should not be placed higher. Most of the students on this list are never moved up because no grade school teacher ever contacts me—maybe they are able to talk some sense into the mother when I am not. Either way, I always have a throbbing headache when the day is over. Luckily, it’s only one day a year.