.5 CONCLUDING WITH COMMENTS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Again, we have to talk about systemic reform and how all these things fit together. If you take just one of these things, it doesn't work. You have to do all these things together to create a systemic reform. Have I made my case? Take current staffing practices and do absolutely the opposite of what we now do! That's a pretty bold statement and I've tried to present it here in terms of showing you the ideals as I see them and just how far away the ideals are from present practice. Do you agree?

Student comments:

1 - People are capable of knowing but don't always pay attention to those types of situations.
2 - Often times teachers are sheep and just go with the flow.
3 - Some of those things are currently going on. For instance, teacher development happens once a month.

Dr. Allen: I think it's a step in the right direction to have an early release day once a month to conduct staff development. That's a good start, but not nearly enough.

4 - Teachers and students should get everything done before they go home.
5 - Sounds good, but a lot of teachers believe that if you extend the school day it will result in more work. And more stuff to do at home. Two more hours on the school day would just lead to more work.

Dr. Allen: Many teachers believe that. It could be that the system we come up with would do that. There's nothing about changing the number of hours in the day that will automatically correct all of the other things that are going on. Part of the problem, which you pointed out, is the issue of trust. One of the reasons why teachers don't vote for that is that they don't trust the system. If the day was extended, they might end up with more work than they presently have. They already feel overworked and they wouldn't like it. That could happen. That lack of trust isn't totally unfounded on the part of the teachers. Again, somehow we have to create the atmosphere of trust and the bona fides that will allow some of these things to change, otherwise we're just locked in. One of the things that we're trying to do, for example with our 2+2 program, is to create opportunities and expectations for teachers to observe and work with each other. That's going pretty well. Its hard to get teachers to agree to be visited, offer criticism to their peers and to accept criticism. I use the word criticism, we prefer to use the word "suggestions," because suggestions for improvement are very different from criticisms. Any other comments?

6 - More evaluation and communication between administrators is needed. Self confidence is very important.

Remember that the basic premise is that the way we now treat teachers and the way teachers expect to be treated needs to be turned around. I tried to give that to you by showing you at least my vision of an idea. Thank you very much.

	Make a list of the staffing practices as mentioned by Dr. Allen that need to be changed.	Answer Here
	No ferret question	Answer Here