As someone framing a Race to the Top initiative in another state, it's gratifying to see Hawaii race in the other direction. We know - from many research studies, and from plenty of life experience - that schools have too little time already. You might look at John Hattie's taxonomy of mistakes to recognize that Hawaii has just adopted the three worst things you can do to a kid's educational opportunity - expand television time, encourage mobility with less group cohesion in classes, and encourage alternative, out-of-school activity with some real incentives, making dropping out easier, college less "relevant" and school, in general, an inconvenience to the kid and much less useful to parents.

Perhaps this will ultimately be a positive outcome, however, given the generally poor performance of most public k-12 systems anyway. There are many, many ways to make schools better, but very, very few places where parents, teachers, administrators and, of all people, policy and program administrators have either the vision or the capacity to break their old forms and re-examine their foundations.

We have 8 grades in elementary school simply because the first contractor of the first graded school built 8 rooms. All k-12 progressions, sequences, curricula, and instruction is built on premises as poorly researched, understood, and as ineptly examined.

We have higher education fraying and shattering in many key functions, with increasing ratios of foreign students from Asia, and declining ratios of foreign students from Europe, who have seen our bureaucracy and arrogance for what it has become: vapid and ideological precisely where it has the data to innovate and challenge the best minds, many of whom it fails to identify because of that very vapidity.

First of all, Joe, don't believe all you read about U. S. students not getting enough time in class.  The "two-million minutes" regarding India and China is a joke.  The U. S. still has the highest number of high performing students in the world.

I have actually taught in a four-day school week.  We had longer school days and it didn't seem to be a bad deal.  It was a small school system in a small community.  But the quality of education that my students received was as good as anywhere else I have been.  But in that setting most of my students understood that education was a participation sport and they did their part to get the most out of their education.  Their parents, by and large, were also involved in the school and community.  Amazing that kids with someone at home that cares do well.  Perhaps that explains why ETS can with over 80% accuracy, predict test scores by looking at these five factors: 1) attendance; 2) how much TV is watched; 3) free/reduced lunch status; 4) single parent status; and 5) how much five year-olds and younger are read aloud to at home.  Teachers and schools don't have ANYTHING do with any of these factors.

I see that the one long post critical of the furloughs is from a parent of a private school student. It is very easy to throw stones from outside looking in; but you just don't know. This person did not even mention the governor as partly to blame. In fact, the governor tried to implement furloughs on her own, but we (unions)  had to take her to court and won for the right to negotiate them. If she had her way, it would have been 36/year rather than 17/year. She talks about unions as being this big powerful thing who did this to the kids. She doesn't seem to realize that the unions are made up of its members, who had to ratify it in order for it to go forward. And for all those options this writer mentions, there are counter-arguments for them, which I don't want to belabor now. I resent that she thinks we (teachers/union members) wanted to cause dislocation and damage. That is hurtful. We agreed because we needed a contract; we needed it settled; we need to know if we are going to have jobs, health benefits, legal protections. We were stuck with the budget that was imposed on the DOE; we had to do something or be faced with the DOE running out of money sometime in October/November for this semester. This is not something that we saw as a victory; taking an 8 percent cut can only be seen as a sacrifice. After considering the options, we voted to ratify - it was a lose less/lose more situation. Please do NOT use that "Hawaii is near the bottom of the country in student achievement" argument. Progressives for change need to stop making test scores the holy grail of truth, and need to be able to analyze situations in context rather than via a test score. (That's my particular soapbox.)

Sean,

My prejudice about 5 vs 4 days is mostly for high school, where long weekends are uniquely provocative. I knew of a brilliant Charter in Northern California that was only 2, with 3 remaining for home-schooling, so it's not really the number of days - or hours - of class, but, rather, the cohesion of the class of kids which is critical. That's the underlying rationale of extended day and the most critical argument against retention in grade or mobility among schools, as well. And it's a compelling argument.

My case largely comes from how kids find things to do out of school, and a whole day away during the week makes Mondays (or whatever day it begins) all the more likely for absences. Incidentally, were I a Principal in such a system I'd go to a 7 or 8 day calendar, with a rotating 5th day, so it would not always fall on a Monday or Friday. That is virtually the only way to manage a secondary curriculum, or, at least, the only way to manage integrating vocational and academic streams.

Incidentally, I'd also very, very strongly recommend John Hattie's Visible Learning as a critical book for adapting creative solutions to a 4 day week. His mega-study ranks 138 "improvements" from really bad to really, really good, and scheduling pops up on all kinds of levels. At the very least look at his speech in the Netherlands, since he summarizes key aspects (in spite of a messy webcam presentation). It's here (http://www.surfmedia.nl/medialibrary/item.html?id=9835UsuPDtvsXk1GQnvnw8eM).

We have to make hard decisions because we are inclined to be taken advantage of, we are easily guilted into working for less than decent wages, because we know we don't do it for money, we do it for the kids. Decent wages are one way we can attract decent people into the profession, so we must have enough respect for ourselves and our profession, to draw the line when it comes to working for free, which is what critics of the furlough seem to be advocating. They want to make us feel guilty for not working for free, when we already do plenty of that. My regular workday starts at 6:00 and often goes to 5:45, and then I bring it home and after dinner grade papers til about 9 or 10. I am not unusual. I am deeply insulted that you insist you know that I or my colleagues don't care about our students. We care deeply. 

 Of course we care about the kids, we care enough that we want the community to look at the big picture, fund it, and don't make us the bad guys because we chose not to layoff, we chose not to strike, we chose not to work for free. 

Regarding testing, I love when people ask, "how else should we measure?" because it makes you articulate your beliefs about what is education for, and why we need public education. We have to measure what we value in our society, which I don't believe is test scores. What we value: high school or college graduates, who are gainfully employed; citizens who participate in their government by voting; low crime rates; low rates of drug and alcohol abuse; low teenage pregnancy rates; good mental and physical health. On a national level, we value productivity, innovation, voting, and all those other things I mentioned above. Test scores do not correlate to any of these things. I believe that it contributes to the drop-out rate because of the meaningless of it. In fact, it has been shown (Zhao) that a test-focused society, such as China, LACKS thinkers and innovators, and are studying the US to see how they can change that aspect of their education system, so they can be like US, who beats them hands-down in number of patents. 

And on the school level, there are ways to get multiple measures, not just one test, to get a sense of how the schools are doing. We have a long way to go in all of these measures, but as long as we only look at one test, we will not make progress on the really important things I just mentioned. 

It is very sad that teachers - and teacher organizations - don't (or can't) take the time or effort to create valid, useful, and economical metrics to demonstrate their impact, and to use those metrics rather than their good will in collective bargaining. Those measures now, most surely, do exist - ranging form formative electronic testing to the WICS standard that Sternberg (at Yale and now at Tufts) has developed. And they really could say and show how and what their students get for their effort.

But because they don't formulate those behavioral and attitude, values and service measures, they are relegated to incredibly sad arguments like Ms. Aoki's, here. Keep in mind that the bubble tests were invented in the 1940's, when computers could do little more than scan a one-in-five option. Given today's technology, that might have been using a quill and ink method.

Because teachers have adhered to methods of behavioral control, they - and, most unfortunately, now their students as well - are trapped in an industrial negotiation system that disregards their higher achievements. So be it. It is a trap of their own making. There are some excellent schools - largely charter, largely non-union - that run two and three days a week, and complement home-schooling with extensive project based curricula. That, it would seem, is where the Union in Hawaii is chasing its sharper students. Institutional Seppuku. Were I a member of such a union, I'd most surely challenge the leadership for a better option.

Sounds like union-bashing to me. NEA has put in a lot of effort in attempts to move public education from test-centricism. Very easy to find position papers on that on its website. And I do have hope that we can move this transformation of public education forward. But if you are saying we are not creating "good" tests, you are right. We're more interested in creating quality schools. We're more interested in context, in meeting the needs of the whole child, in addressing issues such as poverty and immigration. We're more interested in communicating the ills of putting so much stake in a single test score. It is part, but not the whole, picture of a teacher's effectiveness and a school's quality. That you would label my argument as "sad" says more about you than about me. I am proud of my argument, I am passionate about what I believe about the kinds of schools that we need to promote. That you would make such broad generalizations about teachers (adhering to methods of behavioral control) and follow it with claims of excellent schools coming from charter and non-union schools, tells me that you have an agenda. Your leaps in logic are hard to follow. Understandably, we don't share the same world view, so our logic patterns don't coincide. But I will point out this inconsistency: It seems in the first paragraph, you advocate a "good" test and you chastise those who are not interested in finding that. Then in the last paragraph,  you advocate project-based curricula, which is a good idea for what I said about having multiple measures to assess. Tests, projects, both? I say both and more, you say ... ?

You miss my point entirely. Look at the WICS model, for just one of several examples (nicely summarized here, but in many other online pieces as well http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/dec07/vol65/num04/Assessing_What_Matters.aspx). Using validated and tested rubrics, students and teachers can assess their portfolio of work in four large categories of criteria ranging from Wisdom to Intelligence to Creativity to the Synergy to integrate those aspects of intelligence. Not only that, but Wisdom, in this context, is defined by "anticipating consequences on behalf of others" and, like the other three, has had nearly a decade of refinement in rubrics and assessment methods in thousands of student essays and projects.

What is sad is that there has been so much work done and so little examination of it, so much noise and smoke over testing while so many other kinds of tests have been developed, tested and refined to offer real feedback. And the line 'twixt feedback and education is already so soft that I'd consider it teaching to use a test that had so much ... wisdom involved.

And stop inferring that I'm for Charters. I'm for the one-room schoolhouse where kids learn from each other, teachers convene and inspire, and everyone can document what they do in ways that meet anybody's idea of "standards" without bending to a test or twisting information from what kids say, do, write, or figure. There are thousands of excellent public schools where just these things take place, and where that documentation is lacking, or so attenuated to produce a single test score number. That demeans the intelligence of both teachers and students. And, frankly, it's not been needed even for a test.

Finally, why must you assume that, in a world where you can use a name to access a number on the phone, we need choose a number from one to five to describe our knowledge of a war, of a word, or of a numerical result? Our technology is so much more advanced than those tests, and those tests are so over-valued by incredibly narrow and unintelligent analysts, that there is almost nothing left to talk about.

What is shocking is that so many teachers have so long labored so fruitlessly to produce such trivial outcomes by otherwise bright and eager children on such outmoded instruments to support such ridiculous bureaucracies. And, since teachers don't question such behavior themselves one must wonder at their own intelligence. Perhaps that is the greatest travesty: when the test is defended by those it most injures, they hardly deserve our compassion. Were it not that I know such wonderful people who still teach, I'd think the entire profession had withered and blown away.

That you dare presume I support a privatization of the model of Horace Mann's Common School insults the entire history of public education in this country! I do support the kind of critical thinking that I would hope you share. And I strongly support applying that kind of thinking to education itself, just as we would have students apply it to history, English, math and science. And, frankly, I'm shocked that you don't make that application yourself!

I have a feeling that I'm being baited, but I am taking the bait only to say, I do think you are in some ivory tower somewhere, missing my point entirely. The only thing that I can surmise from this, is that you also don't like the high stakes testing environment that our public schools are now plagued with as a result of NCLB. I think it is a serious problem because I live it. I resist it, I refuse to be consumed by it, but it is a struggle. And it is not just me, I am in contact with teachers from all over the country and we are in agreement. This state of affairs is well-documented. You mix  up your discussion of ideas with insults, and it is not necessary. Chill. Peace.

Diane,

You never answered my question about why all the teachers need to take their furlough days on the same day and deprive students of their classroom learning time.  Why didn't the HSTA act more professionally and take their furlough days on days when they weren't scheduled to be teaching students in the classroom?  I struggle with the concept that your non-classroom days are more important than the time you actually teach students. 

I believe that University of Hawaii professors are also professional teachers.  They took a pay cut and are still teaching their classes.  UH students are still getting the education they paid for and deserve.

I've emailed several of our State legislators with my concerns and they have provided some interesting comments about the situation.  One prominent Senator reminded me that education is the state's biggest expense.  He believes that you teachers need to get yourselves better leaders because the union is engaging in a combative approach which doesn't promote a win-win outcome.  If this continues we'll have some sort of amendment to our State constitution that will mandate a certain amount of teaching days for our public school students.  I believe that would be overwhelmingly supported by the voters. 

Instead of getting defensive and accusing other people of insulting you and arguing, you need to use some critical thinking skills and look at the big picture instead of harping about how professional teachers are and how you need to short change the students' education in order to maintain job security, health benefits, legal protections, etc.  Everyone in Hawaii is suffering from this financial downturn.  Many of us are taking pay cuts and continuing to do our jobs and maybe even increasing our hours.  This is not an attempt to take away from the teachers.  This is an attempt to keep the entire State from running out of money. 

Your defensive statements and harsh criticism of others' comments indicate that maybe you are uncomfortable with some of the statements that don't fit with the message that the union is promoting.  I spoke with a teacher at a charter school who said that they were flooded with applications when the furlough was announced because they decided to keep their full schedule of classroom teaching days, NO MATTER WHAT.  They are on more restricted funds per student than the "regular" public schools, plus they have to pay rent for their premises.  Why are you so threatened by someone pointing out the value of charter schools?

You need to wake up and stop blindly accepting and passing on the HSTA line about why it's necessary to close the classrooms and hold the students and their families hostage.  True professionals would continue to serve the people while working out a better solution.  Your union leadership is an insult to the truly dedicated and professional teachers.

Before you post any more pro-union babble, or go off on the "testing to measure effectiveness of education is bad" rant, please answer my simple questions, "Why was it necessary for all the public school teachers to take their furlough days at the same time?  Why couldn't 20% be on furlough each week day so that all teachers would have 17 furlough days but the schools would remain open?  Why didn't they choose the non-classroom days first?"

More importantly, "Why should the people of Hawaii consent to using the Hurricane relief funds to pay teachers to come back and work furlough days when everyone else in the private sector and other public employees are taking pay cuts, being laid off and having furlough days?"

Diane,

I'm hardly baiting you. High stakes tests would be fine if they tested items which weren't 2 clicks of google. I don't know if you know FairTest, here in Boston, but the argument is already well engaged and it's not my point in the least. Tests are nasty and the ones now "standard" are, frankly, the result of corrupt deals with sleazy testing companies more than real measures of knowledge or skills. There is plenty of stuff on 21st Century skills that more than adequately makes that case.

What you seem to ignore, however, and it would worry me in any teacher, is that there are many, many alternative tests that measure much more interesting and worthwhile skills and knowledge, and that are routinely ignored by both state test buyers (who usually collude with favored designers) and, more to the point, by teachers whose concerns for their students ought to trump their politics and advocacy regarding tests. That concern should highlight the alternative tests, both to parents, policy makers, and students themselves, since there is much to be gained by positive, timely, feedback-oriented assessment.

It is, frankly, hard to avoid insulting people who continue to ignore the obvious. And it is not only obvious from a tower of ivory: lots of kids flock to places like SecondLife and engage in self-assessment activities daily, totally disregarded by their teachers. These alternate metrics range from games to online learning communities to the WICS measures I cited before, which, not coincidentally, form the core of college admission standards at a growing number of colleges. Tests can be tests but admission, with money and housing, is a far better measure of all of it.

What are you talking about? I am glad that there are alternative tests. I do not ignore them. Did you read in my last paragraph that I do believe in multiple measures of assessment? You seem to be so intent on winning the argument that you don't even "listen" to what I'm saying. The point is that the system currently is not pursuing these alternative and multiple measures, the system, through NCLB,  has weighed us down with standardized tests, which are not bad per se, but because there are high stakes attached, lead to such practices as narrowing of curriculum and teaching to the test, among others. Those of us who are conscious advocates do want to make these changes, but we can't until the federal law is changed and changed to allow these kinds of alternative tests. I agree that we are turning kids away as a result of the system's focus on the meaningless. I believe that it is contributing to the dropout rate. I guess I could choose not to give these tests, but then I could lose my job. Instead, I give them, and TRY to teach in as humane and meaningful way as I can.

Carolyn,

The same could be said about your defensiveness. I am inside the trenches, so I have the inside perspective and I know what went into making the decision. That doesnt mean I am blindly accepting of the union position. Believe me, I can be very critical of HSTA when it is called for. 

I don't understand how your idea would work. I will try. 2 out of 8 teachers would be on furlough each day. Where would those students go? Would they be absorbed in other classes? That would be 50 students to go into the other 6 classes, about eight each. You should see my classroom. I barely have room for the 25 I have. 

I think the logistics of such a proposal, not to mention fire codes, etc. are not practical. Gotta go to work, now. Feel free to map it out for me while I'm at work. 

Just realized my math mistake, Don't get on my case. I didn't have my coffee yet and I should have not tried to respond as I do need to get to work.