Teaching writing is probably the most difficult task teachers face because, by its nature, writing is personal and no two individuals have exactly the same needs. Reading student writing is time consuming, and it is difficult to spend enough time with each student to help him or her understand how to improve their product.

The issue of ability grouping is a complex one, just as you explained, with good reasons for it and against it. The truth is that it works well for some students and hurts others, that is why it seems to be a never ending debate in educational circles. We ability grouped in English some of the years I was at Frick, and justified it by limiting the class sizes for the lower groups and assigning experienced teachers to those groups, but it never reduced the spread of abilities in the classes as much as teachers expected and it didn’t seem to make an appreciable difference in test scores or other measures of progress.

I also feel the state standards for writing do a considerable amount of harm: they require that students at each grade level write in too many different genres, making it impossible to spend enough time on any one type of writing to make much progress. The standards focus on unimportant aspects of writing, such as how many words are in an essay, and ignore completely vital aspects such as a student caring about what they write and seeing some value in writing.

The good news is that writing is so poorly tested on the CSTs that you can safely ignore some of the requirements without hurting your students’ test scores. The multiple choice questions that claim to test writing skills are basically just reading questions, and the seventh grade writing sample counts for so few points that you can pursue the writing program you think best meets the needs of your students without worrying about it.

In designing a writing program I found two sources of ideas very valuable. For inspiration there was Nancy Atwell’s book “In the Middle.” Nancy uses a “writer’s workshop” approach in her classes that helps her students develop a desire to write, and I found her procedure for keeping track of what each student was able to do and what she asked them to work on (limited to only two things per writing assignment) was very useful. I must warn you, however, that it is frustrating to see the differences between our classroom situations and Nancy’s. She teaches in Maine with all native standard English students, classes of less than 20, and two periods a day of Language Arts for each student (one class for reading and one for writing).

For practical methods of helping students who are not standard English speakers, Kate Kinsella was a source of ideas that were easy to implement and very effective. Eight to ten years ago most middle school English teachers attended one of more of Kate’s workshops and I bet someone at your school has a binder with her lessons. It is well worth finding.

You write about comparing the work that you are able to give to your students and the work that is assigned in other, higher-income neighborhood schools. Don’t let that difference demoralize you. All teachers have to begin where their students are, and you might be surprised by the range of student work you would find in the suburbs. I remember several years ago when a team of suburban administrators came to Frick to review our educational program and look at samples of student work. The area they found the most similarities was in student writing. Just as at their home schools they saw a huge range of skill levels, and many of the mistakes our students made were identical to the flaws in their students’ writing. Another piece of evidence for this same phenomenon is the history of the seventh grade writing test. In the first few years the test was given the distribution of scores on the writing sample was too similar in generally low-scoring areas (such as flatland Oakland) and generally high-scoring areas (like the suburbs). To create the same distribution of scores on the writing samples that occured on the multiple choice items, the state had to modify the rubric used by scorers to increase the penalty assigned for mistakes made by non-standard English speakers and reduce the penalty for those mistakes common to those brought up speaking standard English. (They did so by drawing a distinction between errors that interferred with understanding when the paper was read by a standard English speaker with no experience with other dialects, and errors that did not interfer with understanding. The tests, by the way, are shipped to Iowa to be scored.)

I know that none of this, expect maybe my suggestions to look at Atwell and Kinsella, will make your job any easier, but I hope it will help you keep your spirits up as you undertake what I believe is the hardest job in education, middle school writing instruction.

Thank you. As a fairly new teacher (5 years, entering as an intern, just recently fully credentialed) we must pass CBEST, CSET, and RICA. We are constantly being compared against the state standards and so are our students. While I agree with the testing of teachers, particularly the RICA, I find myself expecting that students not only meet the state standards but exceed them. My white, middleclassness shines as bright as the sun.

Although my own children have attended OUSD schools, I have friends with children in schools outside of Oakland – some on this side of the tunnel, some on the other side of the tunnel. The writing process, projects and sentence analysis is far beyond the level of my students and my own children’s experience at the same grade levels. And while I understand child development and pedagogy, many of my students would be able to complete similar work, but it would require direct instruction.

I am not far enough along in my teaching to teach to the group is is at basic and have them work for 25 minutes while I teach a small group with direct instruction and our school will not track or ability group an entire class. While I intellectually and emotionally understand the dangers of categorical tracking of students for all subjects because we have historically underserved students of color and lower socio-economic status, I know that many of my top students are both and would benefit from being placed in an English class which would challenge their current ability and also extend their independent working time.

When I talk about parents, what I am comparing is the power of parents to demand from administration this ability grouping. The parents at Brewer, Bret Harte and Montera go to administration en masse to make sure the needs of their children are being met. Their knowledge of the standards (and often middleclassness) allows for them to be heard in a way that simply expressing desire does not.

I want my students to have the same opportunities as my children. I want my students to have the same opportunities as those students in other districts who are able to diagram sentences in such a way that writing is clear, direct and powerful without using many adjectives but strong verbs. Vocabulary plays a part, however, understanding and using sentence variety is also very powerful.

I first came across the claim that there were 90-90-90 schools about eight years ago when we were still using the SAT9 tests for measuring California schools. I pulled up the list of 90-90-90 middle schools and found that there was only one in the entire state, and it only qualified in Math. The school was so small that there was only one math teacher for the entire school, and there was a huge difference on the scores of the students on the SAT9 (very high) and the CST tests that were being piloted that year (much lower). There were not enough differences between the two tests to allow for the extreme differences in the scores. The SAT9 was used for several years in a row, and unlike the CST, it contained exactly the same questions each year. So the only school that qualified as a 90-90-90 school did so based on very suspicious scores. Most of the states that have 90-90-90 schools have much lower standards than California. Nonetheless, I am convinced by the research that shows that more writing in all subjects increases student understanding.

I taught primarily eighth graders, and I would say perhaps 25% were writing solid 300 to 500 word essays at the end of eighth grade. (Most of my career, 500 words was considered the maximum for middle school. It wasn’t until the standards were published about 10 years ago that the 500-700 word length was suggested.) Another 25 to 50% were writing at a basic level and the rest below that. This was at Claremont, where there was a significant middle income community. At Frick, which is a more flat-land school, the percentage of students writing well fell to 10 to 15%.

But not writing proficiently in eighth grade is not the end of the world. I remember my own school life. I recall quite clearly crying in frustration in seventh grade because I could not hold my pen long enough to write an entire page of long-hand (maybe 150 words). I recently found a letter I wrote in the eighth grade that would certainly not qualify as basic by today’s standards.

Use the state standards and the results of research like the 90-90-90 study to inspire yourself to do your best to help your students, but don’t let the gap between where they are and where you would like them to be eat away at you. If your students leave the eighth grade able to state a clear main idea and put forth reasons to support it, even in a short essay of 300 words, I think most high school teachers would be happy to take it from there.

Thank you for pointing out the weaknesses in my argument. I really do appreciate the positive attitude toward students and learning in Oakland. I have had three principals in the last few years and with each principal the focus changes.

There is a 90-90-90 study that I have read – schools that employ strong writing components in the education with 90% poverty and 90% minority can and do have a 90% proficiency/advanced study body when they spend the majority of time on writing.

Stephen, in your experience do the high school students you have taught come into high school able to write a solid 500 – 700 word essay (narrative or expository) proficiently?

This is something my students really, really struggle with.

Your description of the writing standards is also exaggerated. They do not say that sixth graders will “write a five paragraph essay with correct grammar [and] punctuation.” The standards say “Students write and speak with a command of standard English conventions appropriate to this grade level” and then give some fairly limited specifics, such as “spell frequently misspelled words correctly (e.g., their, they’re, there).” The standards do call for multi-paragraph essays of 500-700 words, and they do call for an effective organizational pattern, but they do not specify the traditional five paragraph essay that you put forth (although that format would be one of the acceptable patterns).

The California Standards are quite demanding enough without your adding to them, especially assigning high school level work to sixth graders.

In your post you say “I have given a lot of thought about whether I want to continue to teach in Oakland. I have long thought that I want to be in a school where students are given an opportunity to learn what the state of California, has said they have a right to learn.” Based on your various postings it is clear that you have very negative feelings about the behavior of students at your school, the attitude of many of the parents, the level of instruction in your school and the district, and district policies, and that these are sapping your enthusiasm for your work.
In my forty year of working in Oakland middle schools I have met a good number of teachers who felt the same way you did. Many of those people were caring individuals, excellent teachers, and good friends. Some left and went to other districts, and some stayed in Oakland. Most of those who went to teach in other places felt revitalized and believed they were contributing much more to society working in their new locations. Those who stayed in Oakland never seem to feel any better about their work, even when other teachers at their sites saw improvements on a school-wide basis. Everyone needs to find a place where they can contribute most effectively, and everyone deserves the satisfaction that comes when they are doing so. Good luck.

My guess is that your child went to a hills school and then Brewer, Montera or Bret Harte. Why? because the students from those schools have active parents who support learning. At parent-teacher conference time, 75% – 90% of parents show up. They may love what they hear from the school, or they may not but they show up. I am very, very lucky to get 50% of the parents and that is if I try to make contact by phone or stand out in front of the school at drop off to try to make contact.

I am frustrated with Tony Smith. I believe in his vision of equity. However, his vision also includes holding slots for students who have not met the requirements to be at the academies based on the ethnic and socio-economics of the students in middle school WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF DOING THE WORK, but to remediate them.

Our schools do not teach the breadth of courses offered in other districts. And I am not suggesting that the academies do not have rigorous courses. These courses are quite rigorous; there is not the breadth of coursework offered in other districts and that coursework must be made up at the university. I will not enter the arena of public vs private vs charter because I know many of the well-respected boys schools, girls schools, high-priced schools do not teach nearly all of what is required in math, science, and ELA.

My fear in Tony Smith is that rather than bringing students up to the academic, study skills and self-discipline the students need in middle school to make them ready for the academies, he will allow students who are not ready for the rigor of the academies in and slow down the progress for all students in the process.

Very few of my colleagues in this school and other middle schools in Oakland require the kind of writing that is given in the state standards. For example, the vast majority of my students, even at the top end, could take the Iliad, read it, make sense of the broader implications and write a five paragraph essay with correct grammar, punctuation, topic paragraph, three supporting paragraphs and a concluding paragraph of 500 -700 words. This is a California 6th grade standard. By eighth grade our students in Oakland, California are supposed to be able to write essays comparing the religious texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I do not know a single middle school in OUSD which has students studying, writing and comparing. However, the architecture, numerical sequencing and mathematics in all three religious texts are referred to in Cal’s engineering program. Many, many school districts in California hold their middle school teachers and students to these state standards. In Oakland, we do not. Many of our students are just as capable and for many of our students, perhaps this deeper level of thinking may be what pulls them back in to rigorous academic work – I simply do not know.

I have given a lot of thought about whether I want to continue to teach in Oakland. I have long thought that I want to be in a school where students are given an opportunity to learn what the state of California, has said they have a right to learn.

In one of his recent dog and pony shows, Mr. Smith asked Mr. Yee to cover his ears as he told those of us watching and listening that perhaps the parents needed to sue the district to get what they needed. Perhaps that is so, and perhaps not. What I believe is that every student in this district, has the right to be taught at the highest levels of the state standards that they are capable of learning. I do not see that happening at my school. Perhaps your child did learn in middle school the subjects listed above. And if so, I would love to pay a sub and come to observe the classes. My guess is that so few students and parents in our district even know what the state standards are that should be taught, they do not have the knowledge to even request the courses.

The situation with your students sounds very discouraging. I have to say that the behavioral situation you describe with your students — with the vast majority speaking demeaningly and hitting each other — does not reflect what my kids have experienced in their OUSD schools, or what I have experienced spending time in these schools as a volunteer every week.

I’m also surprised by your comments about Oakland Tech kids being unprepared for college. My 10th-grader’s classes, particularly those in the Engineering Academy and the Paideia Program, are extremely rigorous. The amount and quality of the work expected from these kids is definitely higher than what what I had to do in high school — and I emerged as a National Merit scholar who went on to graduate with honors from a highly-ranked college.

I encourage parents reading these posts to talk to other parents and teachers at the OUSD schools near them before making any assumptions about their quality or lack thereof. Another good resource is the discussions on the Berkeley Parents Network web site — particularly the reviews of Oakland schools and the Public vs. Private discussions. There are posts from parents raving about their kids’ private schools, of course, but also a fair number of posts from parents who switched from private to public and were happier with their situations. A post from a private math tutor says, “it is very clear to me in my 27 years of tutoring that private school students get generally inferior math instruction.” Here’s a link to the BPN schools page: http://parents.berkeley.edu/recommend/schools/