All-American education: Does it make the grade?

[Chef Dave]

Here is a link to a recent CNN article: All-American education: Does it make the grade?

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/schools/stories/overview.html

An interesting premise that was raised was that we are now in the midst of "raising the bar" via use of accountability. Diane Ravitch, a former assistant secretary of the United States Department of Education said, "One-hundred years ago, most children finished their formal education at the eighth grade. Moving those standards up by four years -- expecting students to finish 12 years of schooling -- was raising the bar to unprecedented levels."

What do you think? Is accountability raising the bar?

[teach1027]

I am on the fence with this. I think that expectations have changed along with the times, so eighth grade is no longer the expectation High school is. In my opinion all accountibility has done is make kids know hoe to take a test, It is not a true measure of what a child actually knows.

[sweetsass]

Accountability has most def closed the gap for racial minorities, but the United States still lags far, far behind other countries of the world in education. One could even argue that we're dumb in this country, compared to others.

[Chef Dave]

I applaud the idea behind accountability. I certainly think we need to be held accountable in some manner.

Sad as it may sound, I have worked in school districts that promoted children from one grade level to the next despite their growing lack of the prerequisite skills to succeed. The building administrators and parents justified this by talking about the importance of "social promotion."

The end result was that the children either got frustrated and dropped out or they somehow graduated as semi-literates with deficient skills.

There is no doubt in my mind that accountability is important ... but I don't like the way NCLB has been organized. NCLB does not take into account the inherent problems associated with inner-city and rural poverty.

If all kids came to school on a level playing field, that would be one thing ... but all too many children come to school lacking basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter.

How can we expect students to learn and grow if their basic physical needs aren't being met? How can we expect a homeless child to care about school when the child is worried about where he/she will sleep tonight?

The way NCLB has been structured has placed an unfair burdern and unrealistic expectations on all too many of our nation's schools.

The problems associated with poverty were years in the making and cannot be fixed with a simple, "thou shalt" mandate regarding AYP, adequate yearly performance.

[Spectre]

I, too, believe in accountablity, but believe it is being demanded solely of teachers and schools.
What about school boards and county commissioners? What about parents who take better care of their cars than they do of their children? What about the students themselves?
NCLB, in concept, is a good idea. It's implementation is flawed.
Standardized testing is but one measure of how much a student knows. And, I, too, believe we are training up a generation of test takers who know just that...how to take a test. How about creativity? How about critical thinking? Problem solving? Thinking "out of the box?"
We've mortaged our future, as a nation and as a culture, to the flimsy idea that students can pass tests.
the future will belong to those who can think, who can problem solve. The ones who finally defeat AIDS, who wipe out cancer, develop a new propulsion system to get us to the stars will be the ones who can dream, who can create, who can reach beyond making good test scores.
Did you know that Einstein failed high school math? They thought he was mentally retarded, at first, because he didn't meet certain standard expectations that most other kids do.
"Accountability" has become a plague, not a blessing...

[RibbityRibbit]

The kids who will do things like defeat AIDS, build better space ships, and so forth will not be coming from traditional public schools. Independent schools are not required to meet NCLB standards, and by not having to meet those standards, they are exceeding them. This creates a greater division of the classes. My students are already wealthy, and on top of that are having the opportunity to be creative, develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, and so forth, without the pressure on the teachers of having to get each and every child to pass the test.

It's a shame that mostly wealthy kids who would already be successful regardless (because their families have those privledges) are the ones who will be able to do those things. The classes keep dividing, and instead of finding ways to make all schools places of rich learning, we are taking the poorest of the poor and teaching them to be worker drones who will do exactly what they are told, take a test, develop no passions for any particular subject, and leave school unable to make decisions that need to be made in order to make the changes needed in society. (How can change happen in an uneducated society? Not by playing x-box, I assure you.)

Not only should critical thinking and creativity be a focus in school, but social justice as well. It is institutional racism that continues to create this chasm between the classes. I make it my mission that since I am already working with people of privledge, the most important thing I can do for them is teach them social justice and make it a passion through service learning and things like that. They have to learn how to use the resources they have wisely.

(Just to note, I have also worked in schools in the inner-city, where they can hardly get teachers in the South Bronx, so I have a wider perspective that just my current teaching situation.)

[Spectre]

There is more truth to what you say than many realize, Ribbit. We do, indeed, have a situation of the rich getting rich and the poor getting poorer. I'll go you one farther. I don't think the training up of worker drones is necessarily an accident. Those who know how to think are harder to control. They tend to ask questions and demand answers. I've said for years that this whole "education reform" thing is little more than an effort to dumb down the American populace. NCLB is just a symptom of a larger problem. Some I know laugh at me, but I wonder if they will still be laughing, years from now, when our democracy is a faded memory.

[Chef Dave]

I wonder what our society will look like 100 years from now?

Will gated communities expand to include gated parts of town? I once read a science fiction story about "urbs" who lived in mammoth high rises or gigantic urban complexes like the Mall of America. (By way of trivia, the America has 520 restaurants and stores, twenty thousand parking spaces, a bus/rail station, a church, and an alternative high school. I have heard an unconfirmed rumor that the Mall of America will eventually include a section of luxury condos).

The affluent lived in fortified urbs that were heavily patrolled by the police. The have not's lived in the slums and only had nominal access to social services.

I once spent two years living in San Salvador. The affluent lived in gated villas surrounded by 9 foot walls topped with broken glass and barbed wire. Our neighborhoods were guarded by military patrols armed with assault rifles.

The security forces ignored anyone who looked as though they belonged in the area. They scrutinized, intimidated, and harassed the campesinos (peasants).

I hope this is not a direction that we are headed but worry that history has a way of repeating itself.

I am specifically thinking of life in the late Roman Republic where the well to do provided bread, wine, and free entertainment via gladiatorial games and chariot racing to the masses in exchange for their votes.

[Spectre]

I've long been concerned about some of the direction our country is taking, politically and culturally. While it seems extreme now, I can foresee conditions like those you viewed in El Salvador (and I witnessed in guatemala) coming to fruition here. There are already some vestiges of it here in North Carolina, where some of the larger cities have gated communities with their own, private security force. They are building one out here in the "country" not far from where I live, but the locals are fighting with all we have. My fear is that big money will con the county commissioners into letting them rezone and build that huge "golf course" community of 300 VERY pricey homes. Just what we need, more traffic, higher real estate prices and taxes and more snooty rich folks.

[Chef Dave]

Can you imagine these mercenaries from Blackwater Worldwide, patrolling gated communities?

http://unitedcats.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/blackwater_mercenaries.jpg

Corporate headquarters is based in North Carolina. Not only is their corporate headquarters in North Carolina but they also have a state of the art tactical training facility on the North Carolina/Virginia state line. This facility trains 40,000 people a year.

The company markets itself as being "the most responsive, cost-effective means of affecting the strategic balance in support of security and peace, and freedom and democracy everywhere."

Of course ... "security and peace and freedom and democracy" only go to those who can afford to pay for Blackwater's services.

To some extent, they remind me of the old style firefighters from back in the 19th century. Before public fire companies came into existence, there were private fire companies. If your home caught fire and your premiums were paid up, the fire company would come to your rescue. If your premiums were delinquent or you couldn't afford their services ... tough panookies.

[upnorthteacher]

Accountability has most def closed the gap for racial minorities, but the United States still lags far, far behind other countries of the world in education. One could even argue that we're dumb in this country, compared to others.

I agree that our schools are not always as advanced as those in some other countires, but we are committed to providing ALL children with a free, public education. Many countries that have highly advanced education systems do not guarantee that right to all children. As long as we remain true to the concept of providing a free and appropriate public education for all, more and more resources will go to those with the greatest needs. Unfortunately, this means that some of our best students leave public education for private schools where resources can be concentrated on challenging the brightest students to excel.

[busbus]

I agree that our schools are not always as advanced as those in some other countires, but we are committed to providing ALL children with a free, public education. Many countries that have highly advanced education systems do not guarantee that right to all children. As long as we remain true to the concept of providing a free and appropriate public education for all, more and more resources will go to those with the greatest needs. Unfortunately, this means that some of our best students leave public education for private schools where resources can be concentrated on challenging the brightest students to excel.

Upnorthteacher, yo hit the nail on the head!

Unfortunately, this makes our work so much harder. Teachers in this country work hard to bring all of their students to the advanced level. Over time, teachers might be able to get a large percentage of students to this level. It is a challenge. In this country, teachers have their work cut out for them. It's frustrating and tiring; but we don't give up.

As long as every child in our country has a right to a free and appropriate education, teaching in public schools will always be a challenge unless we, the school communities, turn things around. Our public schools might never be as advanced as those in other countries; but, by golly, teachers are trying to make it so!

To reiterate, you hit the nail on the head!

[Spectre]

The kids who will do things like defeat AIDS, build better space ships, and so forth will not be coming from traditional public schools. Independent schools are not required to meet NCLB standards, and by not having to meet those standards, they are exceeding them. This creates a greater division of the classes. )

I could not agree more, rabbit.

The public schools of this country have been yoked to mediocrity, all in the name of "closing the gap" and "raising the bar."

I don't believe we have done either one, really.

And your statement about institutional racism is right on the mark. Because of it, too many minorities and kids from lower SES have learned that they can get by doing less. We've all heard of the culture of lower expectations. Too many of those kids live in those kinds of communities. When the public school lowers its standards to assure that "disadvantaged" students can "succeed," we serve the needs of no one but the educrats who have some stats they can point to and claim we are "increasing achievement."

What folly. What hooey. What a disservice.

[Spectre]

I agree that our schools are not always as advanced as those in some other countires, but we are committed to providing ALL children with a free, public education. Many countries that have highly advanced education systems do not guarantee that right to all children. As long as we remain true to the concept of providing a free and appropriate public education for all, more and more resources will go to those with the greatest needs. Unfortunately, this means that some of our best students leave public education for private schools where resources can be concentrated on challenging the brightest students to excel.

This is the dilemna that we face in the public schools.

:(

We are tasked to serve any and all that come to our door. If we are to have a public school system, it has to be this way. We are, after all, funded by the tax paying public.

however, I don't agree that the needs of all are being met.

Let's use my own school as an example.

We have a very diverse population, with about half our students being bussed in from the "projects" in a nearby town and the rest coming from either lower SES areas in the town where the school is, some coming from middle class areas, and a small group coming from the "high rent district." 20% of our population is special needs. AYP is killing us. Of 15 indicators, we met only 8 last year and 7 the year before that. One can readily see why there is a lot of focus on the lower ability students because we have so many of them. Thus we spend school money on literacy programs, materails to support literacy because the single biggest problem we have is that too many of these students are illiterate. this leaves precious little money and energy to spend on the rest of the student population.
Our school district has a school of choice program. There are four middle schools to choose from in our zone. One of them is worse off than we are. The other two somehow have managed to rid themselves (one of them at our expense) of nearly all the special needs and lower SES students. One of them got a special award last year. Geez, I wonder why....
What has begun to happen is that more and more parents of the above average and gifted students are choosing to send their children elsewhere, where their needs can be met better. I cannot blame them. I would do the same.
Trying to improve the lot of the lesser ability students is a commendable thing, but the way it is being done is destructive.
I've a solution (or what I think is one) but in our PC world, it won't happen and if I describe it here, those who don't already think I am some reactionary, red neck sort, will likely think so....

Better keep my mouth shut.:D

[Chef Dave]

. We are, after all, funded by the tax paying public.


Unfortunately, tax payer dollars will only take you so far.

I teach at a small rural high school. We have about 400 students. We are limited with regards to the extent of some services we are able to provide.

To compensate for a very limited special education program, we have actually referred some students to a neighboring district which has a special needs school.

Last week we got two Peruvian students with limited English ability. We don't have an ESL program. I am not sure how our core academic teachers will compensate for their instruction.

Other rural districts are less fortunate than we are. Next week I'll be visiting a high school as a guest speaker for career day. The high school in question only has 146 students. They're 45 minutes away ... too far to refer any special needs students.

Not only does their budget limit the extent and quality of their overall educational program but limited funding puts them at a disadvantage in finding, recruiting, and retaining the best possible teachers.

Unlike urban high schools who have highly specialized staffs, rural school districts also tend to have high school teachers who are generalists. These teachers teach a number of different subjects at several grade levels.

The district does not have a school psychologist, speech or language specialist, or audiologist on staff. In point of fact, rural districts only average one school psychologist for every 3,000 students compared to one per 1,500 students in urban areas

Sanctions imposed upon schools for failure to meet AYP are problematic with rural schools. In larger districts where 100 or more students take a given test, benchmark skills may actually mean something ... but at smaller schools with only a handful of students per grade level, bench mark standards can swing dramatically from year to year.

A single good (or bad) test taker can actually skew test results for an entire grade level, making it extremely difficult to identify student performance.

In recent years, the U.S. Congress has passed legislation to help rural districts receive federal grants. Supreme Courts in three states have actually found their statewide school funding systems to be unconstitutional because rural areas were receiving inequitable financial support.

Some rural districts have compensated by consolidating their districts with other smaller communities ... but districts that are isolated have no one to consolidate with.

Rural districts in agricultural areas have also undergone a lot of changes within the last few decades. Use of modern agricultural procedures and large farming corporations has also caused many family farms to close resulting in a further enrollment decline at rural schools.