The fix-it manual for education is a complicated document written by numerous authors, most outsiders to the field of education. It seems that everyone has an opinion about what is wrong with our educational program today, its teachers and students, but few have solutions that are organically designed to meet the needs of the student population we currently teach in our nation's public schools. The current focus of education is on results, as in test results. The powers that be have deemed it the sole measurement for students' success and when the scores don't add up, the finger of blame is pointed squarely at teachers. I have been teaching for 32 years and have seen the pendulum swing back and forth many times. I have observed what works and what does harm to young students and in my experience there are five necessary steps to success.
- Start Young. Early Education is a fundamental factor to children's school success and funding it adequately gives more children a chance to learn curriculum, early skills and about the world of school. Smaller class size has a profound impact on both classroom dynamics and the amount of attention a teacher can give to students and by reducing class size in kindergarten-3rd grade to 20 or less, and grade 4-12 to 25 or less we could see a dramatic improvement. Private schools and privately funded Charter schools provide this. We cannot compare public and private schools until the class size issue has been resolved and the scales are even.
- Treat Teachers as Professionals. Respect the training, education and experience teachers have in the field of education and pay them accordingly. A student's test scores are not the sole indicator of a teacher's worth and teachers are not motivated to further their education solely for the joy of learning. Most professionals are compensated for their expertise and given opportunities to further their knowledge in their professional field. Teachers have an extremely important job and huge responsibilities and we like to be respected, taken seriously and able to afford the cost of living in the cities we teach.
- Hold Parents Accountable. Parents must be held responsible for meeting their childrens' basic needs and supporting their children in their educational program. We need to teach those who do not know, how to become better parents, in order to provide a supportive home environment that complements the educational program. Parenting is a life long responsibility and providing education and training for parents can have a positive impact on our students.
- Fund Education. Our priority must be education because our students are our country's future wage earners and tax payers. By funding education we are insuring our own future. We need to establish a permanent source of government funding for our public schools to take the stress off of the parents and individual schools currently forced to fundraise endlessly in order to provide a basic, quality educational program. Funding should include the arts, sports and physical education, and trade skills as well as the academic program.
- Provide Support. Financial and personal support is needed to educate special needs students, lower class ratio and size, and to support the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development of all students. Schools need full-time nurses, psychologists, counselors and support staff to allow equal access to education and academic success for all students.
Our government and its representatives must own these suggestions and form working committees to dedicate time and energy to developing a funding method that begins with our youngest students, limits class size, educates parents, compensates educators, and provides the support needed for all students including those with special needs. Only by providing this, will our educational system have a chance to be fixed and our students a chance to succeed.
What I might add is:
- Teachers should be paid for both their skill level and their value added -- tests are only part of the equation, and others should be included
- We need to address bad teachers -- it may be less than 10%, but they really hurt performance
- We need to teach the way our kids learn -- the system is logical, sequential and auditory and our kids are far more visual
- Processing and tracking issues need to be identified and addressed
- Parents need to be trained and held accountable
- We need to set Big Goals -- to be one of the best educational systems in the world, fund the effort better, train new teachers better, train existing teachers better and work far more effectively as a team
- We need to hyper-focus on making public schools great -- even with vouchers, charters and private schools, over 90% of our kids still go to public schools
- We need to help the kids succeed at a young age
- We need to have a continuous improvement process and not focus on fads
- We all need to change -- and take charge of the situation rather than relying on politicians
The rest of your suggestions are spot on as well. We need dynamic teachers in our classrooms and parents who are able to support their children through the process.
www.thebusinessofeducating.com
and take away their rights and the ability to teach as it should be done.
The move is to take away the teacher's union. That is the whole crux of the situation. As the
guy from Denmark said, if this was going on in Denmark, all the teachers would be in the
streets. Teachers are professionals but they are not being treated that way. They must
demand respect.
http://TheEducatedSociety.com/
The best possible solution seems like it might be to fine parents if they don't do what they should. But that still has problems. Some can't pay. Some won't. Some have living arrangements that are marginal enough (either homeless or moving frequently) that it would be hard to find them and assess fines.
I'm not sure what the answer is. But what we currently do is absolve the parents and students of any responsibility and put it all on the teachers. That isn't working, and it isn't likely to start working.
How about a parent education initiative for disadvantaged, at-risk parents? One that starts when the mother is pregnant? Instead of trying to make parents accountable later on, let's give them the tools first. I know that poverty drains every aspect of life, but if we arm parents with practical skills and knowledge when they are pregnant - they at least have a shot to change their environment. Not when the child is 3 years old - by then, the pattern and the environment are set. Parent ed would cover things like creating a rich home environment (to build literacy), nutrition, etc. You'd be surprised how many don't know about the impact of reading from Day 1, or praising instead of yelling or that video games can be detrimental to their studies (yes, I actually had a parent who didn't understand that buying her child the latest Nintendo is not the way to induce compliance). At the VERY least, the topic of parent development should be part of the public discussion, where ideas can be developed and reach critical mass for change. Maybe that's the starting point - to get Obama to take the issue of parent development/involvement/accountability seriously.
I guess I might as well just come out and say it. This is a nut that I do not think will be cracked. It's one of those situations where we know what's wrong, have some notions about how to fix it, but can't effectively get to meaningful implementation. Here in South Carolina we have a 50% high school graduation rate among students who enter at grade 9. An extremely high percentage of those droputs are having babies (plural intended). Need I say more?
While your thoughts and ideas on this topic are good, requiring parental accountability is not like giving someone a pill for their cholesterol or high blood pressure. I know this may sound silly, but people don't know what they don't know. How do you get someone to take accountability for their child's education when they do not have education themselves and have not lived in a familial culture that values it?
I am retired now, but was a professional person for over three decades involved in troubleshooting, problem solving, and implementation of solutions. I was pretty good at it. On this one, however, I'm stumped. I don't think I'm being singularly pessimistic. As far as I can see, no one has been able to solve this problem.
I know you are sincere but your points are all within the same educational paradigm.
we now see children ready to learn in pre school at least most of them without severe emotional or mental problems, but by the time they get to the 4th or 5th grade only the top per cent is actively engaged in learning.
my granddaughter is in kindergarten and already the learning environment has taken on competition between students. the star students are getting the recognition the others say things like I am not a star student to their parents. we need to teach children how to learn not just get results quickly.
we are a results oriented society very competetive and expect quick results and very individualistic. this means the teachers will be held almost entirely responsible for results.
we need a paradigm shift of the highest order in the way we educate our children and americans are in no mood for any such change. they already think they know, (rhee and black, etc) but they know not.
we need to change to a process oriented educational paradigm. the same thing wrong on wall street/banks/gov is the same thing wrong with our educational system in america. more later if interested if not thank you for your caring. researcher.
keep cutting and removing programs from schools, that aid in the abilities of teachers... to educate our kids.