In comments on this and other blogs about education, one of the constant complaints from commenters is that no solutions are proposed, only reasons why some program or policy won't or doesn't work. These are frustrating and non-productive since usually the solution is implied (if too much testing is the issue, less testing is part of the solution for example. If very regimented models are being railed against, then less regimented is what is being promoted). I decided sharing some ideas might be productive. I provide just a brief synopsis of each.
We have KIPP, other charter schools and regular public schools trying that model, and it is the model that Race to the Top seems too laser-focused on, let's try other things too. Here are just some ideas, this is by no means an exhaustive list, add your own in the comments. Some of these ideas would be expensive and others less so. My goal was a great education, not less cost, although if any of these models are found to be successful, cost savings might be realized over time or perhaps thought worth the investment. NOTE: I'm an elementary teacher, so my ideas are influenced greatly by that.
- If too many bad teachers are the real reason why children do poorly in school, here is an approach to ferret that out. Since the promoters of this thinking claim that if we just put a great teacher in a classroom they can overcome poverty, health, language issues and more, let's spend some of the Race to the Top money to find out for sure (and maybe Gates or Broad or someone else could support this too). Let's assemble a staff of great teachers (award winners? Teachers whose students have great test scores?) and have them take over a high poverty elementary school with horrid scores, for example, and give them 3 to 5 years to turn the school around. To make this model legit, no other funds or special programs, extra staff or health care beyond what is already funded by the school district or grants already in place (because remember, it's just about the teacher) can be utilized.
- Let's try schools that follow the "bottom to the top" model where teachers and other educators on-site have most of the responsibility and autonomy to design the curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and professional development (training). The administration is there mostly in a support role to gather resources, advise and provide other support. Since the teachers/educators at each site make the decisions on what pedagogy and materials they will use, this will look different at different sites. This is a benefit since what each site finds works and doesn't work can and should be shared.
- Models that include the example above and provide a broad, rich curriculum for all students starting in pre-school, including science, social studies, physical education, field-trips, during and/or after-school sports programs, arts programs, literacy, health and counseling programs for students and families (as opposed to a narrower curriculum offered in too many schools under NCLB). In addition, since research shows easy access to lots of books makes a huge difference in student reading ability, students in the school (and their families, including pre-school age children) will receive libraries of books for their homes (which would be collected and recycled to others over the years), each classroom and the school library will be very well stocked and updated with books. Technology should be ubiquitous and students should be taught to use it as a tool for learning, exploring, connecting, collaborating and becoming learners. Ethics, safety and responsible use would be taught and discussed daily. Some schools in this model could also try extending the school year and include outdoor education and sports leagues (maybe run by the parks and recreation department). Some of the health monitoring and care may be covered already when the new health care program is fully implemented. This model might be the closest to what they do in Finland, which is the highest scoring country in the world according to PISA scores. I model this approach somewhat during a TEDx talk I gave in Denver in 2010.
- Re-draw boundary-lines in school districts to make schools as diverse as possible, socio-economically and otherwise. There is research that shows that diversity helps everyone. There are plenty of school districts, especially large districts, where it would be fairly easy to try this intervention on a smaller scale at first. For example, in my school district there are schools where higher socio-economic schools and a lower socio-economic schools already border on each other so long distance busing would not be required, and many students could still walk.
- All the models above should be tried with ongoing professional development decided by what teachers require to support their teaching.
- Hybrid approaches using combinations of the above ideas should be tried as well.
- Any of the models above could (really should) include paying teachers to spend more contract days collaborating, planning and preparing lessons and receiving professional development before and during the school year.
- Assessment of each model could be done through observation, NAEP, PISA, or other assessment.
OK, please add your ideas (the flipped model or anything else) in the comments.
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VI. After school computer lab opportunities for students who do not have computer/internet.
VII. Mandatory peer tutoring. The best way to learn is to teach. Require or allow high school students to mentor/tutor middle school students as their community service requirement.
VIII. Shorten the school day, and go to all year school. 4 three month sessions, with 2-3 weeks off in between (taken of course from the 3 month window)
IX. State developed lesson plans for use by teachers who wish to use them. It's unbelievable how much teacher prep time we waste having every teacher re-invent the wheel. When someone gets a teacher certification it should come along with precise lesson plans / worksheets / test bank questions so that new teachers can spend more time developing relationships with students than being hermits in their dens surfing the net for class activities many of which you need to pay for to access. Teachers should spend more time working on their delivery and less time creating their script.
X. Stop paying all teachers based only on their experience. Some classes are much more difficult and challenging to teach than others. Stop paying all certificates the same, let the free market decide what a biology teacher should earn compared to a teacher with a less demanding curriculum to teach.
XI. School uniforms. They are cheap, they work. Students/parents adjust to them fabulously. They cut down distractions and build a team-like atmosphere.
I. Get rid of grade levels and offer courses college-style. No more failing for the entire year because of one or two courses. No more putting kids in classes they don't meet the prerequisites for. No more having classes with 12-grade readers sitting along side 3rd-grade readers.
II. Reading level appropriate textbooks. I'm sick and tired of giving students texts that they don't have the ability to read. If we can't address the varying skill levels within a class, the least we could do is have alternative texts for those who have poor reading skills.
III. A process to transfer chronically disruptive students to either individual education centers, or alternative schools designed for disruptive/apathetic students. Class time is just too important to expect a teacher to play psychologist with a student while wasting everyone's time.
IV. Cameras in the classroom accessible to the public to monitor any time.
V. More awards/shows/competition opportunities for students to gain better awareness of their progress and for positive reinforcement and also to increase their level of concern.
Do you have any suggestions for school systems NOT based on producing: externally obedience (when to eat, what to think, when to socialize, when to exercise, when to rest/sleep, when to start and stop thinking about a subject...) hierarchy subservient (factory) workers indoctrinated by ageism/knowledgeism authoritarian bullies ('I'm older or know more than you so I can tell, demand or even threaten that you do what I tell you - subject, activity, age group socializing...'), in what often amounts to a punitive police state environment.
In such a school systems our precious power-less children are distracted and indoctrinated on how to avoid the internal causes of their magnificence and instead are focused on addressing the external symptoms (grades, conformity, external rewards...) - and since ACTIONS speak louder than words... this is what the typical school is really 'teaching' OUR children - selfish externally focused temporary symptomology.
The trickle down results are OBVIOUS - Just look at... and experience how the majority of our society lives and deals with: health, social, environmental, political, mental... problems!
-Why offer choices in what kids should learn? Do they know any better? Why not make Science, Math, Language(s), History & Geography, Art mandatory? Kids should be made to learn everything.
-Start holding back kids who cannot handle school. People cry about self-esteem, but pushing ill prepared kids through school is a serious disservice to society.
After reading tons of articles here and in other media, it seems that most of the "problems" with education have been manufactured by those providing "innovative solutions". Does you child have focus issues, hey let us give him an iPad to do his homework! Poor writing skills, here is another gizmo..i.e the magic clicker! Problem solved, right?
To my knowledge, most of the data we have right now are correlative. Correlations between certain characteristics (per-student spending, classroom size, parental income level, etc) and educational outcomes are good for initial analyses, but these correlations are not easily teased apart from each other, so we have nothing that resembles true evidence that any particular characteristic affects educational outcome.
On the flip side, I've seen a number of "great ideas" implemented by school districts with absolutely no measurement put in place to determine whether the idea has any real effect. It's assumed that since it was a "great idea" to begin with, then it must be working and therefore no measurements are needed.
IMO, *any* piece of educational reform should have a thorough measurement and analysis plan accompanying it before it's even considered for implementation.
That truth could *not* have been phrased any better!
"they try to make it all so so obvious and easy"
The still slightly hidden elephant in the room is that, in the process of trying out all these ideas that can potentially save our educational system, we will have classrooms full of students who have had the misfortune to be part of a "tryout" that failed.
To solve our problems, we'll need to truly experiment. And even if we throroughly analyze the plans before we start our experiments, it's certain that more plans will "fail" (have worse results than the status quo) than will "succeed" (show better results). So who do we experiement on? How do we support those students who end up worse off because of the experiment in which they were enrolled?
If you think NIMBY is bad with power lines, you're going to see something that orders of magnitude worse (along with a plethora of conspiracy theories).
It *definitely* ain't going to be easy....
However, we must take into consideration the social and economic factors involved in the students' circumstances in life. I believe this system would be more fair to both the teachers and students rather than relying solely on students' test scores. If a child can't learn or won't learn should not be held against the teacher. The greatest teacher in the world can't teach every one of the students that come into their classroom.
Test scores, which tests and how many? Finland (the highest scoring nation) uses far less testing than we do. Why? How? What can we learn from that? What can we learn from other nations and even our best scoring states? Testing is expensive in money and time. Poverty, health care, parenting and more also impact how children learn. How can we address those issues? Improving them impacts more than just education, so it would be worth the investment in time and money to do so.
Education reformers spend too much time and energy blaming the teacher because it is a tangible image to which almost everyone can relate. True reform would focus on how children learn and the factors that are impeding or improving that learning, but that takes time, research, funding and a political system that leaves education to the educators.