The Single Best, Most Indispensable Essay on Reforming Education

Rethink your assumptions!

Ronald Wolk, founder and longtime editor of Education Week, has published the single best, most indispensable essay on reforming education that I have read.

On the 25th anniversary of the five-alarm "Nation At Risk" report, Wolk weighs in that America has not addressed the fundamental issues that assail our schools and perpetuate American students' "rising tide of mediocrity." Instead of making meaningful reforms, Wolk argues that we "misdiagnosed the problem" and instead made wrongheaded assumptions that have amounted to endless hand-wringing and little progress.

He boils the misdiagnosis down to five assumptions, which I have reprinted here. Beneath each, I have paraphrased Wolk's explanations and included some observations of my own.

Assumption #1: The best way to improve student performance and close achievement gaps is to establish rigorous content standards and a core curriculum for all schools--preferably on a national basis.

No! The "get tough" advocates for better schools via higher standards miss the point that standards, while a useful framework of expectations and educational objective, are only that. They don't compensate for "the conventional school model that is incapable of meeting them." We can't administer high expectations via the "just do it" model. Standards are necessary, but using them as the centerpiece to a national reform movement is misbegotten.

Assumption #2: Standardized-test scores are an accurate measure of student learning and should be used to determine promotion and graduation.

I don't know a person who works closely with students who truly believes this, yet testing continues to cement itself as a dominating fixture in schools. Tests in isolation just don't provide an accurate measure of a living human being.

The overemphasis on testing comes at a heavy price. Valuable classroom time and enormous amounts of money are wasted. Kids don't excel. Students at risk are particularly shortchanged by the mechanistic testing game, and are pushed out the dropout door more quickly. Performance-based assessments paint a much more complete picture of a student's abilities and achievement.

Wolk nails it, "Except in school, people are judged by their work and their behavior. Few of the business and political leaders who advocate widespread use of standardized testing have taken a standardized test since leaving college."

Assumption #3: We need to put highly qualified teachers in every classroom to assure educational excellence.

This is admirable, but not feasible. Since we need millions of teachers, it's not practical to expect them all to be top-notch. Consider that our society treats teachers like subprofessionals, pays them unimpressively, and offers few opportunities for advancement, and it seems hopeless. Teach For America is admirably attacking this issue, but remember that TFA's scalability is limited and that it constitutes less than 0.2 percent of all active teachers. We need to address the drawbacks from teaching and re-imagine the role of a teacher as "an adviser, someone who helps students manage their own education."

DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee made the cover of Time Magazine for her battle against "bad teachers." But what about the crucial work of recruiting, training, and retaining good teachers? It won't come from paying bonuses for high test scores. Wolk argues the human angle, "Creating opportunities for teachers to work together, to teach in teams, to share in professional development, and to be more involved in educational decision-making are ways to bring out the best in teachers."

Assumption #4: The United States should require all students to take algebra in the 8th grade and higher-order math in high school in order to increase the number of scientists and engineers in this country and thus make us more competitive in the global economy.

No! Calculus in 12th grade is not for everyone. We can farm more scientists and engineers by "find[ing] ways to awaken and nourish a passion for those subjects well before high school, and then offer students every opportunity to pursue their interest as far as they wish." It won't happen by forcing advanced high school math on every teenager in America.

Assumption #5: The student-dropout rate can be reduced by ending social promotion, funding dropout-prevention programs, and raising the mandatory attendance age.

When an unacceptably high number of students continue to leave school before graduation, it does no one any good to criminalize them or to repeat empty mantras like "stay in school."

Students drop out mentally long before they stop physically attending school. Wolk explains, "Dropping out of school is not an impulsive decision. The process begins long before high school, often by the 4th or 5th grade, when courses begin to be content-heavy and students can no longer get by with the ability to 'decode' English, but must be able to understand what they read."

We need to understand what pushes these young people out the door, and we need to provide more substantive intervention to more students sooner.

*****

Ronald Wolk has provided a concise wakeup call on an issue whose policy is too often dominated by superficial talking points (Accountability! Data! Standards!). His analysis must be part of our national discourse on how to improve America's schools.

What do you think of his five assumptions? Read the whole essay here. (It requires a free registration to log in.)

Dan Brown is a teacher and the author of The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle, a memoir of his first year in a Bronx classroom.

Comments

[jennyc]

Montessori is the answer. She took mentally retarded children over a hundred years ago when they were stuck in padded rooms and brought them up to the learning ability of a "normal" child. This made her wonder how this type of learning could be used with "regular" children. That's how montessori was started. Montessori educated children at grade 8 have the same education as a traditional school student would have upon graduation. The focus needs to be on how children learn. Why is this never addressed? It is based SCIENTIFICALLY on how children learn best. People really need to be educated about this type of learning. IT's for everyone, not just really smart kids. Teachers need to be retrained. It's all so much of the same failed thing over and over again. There needs to be an overhaul with the focus on what is best for the children. And, the gifted kids, man how they get totally shafted. Kids hate to go school. Montessori feels learning should be a joyous experience. It should be rewarding and fullfilling. And it's not some free for all without structure if it's done like true Montessori. There is a great deal of structure within their studies. Things are hands on, and self correcting. I look at this stuff and it boggles my mind how straight forward it makes everything. You can SEE the math and pick it up. It makes sense, where other schooling is abstract.

[Haditup2here]

From the perspective of someone who has attained an engineering degree, the biggest issue that I have had was the amount of information that I have had to learn within a short period of time as opposed to grasping higher level concepts. Therefore, I think someone needs to take concepts that are learned in math courses such as Calculus I and break them down to fundamentals and try to embed those concepts into lower level math to better prepare students to take on those subjects so as not to be overwhelmed by the amount of information. After all, the ability to recall is greater at the younger age versus those who are older. Although that not an issue for High School, this has certainly been an issue with me as an undergraduate. However, some students in undergrad for whom I have been a Teaching Assistant could not even do basic percentages. On one hand, for those willing to take higher level subjects, they have to make a big jump with not much of a bridge. Meanwhile, others seem to slide through without grasping basics. So you have to ask yourself, what are the factors? Is it attitude and accountability of parent or student or an ill-formed curriculum? Some things seem to be common sense while other factors are perplexing. However, I don't think parents, teacher unions, or even administrators on either end of the aisle are treating this issue with the gravity and the complexity that it merits.

[GunnyJ]

One of the programs lost in all of this is the loss of vocational training. Not everyone is college material or desires to attend college. Reinstate auto shop, wood shop, metal shop for those who know and enjoy working with their hands. Thanks to big business this is becoming a lost art in America since many of these trades are overseas now.
Teachers need to be in classroom more. Use the summertime break to train instead of this built-in 8 week or so holiday. Teachers need to be visible for continuity and reliability. Children should be treated as customers and not underlings. Instead of testing the students, test the teachers and allow students to complete cyclic critique sheets on their teachers. Finally pay the teachers more and minimize the numbers of school board administrators. Most of them are at local school boards going on wasteful boondoggles and going on vacation. Give more authority to the school principal. The principal has been reduced to a senior teacher in many places, but these people know their community and their "customers".

[Haditup2here]

I agree. I think I took my first vocational course sophomore year and decided to take a second one my senior year so I wouldn't interrupt my progression in taking Spanish. Unfortunately, for the semester that I enrolled in which was Transportation Systems, both of the main instructors had left. They brought in this new person and all of the courses were dumped into one. Because, my high school at the time put more focus on becoming a liberal arts magnet with some emphasis in AP Science and Math Courses, this class became a class where people could get an easy grade. In this class they had us tightening screws on some tables and doing very little. When I was told that we were going to paint trash cans, that is when I transferred to Speech and ended up changing from a Physics Class to an Honors Physics Course. Although, I did get more out of physics, I was still outraged especially when I took Engineering Design for Mechanical Engineering. I was good at doing CAD Drawings, Programming, and was decent in doing Math. However, when it came to actually building a design, that is where I had hit the ceiling -- which was a shame since I had always wanted to work with my hands. There was no shop as an undergrad, so I had to make do.

[Haditup2here]

It seems to me that the missing piece in this article and other reform initiatives is dealing with people's style of learning. If there are speech courses to help children who struggling with speaking and those with dyslexia , why isn't there some sort of curriculum to teach students how to capitalize on their learning style while improving upon other learning styles where they are weak in?Therefore, if a teacher is not able to teach courses in math, science, or English at the Middle School level or above, shouldn't they at least get training in catering to different styles of learning? Parents are also a piece of the puzzle in terms of accountability.

I could be wrong, but I think the issue with the education system is an ill-matching of priorities, competency, and skills.

[VikingQuest]

The single biggest mistake the US has made and continues to make on education . . .

More money will solve the problem

Education budgets in most states have tripled or quadrupled in the past 20 years yet there aren't any results.

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

that's because it has all gone to testing - go figure.

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

oh, and I would like some inflation per-capita adjusted figures to back up your claim - thanks!

[Dbos]

As a retired school principal and superintendent , spending 38yrs in education, I have come to the conclusion that every child who enters school must have an individual education plan . Every special need student now has an I.E.P.. We must develop Individual programs for each student . THESE PLANS WILL FOLLOW EACH STUDENT,WITH ADJUST MENTS EVERY YEAR, for their entire career in school.

[VikingQuest]

So what, $4 million per student?

[zombie fairy]

That statement indicates that you don't know what an IEP, what it means, or how it works. An IEP is a document that outlines the students present levels of educational performance, strengths, and needs. It contains educational goals - not lofty goals like attending Harvard, but specific, measurable goals - and a plan as to how to meet them.

It's a great idea and is pretty feasible to implement.

[Ben Dixon]

You left out two other key points. 1. We need parents who actively care and participate in thier children's education. 2. We need stronger discipline in the schools to keep the children in line.

[VikingQuest]

Very good points and I believe the 2 most important points when it comes to education.

If the parents don't care . . . you get inner city school like grad rates.

If the students know they have the power in the classroom . . . it's over.

[zombie fairy]

It's not enough for the parents to care - they have to act, too. Plenty of my students have parents who care about their kids' education, but don't keep up with what the kids are doing, don't ask to look at homework, believe everything the kid says, and are too worried about being a friend to their kid that they don't discipline at home, either. They have to work with the school - if the kid is in trouble at school, he should be in trouble at home to.

[OkieMon]

high school algebra is the most critical math course a student will take and success in this important subject will determine if students will do anything quantitative in their lives....need 2 years of algebra...9th and 10th grades....then geometry in 11th grade and trig in the 12th grade...leave calculus to a senior 1 semester AP course....advanced high schoolers can always take college credit courses on line or at local colleges....

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

I would have been bored silly by your proposition...

[classicalgeek]

So why is it that 12-year-olds successfully pass calculus in former Eastern Bloc countries? I know, I taught school there and talked to them about their homework.

On the other hand, you can look at an organization like El Sistema, which has, in 32 years, mainstreamed 800,000 children at an average cost of $267.66 per student, per year, reduced crime, and created not just jobs, but whole industries.

[zombie fairy]

I guess someone has to speak for different kids. May as well be me.

In order to make this happen, kids have to have strong math instruction starting in kindergarten. The second a student starts having difficulty in math, there should be interventions. I'm a high school special education teacher and I can't tell you how many kids have come through my classroom over the years that can't do math beyond basic addition and subtraction. We can't just throw kids who aren't prepared into algebra because they will fail, and that failure will spread to all of their other classes.

Indiscriminately placing kids in math classes they simply can't do is the fastest way to get them to drop out.