Benchmarking is popular in business. After studying the performance of the top companies in a particular arena, other companies emulate the leaders' best practices seeking the same level of success.
This method has made its way into education. For example, the new common state standards for reading and mathematics were written after study of the academic standards of the world's top-achieving countries. These new American standards will be nearly universal in the United States because 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted them.
Surpassing Shanghai: An Agenda for American Education Built on the World's Leading Systems by Marc S. Tucker and colleagues takes benchmarking one step further. The systems of schooling in Shanghai (China) Finland, Japan, Singapore, and Ontario (Canada) are analyzed, since students in those countries or provinces consistently outperform American students on international tests of academic performance.
According to this analysis, six key factors underlie the success of those top performers:
1. Funding schools equitably, with additional resources for those serving needy students
2. Paying teachers competitively and comparably
3. Investing in high-quality preparation, mentoring and professional development for teachers and leaders, completely at government expense
4. Providing time in the school schedule for collaborative planning and ongoing professional learning to continually improve instruction
5. Organizing a curriculum around problem-solving and critical thinking skills
6. Testing students rarely but carefully -- with measures that require analysis, communication, and defense of ideas
In the book, Tucker concludes, "high-performing states and nations are focused on building coherent systems of teaching and learning, focused on meaningful goals and supported with universally available, strategic resources."
In the United States, common state standards are intended to bring greater coherence to education, but those standards are just beginning to be implemented, and it is too early to see the effects. Furthermore, setting standards is an essential step but only one element of success.
Unfortunately, most other practices of high-achieving countries are not being implemented broadly and consistently in the U.S. Grossly unequal funding between school districts is tolerated in far too many states. Teacher pay is not comparable to that of other college-educated workers ("Teacher Pay: U.S. Ranks 22nd Out of 27 Countries," Huffington Post blog, 8-30-11). Teacher preparation programs vary widely in quality, and too many professional development efforts are short-term, disconnected or irrelevant.
In addition to not adequately addressing factors that are essential to the success of high-performing countries, the U.S. is pursuing school reforms unknown in those countries. Extensive student testing, leading to punitive actions for schools with inadequate test results, is at the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The creation of charter schools, operated by a variety of for-profit and nonprofit groups, is encouraged by conservatives and liberals. Many states have endorsed alternative routes to recruiting teachers that provide candidates with minimal preparation.
As Tucker points out, "none of these jurisdictions -- Finland, Japan, Ontario (Canada) Shanghai (China) or Singapore -- is focused on the pursuit of narrow test results, market-based reforms, a deskilled teaching force presumably motivated by threats of firing, or a competitive approach that sets up some schools, teachers, and, consequently, students as winners, while setting up others as losers."
Some will argue that the United States is unique -- that what brings success in other countries is not relevant to our situation. The American steel and automotive industries once also believed that. They sank, until they realized that knowledge did not stop at our nation's borders.
Are our leaders making the same mistake with school reform that those decimated industries made in their areas? In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama noted that "America has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with college degrees" and that "as many as a quarter of our students aren't even finishing high school." Other countries have overtaken us.
Not everything done abroad is good, nor is it always transferable to the U.S. But, with school reform, we are unique in pursuing so much testing, punitive measures against schools and teachers, and the creation of so many independent charter schools. At the same time, we are ignoring financial inequality among schools and school districts, not paying our teachers a comparable wage, and encouraging practices that lead to incoherence.
This year and next, the NCLB requirements will undoubtedly change, through either waivers granted to states by the U.S. Secretary of Education or amendments to the law crafted by the Congress. Now is a good time to ask whether we are on the right path to better schools. If not, we had better change fast if we want to be competitive in the world.
Yes, "we" have, Jack. If by "we" you're referring to the relatively small but well-organized, well-funded elite that have largely convinced most Americans that our schools are a "disaster" and only by making them more like private, for-profit businesses can they improve.
So, yes. If you're among those folks, you were indeed wrong.
However, it sounds as though you---and many like you---are beginning to sober up, look at the actual facts, and come out of denial. And I laud you for it.
Now, let's see a push for real, substantial changes in policy and funding that WILL improve American education. And let's begin by disposing of the odious canard that the only real problem are "lazy" unionized teachers.
In Finland, they have traditionally had strong, public early childhood education much of which takes place outdoors even in the winter. When their children enter school at the age of seven, they are physically and emotionally regulated and are able to concentrate. That's right, they have consistently held the top or second place in education testing and they don't teach kids to read or write until they are seven.
Canadians are looking increasingly towards play based early childhood education reforms as research demonstrates this is what works (see the new Ontario Government curriculum for full day Kindergarten and Junior Kindergarten)
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindergarten_english_june3.pdf
So,
If your classroom is anything like mine, you are seeing kids less able to listen and far more distracted in every subject area. I recommend watching this Stuart Shanker video in which he gives a workshop on self regulation.
http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?videoid?689441382001
The failing schools in our inner cities have one thing in common, a lot of misbehaving kids, weak learners. They struggle from the beginning. The lack of self regulation is evident.
The majority of children in our inner cities have stressful childhood due to the poverty. They spend most of the day being locked inside the crumbling apartments. Even if they are lucky to attend the preschool , they still spend the entire day being locked inside , frequently windowless rooms. By the age of seven we want them to read on the second grade level and to pass the standardized test.
We are taking away play based childhood , replacing it with drilling to the test and testing insanely. How it suppose to improve the brain of the young child and her ability to learn? Why the policy makers can not make the education policies based on scientific research?
The single-minded focus upon minimal skills for the least prepared students has damaged the education of the better students.
I would also point out that the common core standards that are talked about are insufficient to prepare student for pursuing a technical or scientific course of study - Science and Engineering departments expect their students to be well prepared.
And you're right: a for-profit private school is there to make a profit for its owners. But if the school is not successful in educating students it will likely not succeed in creating a profit. But if they are successful then isn't it worth the extra money to send your child there instead of the public school that is not successful? Just a thought. I would hate for you to rage against a successful system simply because you don't like the word profit.
All the social engineering and indoctrination that consumes so much of the day has to be dropped. 6 hours of classes a day ought to be enough to get most of the work done, without homework becoming oppressive. If the teachers' unions would let parents tend to the instilling of moral, ethical and social values and tend to their proper work, the schools would be more effective--and wouldn't be meeting the resistance that they meet when they come looking for money from parents whom they have just offended five ways to Sunday.
The education reform argument glosses over that by age 15 most students are better served with a vocational component to their education. The separation of the vocational from college prep was a fundamental mistake in educational policy that has helped put us at a disadvantage.
But we studied it. National curriculum is against Federal Law. NACOL said that .
But finally we have now at least Common Core Standards.
What ED needs :
to make an arrangement with K12 corporation + 1 or 2 more online content developer company
to develop contents for the common core standards . And use it all USA schools .
Give every child a netbook or tablet.
Even in India they have given tablets at $ 35 to 3.5 million students.
Tablet prices are around $ 100-150 . One can get at $ 5 per month installments.
Equal opportunity for every child in USA .
Problem now every district has their own content bought from some vendor. At high price and low quality. How bad it is .
There are 60 million K12 students in USA and only 1-2 million can get online courses .
The quality of teachers all over USA not good. Look up rural area .
Solution is technology and national curriculum. Change the Federal Law .
Please look what is happening in the world . Look up PISA . Even Turkey is giving away 16,000,000 tablets to its K12 students .
Please go to Ojooido.com and partner with us.
Thank you.
Most important point in learning is motivation.
If one does not have motivation that is DESIRE TO LEARN . you can teach him .
It is better hedrops out and matures after some years . Good idea
I see also one problem USA Hgih schools are too crowded 4000 people in a school too much .
A group of governors shouldn't be the ones sitting around formulating education policy, that is not their job. Nor do they have the knowledge and qualification.
I appreciate heads of large corporations helping schools succeed, like Bill and Melinda Gates. However they should not be pushing policy because that is not their profession/skill set nor do they have the first hand knowledge of what it is like to work in schools.
Most policy wonks, like Michele Rhea, didn't last for more then a 1-3 years teaching. They are not qualified because they lack experience and didn't have the chops to make it as a teacher.
Education is probably the only profession in the US that is no longer being run (at the top) by the those professionals who are most qualified to make the decisions as is the case in any other work environment.
Would you ask a lawyer to make technical decisions regarding the operations of a computer programming business? Would you ask a surgeon to design cars? Would you ask an engineer to design a menu? Would you ask someone who has not step foot into your business make all of the executive decisions for your company?
I can't understand why districts are paying so much money for these canned programs when the teachers already develop lessons and programs as part of their job and they share them with other teachers and other schools.
It's a huge unecessary waste of tax payer education dollars going to private corporations.