You might have heard the dirge of depressing education statistics: The United States has dropped from first to 18th place in high school graduation rates among developed nations. First to 14th in college graduation rates. First to 35th in math. First to 29th in science. First to 32nd in reading. Oh and 30 percent of our kids -- much higher among poor and minority children -- aren't graduating from high school during a time when a college degree is increasingly required to earn a living above the poverty line. And we spend more per student than any of the countries that are beating us.
Many of our schools are literally and figuratively crumbling. They aren't providing American children with the quality education that is the fundamental right of every citizen.
So what do we do? Give up? Move to Finland (#1 across the board)? Canada (#2 in reading and science)? Shrug our shoulders and blame the kids and their parents? No, we can't afford to do that. Ensuring that ALL American children can access a quality education is the civil rights issue of our time. We cannot stand idly by and allow this institutionalized inequality to continue.
But things are starting to change for the better. We, as a society, are starting to wake up. I wrote music for a powerful new film, "Waiting for 'Superman' ", which movingly illustrates the tragedy of our broken education system. The Show Me Campaign -- a nonprofit I founded to fund proven solutions to fight poverty and reform our schools -- is funding a project to ensure that thousands of low-income parents are able to see this film for free so they can understand the problem and the solutions and get involved.
We know how to fix our schools. We just need to DO it. "Waiting for 'Superman' " highlights some schools that are working against all odds.
Although the successful schools featured in the movie are charter schools, they were not highlighted to say that charter schools are the only answer. No one is proposing that every public school should become a charter school. But we'd be crazy not to try to replicate the conditions that make great charter schools work. What charter schools have created is the opportunity to experiment -- free of traditional bureaucracy -- and figure out what works.
I work with one of the most successful charter schools -- the Harlem Village Academies. They are only a few years old and their students come from challenging backgrounds, yet when you walk into their school, you feel the dedication, discipline and hard work the students and teachers put in every day. When their first class of fifth graders started, they ranked in the lowest 20 percent of students. Three years later, they ranked #1 in math in New York. In the most recent tests, 100 percent of their eighth graders passed the state science test, 96 percent passed social studies, and 100 percent passed math (If you'd like to peek inside a HVA classroom, watch this recent video clip.
Harlem Village Academies are not an isolated case. The Green Dot Schools in inner-city Los Angeles were basically considered gang-controlled not too long ago. Only five percent of their students graduated. A group of determined local parents and leaders took over and turned around these schools. In just a few years, their graduation rate is 81 percent and they made Newsweek's Best American High Schools list.
So how do we make sure all schools achieve such success? My friend Dr. Roland Fryer, an economist who started The Educational Innovation Laboratory at Harvard is working to do just this -- he conducted a scientific evaluation of many high performing charter schools around the country and discovered five universal, research-based, successful school strategies:
There is no excuse.
John Thompson: John Legend, Do Not Help the Accountability Hawks Drive Music From the Classroom
The second point I would like to make is about our culture. Everything is marketed in some way to kids. Every corporation is fighting for their attention, Pop and rap stars are telling kids to go out and be rock stars and party all the time. All of the tech gadgets out there are being sold to kids. Even colleges with demands for testing and extracurricular activities make it hard for a kid today to learn in a classroom, and study at home, even as we get better access through technology. We have to give kids more time to learn.
Why schools are dropping music versus cheer-leading and football are beyond me.
You've expressed the issue well. Fanned.
If certain schools are failing there is a systemic and scapegoating one group may be convenient but if you would concede it's simply a simplistic response to a complex problem. Sounds like something hatched by the two party folks.
That's basically already out the window . . . we've given that up because we don't want kids to feel bad about themselves.
Heck in Minnesota, we supposedly make kids take a math test in order to graduate . . . if you fail it 3 times though, you still get to graduate.
Why did they do this? So graduation rates will be higher.
yeah, it would be nice. our politics suck.. our politicians suck... but we all can get along and solve these problems..
Our economy is broken. Families are struggling valiantly to survive.
The same criminals that broke the economy now want Control of our schools.
Just say NO to Charter Schools.
Apparently you don't understand statistics, or didn't read the original post. Or you should admit that global mediocrity is just fine with you, as well as the millions of lives wasted by our "NOT broken" schools.
Why do you fear Charter Schools? Do you believe there should be no freedom of choice in this country, or only when it comes to schools?
At that point, we can discuss Charter Schools.
Charter Schools, benefit a privileged few, and are an attempt to privatize education.
Besides, since when was education a race against other nations?
Competition is great- but not in our schools. Every student can Win.
All I see from your crowd is h8tred. Not reasonable solutions.
The least costly fix is for students to relocate out of the 30 dying metropolises, with their heavy tax burdens, and relocate to modern low density suburbs, where more money can be spent on teachers, and less on buildings and overhead.
Riiiight.
Because it worked so well in Cambodia . . .
As long as irresponsible parents send naughty children to school nothing will change. Lift the limit on school suspension. Teachers should not be babysitters. Child need to be taught and learn manners at home.
People do not go into education to become bad teachers, bad teachers are rare, burnt out teachers is the growing concern.
8:46pm
Alexandria, VA
Parents want their children to be treated fairly--they don't go talk to the teachers because they want to sue the school. But some teachers need to find another career instead of wasting the time of the children and the money of the school district.
"some teachers need to find another career instead of wasting the time of the children and the money of the school district."
seriously?
how many teachers have you met that you would like to see tossed out?
Here's a novel idea, ask why the turnover in public schools, especially in urban schools, for teachers is so high, then ask why.
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I agree with you 100%. Too many on the left are afraid of change