One of the great frustrations with America's public education system is that our success stories are rarely scaled up so that more students can benefit. To our children's detriment, decision-makers are more likely to chase fads, shift course or choose "reforms" lacking evidence of effectiveness than they are to adopt and expand educational approaches that have been proven successful.
Unfortunately, this is true on many levels. Accomplished teachers rarely have opportunities to share their craft with colleagues or to mentor new teachers. The "secrets" of successful schools too often remain a mystery, even to schools close by. And rather than replicate the practices of high-performing school districts for the benefit of far more students, many superintendents seem intent upon putting their own imprint on a school system -- evidence be damned.
The results of an international assessment released earlier this month show the consequences of America's failure to build on what works in education. American students ranked in the middle of countries participating in the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA. Underlying the results are the stark differences between practices in the top-performing countries and the prevailing approaches to education in the United States.
President Obama has said the countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow. Unfortunately for U.S. children, the top-down, test-driven, evidence-free approach to education that dominated this past decade has failed to put the United States on the path that high-achieving nations have followed.
Simply put, the highest-achieving countries in the world out-prepare, out-invest, out-respect and, as a result, outperform the United States.
The top-performing countries on PISA -- Finland, Singapore and South Korea -- place a heavy emphasis on teacher preparation, mentoring and collaboration. They de-emphasize standardized tests, and each has a well-rounded curriculum that teachers can tailor. In Finland, which I recently visited, teacher training is demanding, rigorous and extensive -- with ample clinical experience. Teachers in these countries are esteemed, and are expected to make teaching their profession, and they're virtually 100 percent unionized.
Contrast this with the United States, where teacher preparation too often is insufficient for the complexity and importance of this work. Teachers frequently are assigned a classroom and left to sink or swim. High rates of turnover are expected and even built into the system. Indeed, half of all teachers leave within their first five years. This constant churning costs American school systems $7 billion each year. The cost to American students is incalculable.
The top-performing countries provide a more equitable education for all students and offset the effects of poverty through wraparound services that support students and their families. South Korea provides increased pay, smaller class sizes and more time for collaboration for teachers working in hard-to-staff schools.
Shanghai, which outranked all its competitors, emphasizes support for struggling teachers and schools. As the New York Times reported, "When a school is in trouble in Shanghai, authorities pair it with a high-performing school. The teachers and leaders of the strong school help those in the weak school until it improves. The authorities send whatever support is needed to help those who are struggling." The United States, in contrast, too often substitutes last-resort measures such as school closings and mass teacher firings for this thoughtful approach proven effective by the world's education leader.
High-achieving countries treat teachers as professionals, and responsibility for student outcomes is shared. School systems work with teachers and their unions, and parents and students are engaged and responsible, as well. Compare this with what happens in the United States, where teachers are routinely asked to accept policies made without their input, and then blamed when the policies fail. And often teachers are held solely accountable for student achievement, rather than the mutual responsibility approach that has proven so successful in many other countries.
Educating all our students at high levels is not easy, but our international neighbors show that it can be done. We must study and replicate the best practices, both here and abroad, for the benefit of our kids, and our competitiveness.
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More importantly, he's also found that a "Stand and Deliver"/Transmission model of education is the norm there, with a huge emphasis on standardized testing, with teacher pay and bonuses tied to student performance.
I don't doubt that they do a lot more than the US in terms of teacher prep, and more importantly with regards to the value places on education culturally, but it's not all daisies and butterflies in these places. All three of the countries you listed also have much less diversity with regards to ethnicity and class than the US does, which I'd imagine has an impact on performance on things like PISA, and their pedagogical practices (at least in Singapore) are exactly the sorts of things progressive educators globally rail against in terms of killing creativity and innovative thinking in kids.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/what-international-test-scores.html
Dont' believe it? Try contacting a single one of them. Then get them to connect you with one of their Korean co-teachers. Maybe try to talk to a few to make sure you're getting a good idea of the situation.
Then go back and rewrite this entire thing because your argument collapses.
Randi Weingarten smartly points out that the America's teacher turn-over rate is shocking. She notes that 50% of all teachers leave within their first five years and says, "this constant churning costs American school systems $7 billion each year. The cost to American students is incalculable."
The real problem isn't an inability to fire enough bad teachers, it's our inability to hire -- and retain -- enough good ones.
However, that does not mean we do not focus on professional development, mentoring, and collaboration. As a former teacher, majority of my day was spent in isolation. We need district policies to change and encourage collaboration. I think mentoring could play a vital role in the development of new teachers. However, I still wrestle with professional development. Do we know what good professional development looks like? Do we currently have the human capital to help develop teachers (same issue with human capital applies to mentoring too).
Finally, my concern with Shanghai becoming #1 on PISA, is that prior to this all professors, columnists, and theorists argues we need to be more like Finland, Singapore, and South Korea. With Shanghai surprising the "experts" are we going to be told that we need to take a page out of their book? How long will that last? Will it be until another country becomes #1?
If you want to talk more about it or any other education issues, feel free to e-mail me: davidmichaeldonaldson(at)gmail.com
How do you motivate parents? Glad you asked. How do you motivate anyone? Seems to me you have your carrots (rewards) and sticks (penalties). Why not offer rewards of various kinds to the parents of successful students and penalties up to and including fines and jail to the parents of failing students, when it is clear that the failure is the fault of the parents.
We have yet to reconcile that the system was built on the backs of women.
Higher pay may increase the quality of the teaching force, but there are many other issues that impact career selection.