The following pairs of choices represent contrasting views of public education. Please read each pair, then circle the view you would like to see in place for the schools of your children or grandchildren. Following the pairings we will tell you how to tally up your selections and lay out some options.
STUDENT PROGRAMS
1. Academics
a. Elementary schools are places where playing and learning are combined with alternative pedagogic approaches to academics.
b. Elementary schools are places where the focus is on specific, narrow areas of the curriculum selected at the national level and the pedagogy favors teaching to the mandated tests.
2. Learning Environment
a. The focus is on learning in a fear-free environment where creativity and risk-taking are encouraged.
b. Creativity and risk-taking are avoided in an environment where testing failure looms at every turn.
TEACHERS
1. Respect
a. Teachers are highly respected and appreciated.
b. Teachers are regularly ridiculed in the media and by national leaders.
2. Training and Selection
a. All teachers have a master’s degree and selection into the profession is difficult.
b. A master’s degree is not seen as beneficial by national leaders. The current trend is to hire beginners with as little as 5 weeks of training in pedagogy.
3. Autonomy
a. Teachers are given considerable independence to select methods and materials appropriate for their students.
b. Curriculum is set at national and state levels. Even the pacing for classes may be mandated at the district level. Materials may be selected at the local level but only from a prescribed list.
4. Unions
a. The labor union works cooperatively with the schools and government to improve educational opportunities.
b. Teacher unions are seen primarily as protectors of incompetent teachers and are regularly bashed by the media and by highly-placed Federal officials.
SCHOOLS
1. Delivery of Services
a. Schools have full autonomy in developing daily delivery of education services.
b. The district determines the schedule and content of the services.
2. Curriculum Decisions
a. Schools plan their own curriculum to reflect local concerns and needs of children.
b. Curriculum is determined by state and national standards and mandated assessments.
TESTING
1. High-Stakes Exams
a. No mandatory state or national high-stakes exams.
b. Mandatory state standardized tests for students determine student progress, Federal funding, and even teacher retention.
2. Test Development
a. Teachers at each school develop their own tests and use descriptive feedback rather than numeric grades.
b. Mandated testing is developed at the state or national level based on pre-determined standards for each grade level, is usually machine scored, and provides little useful feedback to the parent.
3. Cost in Time and Resources
a. Little extra cost since the tests are teacher developed as part of the regular instructional process.
b. State-level costs are in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually and time lost to test-prep and actual testing is measured in weeks of lost classroom time.
DIRECTIONS FOR FOLLOWUP
Step 1: Add up all of the “a’s”.
Step 2: If you had 3 or less, do nothing. You are getting what you want.
Step 3: If you had 4 to 6, start calling or writing your school board and/or legislators to get more of what you want.
Step 4: If you got 7 or more, move to Finland. It is your best chance to get what you want for your children, because all of the 11 “a” choices are currently in place. Ironic, isn’t it, that a country that does not do mandatory standardized testing produces the highest average scores on international tests in science and math.
As we said, you pays your money and you takes your choice. Our choice is being made for us by corporate leaders, legislators, and Federal officials.
Is it your choice? When are you going to speak up for the children?
Currently, “.you just pays your money.” Not much choice for most people unless you can afford to opt out as the President does with his children.
February 4, 2011 at 7:07 pm
As a parent of grown children, I really appreciated the education that my children received in schools that functioned under the “a” plan the majority of the time.
As a grandparent, I struggle with concerns for these children who are in “b” plan schools. A kindergartener is worried that his “bubbles” aren’t colored in correctly (forget learning to write your numbers, just mark the circle under the correct answer…) and a second grader who started worrying about 3rd grade in November because she would have to take “the test”. Another one is a lovely 12 year old who is a year behind because she failed “the test” in third grade and had to repeat the grade despite the fact she made honor roll all year. Then there is the first grade gifted who is always in trouble, frequently even suspended, because he is “too busy” in the classroom and disrupts learning for the other students. Perhaps it would help if something was being presented for him to “learn”.
And as a teacher of 30+ years, I am absolutely miserable . It is too cold in Finland, so I will continue writing my legislators. Learning should be joyous, not a chore!
“And as a teacher of 30+ years, I am absolutely miserable . It is too cold in Finland, so I will continue writing my legislators. Learning should be joyous, not a chore! ”
I gave up everything to just get myself out of public school teaching after twenty years. I was as miserable as Donna Mace states in the above quote. As a kid, I played teacher in the backyard for the neighborhood because I was inspired by and held great respect for my teachers. My sister continues to tease me about playing teacher as a child. We are in our fifties, today.
I know that when I have struggling students that I simply need to spend an afternoon designing a method or way to get it across better. And, the best tests are teacher-made tests because they are tailored to what has been taught. My school system mandated a reading program that wasn’t reaching students well and a three-month test taking strategies curriculum that seemed like an incredible waste of time. It didn’t feel like I was respected for the expertise that I had gained over the years at all. I am still teaching, but just not in the public school system.
I miss the students. I never taught a bad child. And, I didn’t have problems with parents. Administrators and systemic mandates were the problem. I knew how to grow and develop my student’s skills and have them do the deep thinking required of an educated person. My school system did not. It was simply horrible.
You lay it all out there–but I feel compelled to reinforce the point that B costs as much or more than A, frequently. So you pays more money to get those choices: standardized test prep, bureaucratic supervision, adoption of external standards. Even Teach for America charges $2000 per year to place a teacher. That’s right–hiring a TFA teacher means paying that teacher a regular salary, with a $2000 premium paid to TFA for the privilege of having that teacher for two years.
Nice synopsis of the way thing are–with a touch of humor.
The comments above prove that teachers are already familiar with the gist of this article. I did enjoy the tongue-in-cheek approach though.
It’s as if the past 40 years of research and practice has been debunked and an entirely new and better system discovered. Politicians and administrators have “broken the code” for educating all of our students with NCLB like programs and high stakes testing.
What is really going on? Politicians are trying to get elected with the red herring of “schools are broken”. School boards are duped into drinking this cool aid and administrators must also partake to stay employed.
I just noticed that you could get 8 of the 11 a’s by investing in a time machine and going back to John Day, Oregon in 1965.