Obama’s No-Brainer on Education

Our school system is moving toward a business model, providing accountability for process and product in the classroom. While it is tedious and time consuming at times, it does focus the classroom teacher on what measurable difference is being made by our application of curriculum and methodology.
But one factor is still missing in the equation, no matter what changes we make in the schools and the classrooms. The parents have to be held accountable for the behavior and performance of their students before real, measurable success can take place. If we have no buy in from the parent we rarely get buy in from the student.
I have lived in Europe, and my children have attended European schools. The family knows from the first day in preschool that their child's behavior and performance will determine their future. They DO NOT see the educational system as a right, they recognize it as a priviledge, and treat it as such. Teachers are held in high esteem and their reports and input to the family hold their weight because teachers are looked upon as trained professionals. When the school has to buckle on standards and put up with destructive and disruptive behavior because parents might sue, we lose the power in the classroom to be effective and constructive.
America as a whole has to change their perspective on what a free, appropriate public education is before we can make progress toward excellence. Standards for ALL of us, teachers, administrators, parents and students, need to be defined and enforced without exception.
13 years in this business has taught me one thing. I can and do make a difference with my students every day. Almost all of them show measurable academic progress. Some of them soar. And some find that they are valuable in the eyes of at least one person in their life. It can't be measured, but I know it's there, from the look in their eyes to the enthusiatic hugs and thank you's I receive when I run into former students "in the real world." That's the greatest reward I will every receive from teaching.
If I wanted to be rich, I would have been a lawyer!

<a href="http://es-kay.net/?p=465">Snake Oil</a>

Mr. Alter says hostility to measuring results of student performance and to reform of job security is the teachers??? unions??? fault, leading to weak public schools.
Untrue. In actual fact, state education departments played a large part in identifying the vague NCLB requirements that each state put into practice. In California, tables are presented each year in the summer after Spring testing, and comparison proceeds. District with district, school with school in the district and in the state, proficiency for each grade, proficiency levels for each teacher???s class, and individual student scores. Surely, in California, teachers are accountable. Not taken into account are the obstacles low-performing schools must move aside before students reach proficiency. That???s why teachers feel anxious.
Three steps are needed to ensure student success in the public schools, requiring the constant effort of the entire school community. First, NCLB requirements need to be funded, including higher salaries, enough teachers to address the difficulties for students, support staff like counselors to address transiency and attendance. State education budgets and federal education monies must be stabilized. Student success can???t be provided on the cheap.
Second, schools and school districts must provide a consistent curriculum, especially for young children, taught with effective strategies. Although teachers have different styles, the structure of the day and the techniques they use can make nearly every teacher highly qualified to teach state academic standards (another requirement of NCLB). Then the school district must spend money to make sure the curriculum, whichever one is chosen, is used consistently and fully.
Third, each school district and school must provide support for teachers to work together, communicating with each other and with parents, with student success the goal. Professional development to learn how to read assessment data and make decisions for student, teacher, and school improvement is the key to accountability.
Last, Mr. Alter dismisses ???the tyranny of tests,??? but standards, teacher preparation, and evaluation reflect the current student assessments, one test that drags on for days and labels students for a year. A testing reformation is a worthy task for the national and state departments of education.

"Education was free...the essence of American opportunity, the treasure that no thief could touch, not even misfortune or poverty;...surer, safer than bread or shelter...no questions asked, no fees---the doors stood open for everyone of us."
---Mary Antin from THE PROMISED LAND

This was already covered in the excellent report, Teachers and the Uncertain American Future.
See here for the report:
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/press/teachers-and-uncertain-american-future.pdf
And here for commentary on it, many by yours truly;
http://www.ednews.org/community/showthread.php?t=38

Jonathan,
Thank you for your correction from the print edition of Newsweek, in which you erroneously stated that Barack Obama was booed for mentioning charter schools, when the truth is that a few isolated delegates booed, as you have now corrected, when he said he supported merit pay. . Next time, please check your facts before publishing.

However, you made several other errors in your piece which you should now correct. The worst one was your statement that teachers' unions care only about protecting the incompetent. I invite you to investigate the Peer Assistance and Review program in the Montgomery County Public Schools, a program in which the union participates in decisions when allegations of teacher incompetence are made and helps to determine whether those allegations are accurate and whether some employees should be terminated. Does that sound like the "iron-clad job security" against which you rail?

The KIPP schools which you tout get their results with some strategies you haven't mentioned. They require teachers to work 15 to 16 hours a day and to be on call by telephone all evening for students' questions. How many young people do you think will sign up for that regimen, even at higher salaries than are paid today?

Furthermore, the KIPP schools have a policy of forcing out students who are not performing by telling them they will not be promoted to the next grade in which tests will be given. What most students do under those circumstances is to return to the public schools where they will be promoted. Yes, adverse selection works in this realm just the same as it does in the "business world" which you tout, although more and more lately it stands exposed as both greedy and corrupt.

Finally, you warn that teacher unions will just die off as they have in DC and New Orleans because those cities are reform-minded. The New Orleans' teachers union was swept away, as was much of the city, by Hurricane Katrina. With nothing in place, federal education officials jumped at the opportunity to use public funds to fund non-public schools as well as charter schools. (Don't forget that non-public schools never take the tests which are part of NCLB.)

The jury is still out on Michelle Rhee's "reform" package, but I suspect that it is so one-sided in favor of unilateral action and in opposition to due process dismissal that the DC public school system will soon find itself without enough teachers to staff its classrooms. I would never apply to a school district in which every year would be like professional Russian roulette, and I don't think many other people will either.

Jonathan,

Do you have evidence that schools without unions do better? Please share.

Dear Jonathan,

Your article "Obama's No-Brainer on Education" brings up so many important issues--- I want to comment on two of them.

First, how do we assess teacher competence? I came to teaching after several other careers (medical researcher, video editor, executive director of an arts organization, artist, etc.) and did so in part, because I wanted a career in which I could flex my altruistic muscles with some degree of protection--- I truly enjoy helping others, especially children, and I knew from some of my experiences in the business world that I didn't do well in an "every man for himself" kind of environment. Having taught in a public school in the South Bronx for 5 years and a well-to-do Westchester suburb for 12 years, I know I can be an effective classroom teacher. My students in both the South Bronx and Westchester have done well, often beyond my wildest dreams and I am constantly looking for new ideas, ways to improve my teaching, feedback from my students etc. Yet, I am hard put to know to what I should attribute my success. Clearly, having been well educated is important. The influence of my family has been very important. But, then when you get into the specifics of just exactly what works, what doesn't....it's a bit fuzzier than you describe. Flexibility, creativity, initiative, background knowledge, patience, humility, and combinations thereof---well, the list goes on and on. All of my previous careers, for example, have been instrumental in my work. When I reflect on teachers I've had or know for whom I have tremendous respect, there really is quite a huge range of characteristics that can work. So, I just want to state that it may not be so easy to create a check list for assessing who is and who isn???t a successful teacher???or for how to train new ones.

The other comment I want to make is that I have a knee jerk reaction to the idea that education can be treated as a business. Over the past several years, our staff has been asked to read and comment on an array of what-works-in-business type books so that we can apply the wisdom found there to our own practice. I am usually mildly hostile towards this idea, along with the trend toward referring to students and parents as "clients" or education as a "product." It's not just that I see education as a haven away from business, which I do, but it's also that I think they are two very different models??? and that they shouldn't be compared. What drives me is the (?)Emma Lazarus quote that education is a gift no one can take away, as well as my firm belief in public education as a basic human right.

Thanks for your efforts in improving our educational system!

My best to you and your family,
Donna (Light-Donovan)

Comment: It appears that Mr. Alter omitted to mention that in regular public school classrooms teachers make a commitment to teach all students regardless of parental support. In the Knowledge Is Power Program parents must sign a contract. Here's what it says at the bottom of this form : "We understand that if all these commitments are not met, our child will receive consequences, including loss of privileges, placement on "The Bench," and possibly even removal from the school. " Parents select to place their children in these schools, which means they are committed to their children's education. If they do not meet their parental responsibilities of looking over their children's homework and bringing them to school on time then they can be removed. Mr. Alter claims this model cannot be duplicated because there are "not enough effective teachers to go around." This is simply not true. Yes our public school education system, including teacher preparation needs to be improved. But, do not make generalizations and comparisons of public school teachers to charter school teachers. Charter schools run like private schools as they can choose to remove any student not meeting their expectations.

Comment: It appears that Mr. Alter omitted to mention that in regular public school classrooms teachers make a commitment to teach all students regardless of parental support. In the Knowledge Is Power Program parents must sign a contract. Here's what it says at the bottom of this form : "We understand that if all these commitments are not met, our child will receive consequences, including loss of privileges, placement on "The Bench," and possibly even removal from the school. " Parents select to place their children in these schools, which means they are committed to their children's education. If they do not meet their parental responsibilities of looking over their children's homework and bringing them to school on time then they can be removed. Mr. Alter claims this model cannot be duplicated because there are "not enough effective teachers to go around." This is simply not true. Yes our public school education system, including teacher preparation needs to be improved. But, do not make generalizations and comparisons of public school teachers to charter school teachers. Charter schools run like private schools as they can choose to remove any student not meeting their expectations.

Apparently, Mr Alter didn't read page 68 (Ms. Quindlinn's piece), of the current issue or he would know why there is a need for teachers' unions. Also, he might have checked with the NEA to find out just how much effort the entire organization puts into improving schools through their suggestions and cooperation with all administrations, be they school or political units.