Once more into the battle....

Obama gave his state of education address and by and large I was disappointed.  With the economy he brought to the White House all sorts of experts from all different sides--the pros and cons.  Already with the health insurance concerns he is doing the same thing by having those on both sides of the debate including some folk who do not have health insurance come and discuss what we as a nation ought to be doing.  On all the major issues he has tackled so far he has brought in people with many different views to comment, debate and discuss what the right road ought to be.

But not so the education problem.  He has followed the usual line for those that want to "reform" the schools by wanting merit pay to "reward good teachers," , wanting to get rid of those that don't measure up, as he said,  "stop making excuses for bad ones."  He also wants a longer day for the students and shorter summer vacations.  And then as if it is the fault of the educational system, he wants more math and science teachers.  The one canard that I didn't hear him suggest was vouchers for parents who want to send their children to private schools, a platform for the Republicans.

Let's look at these requests from an educator's point of view.  Let's first start with the longer school day and shorter summer vacation.  If we are not doing a good job teaching our children now, how is more time in the classroom going to help?  Do we have so much more to teach that we need more time?  This leads us to a major educational question that should have been asked before Mr. Obama made his speech--which knowledge is of most worth?  Plato asked that questions long ago.  What do you want our children to learn?  And don't give me that stuff about, "In my day....". The times they are a-changing.  

I finally found the quote from Margaret Mead that seems to fit this discussion.  "we are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knows yet."  What should our curriculum be--what should our children learn to be successful in life.  And how much of the curriculum do we need?  When I was in school I learned about the war of independence, the civil war and WWI.  I lived through WWII--there were no test questions on that war.  Today's students are not only required to learn about WWII, but add the Korean, the Vietnam, the Gulf war and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  How many wars does a child need to know about?  I am reminded by my counterpart in a school of education at a Russian University when he said to me, "our problem is which history do we want our children to learn?"  Do we want a longer day to learn about war?

Let me flail about on the need for science and math teachers.  First off, do we have a shortage?  I haven't heard my local school districts complaining about not having enough science and math teachers.  We could use more of every type of teacher.  But for Pete's sake look at the problem.  IF you were a math teacher making $50,000 (before taxes) a year and could make $150,000 at Boeings or a start up computer software company why wouldn't you change jobs?  If you were a good chemistry teacher making $50,000 and had a job offer from a pharmaceutical company with a salary close to $200,000 what would you do?  

I once had a graduate student working on his master's degree.  He was an experience middle school teacher who wanted to learn more about technology in the classroom--computers and stuff.  He was an excellent teacher and was close to completing his degree from my university when I suggested he do an intern with Microsoft during the summer.  He could make some money and get a wider view of technology in education.  He did so.  And never came back.  One course away from his master's he moved his family to Kirkland, thanked me and never returned to the classroom as a teacher.  Piety. I'm sorry I sent him to Microsoft.

Somewheres in his speech, Mr Obama talked about how our kids rank with other industrialize countries.  Particularly in Europe countries, children are sorted our by the ninth grade as to who is going on to higher education and those that will be interning on the job.  Our students comprise of ALL students, minorities, special education needs, and those drop outs that the president mentioned are compared to the that first group of students in Europe who will go on to advanced education.  We're comparing oranges and grapes.

I've already ranted about merit pay in previous blogs.  In my mind it is one of the dumbest ideas conceived for education.  In all probability if money was the motivating force, those people would not have gone into education.  Let's face it.   You go into education because you want, no, need to be a teacher.  I can attest that most of my undergraduate students wanted to be a teacher.  Remember my student teacher with the motorcycle?  I remember her crying saying she had to be a teacher.  Even in rough times when they were certain that there would be few jobs available, most of my students said they were going to be teachers.  Other professions may have their calling--the military?  "I want to be a warrior."  The medical profession? "I want to help sick people."  Teachers want to teach!  And you know, Mr. President.  If a teacher is not doing an effective job teaching they want to know how to do it better.  I don't know of a single teacher who didn't want to be a better teacher.  You want to get rid of those teachers?

I have mixed emotions of charter schools.  What research I have seen is a mixed bag but the one thing that seems to stand out is that most charter schools are homogeneous--mostly white students.  Perhaps that is why they score well.  One of the things that I remember when I visited a Norwegian elementary school was that it was all white Norwegian students. Remember the phrase from that Seattle Asst. Superintendent?  A disadvantaged student is one who learns something at home that is not reinforced at school and learns something at school that is not reinforced at home.  Ah, you remember it.  Good.  

Last night there were a flock of television talk shows commenting upon the President's speech. "Get rid of the unions."  "Get rid of those bad teachers."  "Close the bad schools."  All sorts of things were being said--I'm glad that most of who were saying it had not been in my classes.  I would have had some certain failure grades to hand out for critical thinking.  But a more amazing thing seem to be taking place no matter which station and which talking host.  There was not a single teacher being interview.  Not one!  Everyone talking and making suggestions was not a teacher. Fascinating.

Well, you better go thank your favorite teacher today for tomorrow they may be released.

 

Education associations....and reform

I note in the media (newspapers, television and on the web) that much is being said about the Washington, D.C., public school superintendent.  She wants to offer merit pay to teachers that will forego tenure and some reports say that those teachers will earn over $100,000 per year.  Perhaps.  You'll note that I'm not holding my breath.  School reformers always seem to want to do two things--provide merit pay to some teachers and to get rid of the teachers union.

Let's talk about merit pay first.  In the most simplistic form, merit pay is a financial award to those teachers who's students progress the most in selected learning, i.e., getting higher test scores.  How else are you going to measure teacher against teacher?  Well, you might measure teaching behavior.  In this case you have a principal sit in the room and watch the teacher and rate their teaching skills.  I taught in a school where the principal was required to rate the teachers from the top to the bottom except we didn't have a bad teacher in the school.  How can you do that task.  

Okay, so you get teachers from another school district to come and watch you teach.  For how long--an hour, half a day?  All day?  The flu hits your school and a third of your students are absent and the evaluating teachers come to visit.  How do you rank a school teacher under those conditions.  Or suddenly it is head lice in your class.  And you're going to evaluate my class today?

The problem is that we have some teachers who have eighteen children and others who might have thirty six children in their class.  Some classrooms have special needs children while other classrooms have minorities or new foreign students.  The classrooms are not equal.  So how do you measure the teacher.  

Some years ago a study was done in a suburban school district of Seattle.  They deliberately picked a fairly well to do district that had no poor schools and very little minorities.  Upper middle class.  The researchers then decided to pick teachers from another school district to come in and evaluate the teachers in their teaching behaviors.  They also looked at test scores.  No principals were involved nor was the superintendent's office.  The merit pay was something like four thousand dollars added to those that were picked to be the best.

Here are a few things that happened.  First off several of the teaching staff that were already considered top flight teachers in the district sent in their letters of termination.  Because they were good, they were hired by other districts who are always looking for good teachers.  Another factor noted by the research staff (not part of the school district) was that there were less interaction among the teachers in the school, in essence, "why should I share my ideas with my colleagues if they will get the pay off?"  It was noted that there were less teachers in the teacher's lunch room.  Students also noted in the schools that a change in atmosphere--school wasn't as much fun anymore which affected student learning.  Some teachers reported that they were less incline to try new ideas in the classroom in case evaluators were to drop in.  Lessons tended to stick to tried and true.  No innovations.  

Some teachers were awarded merit pay however the negative results in the schools were enough for the district to stop the research.  Parents complained that they did not like what was happening in their schools.  If I remember correctly the research was to go for five years but was discontinued after three years.

Sociology leadership research seems to show that there are different leaders in each school, some teachers are good at one subject while another might be good at a different subject.  By and large teachers tend to support each other and to suggest different approaches to different subjects.  They share ideas.  The teachers I know want children and young adults to learn.  I've never met a teacher that didn't want their students to learn.

The Washington, D.C. school superintendent says she is going to fire inefficient teachers and reward those whose students score well.  Perhaps some of those so-called inefficient teachers have tough classes and they are let go.  So now those students that are hard to manage are now in those classrooms of the merit teachers.  Will they continue to do well with larger classes and harder students to manage.  I doubt it myself.

There was a time when the United States had one of the best educational systems in the world. Parents moved here so their child could go to our public schools.  Not anymore.  We have slid backwards.  We need more teachers and we need better school buildings.  We have good teachers but they have been placed in unattainable situations by having to teach to a test and not teach what a child needs.  There is a saying among educators that if Rip Van Winkle were to wake up after a hundred years sleep the one thing he would recognize is the school house for in all probability it hadn't changed one bit.  Merit pay?  Not on my watch.

School Reform--a four lettered word.

Actually, I had outlined another post for today but several items all related to the same subject has pressed my buttons.  Some cuss words have been expressed albeit privately.  I am ticked and disgusted.  Did I say upset?  Fuming? And a few other words I learned in the Army.

I have been involved with teachers and teaching since 1956 when I first started teaching in a suburb of Seattle.  If you wish we can add  four more years of taking education classes during my undergraduate days.  And I worked for two summers as a certified New York State recreation director (read playground leader).  I have been in more public and private schools then most people.  

So what has set me off?  In recent weeks there have been a spat of op-ed pieces, editor's comments, letters to the editor, as well as full fledged articles alluding to "Educational Reform."  "With the coming stimulus package aimed at education and a new school house cabinet chief, it is time for "educational reform."    Sub divisions of this subject include, "Perhaps now we can get rid of all those bad and inefficient teachers like they did in Washington, D.C."  "Get rid of the teachers' union!"  "It's time to get back to basics." And my favorite, "We didn't do it that way when I went to school."  "Schools ought be run like a business."

Pardon me while I run off in several directions all at the same time.  What journalist or newspaper editor has been in a school recently beyond a parent/teacher conference.  Spent at least a whole day in the school.  Talked to teachers, teacher aids, staff and the administration.  Practically none at all.  I have a friend who constantly says, "get rid of the bad teachers and I'll vote for the schools."  Yet, he hasn't been in a school in recent memory.  What makes those journalist experts on the schools? [an aside:  I wonder what the publisher of a newspaper would say if I suggested in this blog how to improve or reform the paper--I know how to read.  Or maybe we ought to reform the medical profession--I've been sick before.]

And what do they mean by educational reform?  The same old ideas are thrown at us:  we need merit pay, we need to teach mathematics and science, we need discipline in the schools, we need better teacher training, we need contract schools.  I can attest personally that some of these ideas were being thrown around right after World War II.....in the late forties.

Have you noticed that all this talk about educational reform comes from the non-educational world.  You rarely if at all hear of desires for educational reform coming from school teachers themselves.  They know what they have to do and they will do their best to teach the students.  Just get out of their way.

Change of tone and direction.........

Let's go over some of the problems facing our educational system right now.  The basics--we have school buildings that are over a hundred years old.  President Obama mentioned one in his speech that was build in the 1850s and when the train ran by that school you had to stop teaching.  And the auditorium was not safe to use anymore.  This is not uncommon.  We have old school buildings and many of them are two small to be efficient.  You cannot run a four or six room school anymore. Take the cost of heating, repairing, maintain that school.  Add up the cost of the teachers salary, custodial salary, principal and secretary, phone, lunchroom staff salary, insurance (on an old building).  I've left off some givens like books, papers, equipment.  Add those all up for a year, then divide by the number of students.  It cost more per student to run a small older school.  Ask any Education Administration professor--they have been teaching this for years.  It is a fact.

If new schools to replace the old are part of the school reform package, then I am for it.  

Another major problem facing schools, teachers and learning is the "No Child Left Behind" and in this state the WASL (Washington Assessment of School Learning).  These are tests that measure to see if children are learning.  Not just anything but specific information.  It doesn't matter if the student has just arrived from a foreign country or comes from a poor neighborhood (like sections of  New Orleans?) they are required to show "learning".  If enough classes do not score well, then the school is judged "Not up to standard."  Needs to be punished.  I intend to write more in depth about these tests at a later date.  They are abominable. 

I will admit up front that I am from the school of thought that if you want good schools then this is going to cost you money.  And I have data to support my thinking.  What high schools in the State of Washington are always (yes, alway!) listed in the 100 top high schools in the United States by US News and World Reports.  Always!  Newport High and Bellevue High.  Two other of the Bellevue school districts high schools also make the list from time to time.  They are the only high schools in the state listed.  And guess who pays the most per student in the State of Washington--Bellevue.  

Guess what three school districts always scored well on the WASL tests?  Mercer Island, Bellevue and the Lake Washington (Kirkland) School Districts.  Guess where the money is? An interesting phenomenon is that there are no private schools or academies on the list.  Why?  I asked the administrator of one school and he mentioned that they 1) didn't need anymore students and 2) didn't want any publicity.  They just don't fill out the forms.

Let me also cite the fact that the 1st offspring, i.e., the President's daughters are going to a private school and the known tuition per child is $35,000 per year.  Got two kids and $70,000 per year? Have I got a school for you--several in fact and they are all good.  Excellent.

But here lies an interesting fact which I can't change.  Most young marrieds have children and most young marrieds don't have a lot of money.  The people who want to disable the public school system in favor of private schools are all grumpy old men....who have money.

Another problem facing the public schools is the state legislatures.  Yes, all of them.  They micro-manage the schools by passing a law saying that the schools have to teach this or that.   In this state we have to teach about the holocaust.  Required.  Also we have to teach about African American History month.  Why just one month?  I know a number of teachers that teach about black Americans all year long (have you wondered what an Asian American child feels when there is no Asian American month?).  But a law is a law.  There are so many interest groups that come before the state legislatures that the easy way out is to pass another law that says teachers ought......  you fill in the blanks.

You know (one of my English teachers is turning over for that start of a sentence) we really don't need educational reform (unless it is to improve the school buildings).  Teachers know how to teach--we need to get out of their way and support their teaching behavior.  It is a bit like learning--you can punish, hit, yell at a student and he/she will improve at whatever you want them to learn (maybe).  But praise and encourage and the students learn even more.  The same holds for teachers.  

I'm finally running out of steam and anger.  I expect that this subject is far from closed and more will be said.  My next post will be about the worst teacher I ever met....and how she was teacher of the year.  Really.  I also intend to write about old school buildings, merit pay, and some other areas that people are concerned with--but the next one is about bad teachers. 

Meanwhile, if you're not upset with me, go thank a teacher who taught you how to think.