School Reform
Desperate times calls for desperate measures is the cliché that describes the way school systems across the country are being affected by budget woes. The result of countless school closings and the elimination of teaching positions are devastating but there is a silver lining. In most cases, attention is being drawn to struggling and low performing schools, many with declining enrollment. Detroit, Kansas and many other school systems are aggressively identifying waste and unnecessary spending within school districts leading to a re-allocation of funds and personnel.
School officials can’t do it alone. It’s imperative that parents and citizens work together with their respective school boards to ensure that even in these tough economic times, a good quality public education is and will be available to our future leaders.
Comments
1. Todd said...
Failing schools are the result of failing teachers.Its about time that teachers have to provide results like the rest of occupations.I had to pay for a private education due to the lack of instruction at my local public school.I vote for vouchers!
3. kambui said...
I'm for the co-existence of private and public schools.
Keep in mind that at the end of the day, organizations do not fail because they are public or private. Organizations fail because of a lack of strategy, the strategic mis-alignment of diverse groups in the organization, the lack of tools to implement the strategy, and a common idea of what "successful" delivery of the strategy looks like. Private corporations fail all the time without these without these components.
Meanwhile, CEO's in surveys continue to express concern that future American workers lack the skills to compete in the global economy.
I won't write a book today, but a successful solution should:
[1] Provide the best teaching delivery processes to high-needs students. If charter schools are going to be a strategic bet, then it makes zero sense to leave behind the children who suffer most from the achievement gap. I've read reports that some charter schools were "cherry-picking" among the available pool of students. This needs to stop. High-needs students need to be a priority. Otherwise, we will spend more tax dollars housing them in jails and giving them public assistance down the road.
[2] Adopt the so-called 21st century framework for a national education agenda (e.g., critical thinking, communication skills, foreign language proficiency, problem-solving, technology proficiency, etc.)
[3] Implement monitoring and reporting of teacher performance and tie compensation to specific performance metrics. In the corporate world, we would call it "pay-for-performance." Which means...
[4] Teachers who do not perform need to be removed from their posts without drama.
[5] Pay teachers more money for taking on harder assignments. That means placing the some of the most talented teachers in high-needs neighborhoods. Since those teachers (theoretically) will have to work harder with high-needs students, they should earn more money.
[6] Implement more robust measures for student performance other than taking a statewide exam. Bush's NCLB policy goof caused school systems to ignore a 21st Century education agenda in favor of teaching kids how to take a test.
Solid leadership and strategic principles will address the school crisis. We need to look beyond the suggestion that a private school will be a magic bullet. A shift in strategy sounds more like the answer...
Okay, I'll cut this short...
song currently stuck in my head: "here comes the sun" - the beatles
4. Wayne said...
You have got to be kidding me. Were Closing schools because what now.
How about the school Adminstrator, reopen the schools and Teachers Start Teaching these young children or young future leaders of tommorrow.
School Administrator - Reopen the schools and start holding Priciples, teachers responsible for thier actions. If you have to run the failing school like a military school than do it.
This should be where the discipline starts.
The objective is to educate the children, not cater to every little whimb from those who don't know what's going on.
Failing teachers - Theres no excuse why you as an educator can't train these students.
The first primary thing is to straigten out the problem we are having with the children failing. Remember Joe Clark in lean on me. Let's get a clue folks!!!!!
Instead of kids wandering the streets when they can be learning and teachers can be doing thier jobs, than they might see a chance in this.
Learning should not be a big thing. putting a price on learning is crazy.
Paying thousands of dollars to get a piece of paper to say that your well rounded is stupid. Every child, young adult or senior should be able to learn without a big cost.
Today, we are paying thousands of dollars for the Name of the school. WHY?
5. kambui said...
Wayne, I believe part of the problem is that two opposing schools of thought exist when the discussion of student achievement comes up.
One school of thought says that no other controllable factor has the most impact on student achievement than the teacher. The other school of thought says that teachers cannot “reach” students because of the other barriers (poverty, neighborhood, undernourishment, etc.)
I am a believer in the first school of thought. The other factors are important, but a school has no direct control over outside forces, save for the nourishment issue.
The next problem is that even if one is willing to agree that teachers are the most important controllable factor in student achievement, there have either been [1] ineffective methods to measure the effectiveness of teachers or [2] resistance on the part of teachers to be measured. Nevertheless, I suggest a more aggressive implementation of programs to measure teacher effectiveness. I imagine the teachers’ unions will begin sharpening their swords over this, but hey…
More broadly, there needs to be a more effective way of measuring progress across school systems. This approach to accountability should be deployed as a best practice.
I’m not sure what you mean when you say well-rounded, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that global executives like to hire smart kids who are “well-rounded” as opposed to hiring simply smart kids. Corporations are becoming flatter and more globally distributed. Simply knowing that 1+1=2 is not enough these days. Workers will need to understand the importance of “2,” build a list of options to address “2,” as well as communicate to the rest of the organization (up, down and across) why they should give a flip about “2.”
I also agree with you that education should be free…
song currently stuck in my head: “music is my sanctuary” – gary bartz
6. Jesse said...
You are on point.Hoping that lemons can be turned into lemonade.Enjoy your broadcasts,but wish you had more time.We should all call Sirius to demand more Tanya Free.Can I get an Amen?
2. Tim said...
I agree with Todd . Vouchers will create competition.Public schools will benefit and thrive. Vouchers are only a threat to teacher unions.
4/7/2010