I don’t know if reformers want to hear from an experienced teacher, but in case they do, here is a sound proposal:
| After 39 years in education and living through many policy changes I can tell you from personal experience that children’s standard of living influences their success with school curriculum more than ANYTHING else. In my opinion we need to focus on reducing the number of children in poverty and invest in parent education and early childhood education. |
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Two problems with this advice:
1. The person giving it has 39 years of experience in the field. Education reformers do not listen to anybody with more than 39 days experience in the field of education.
2. This person is giving advice to education reformers. Everybody knows that education reformers NEVER take advice. They give advice, they do not take it.
It’s a shame, because what this person has to say is worthy and true. But again, what education reformer has ever cared about those things? They get in the way of “bolder, faster change.”
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So throwing money at a problem will solve it?
Reduce poverty? Again, you ignore quality education when you focus on social engineering.
Go back to the basics. Teach and educate. Leave the social engineering, parenting, counseling, etc to the churches and the parents.
Focus on what public education is supposed to be and make it exceptional.
When you ignore the mission of public education, you are determined to fail. Do not get caught in that trap. This is where the Progressives want public ed to go. As it becomes a medical facility, Church, and parental authority, it loses the focus and mission.: Academic excellence!!!
When you lose the focus and mission, the Govt. has to step in and fix it for you.
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I’m confused by your comment. If we know that reducing poverty, educating parents about child development, and providing early childhood education improve children’s educational outcomes, how would investing in these things be at odds with public schools’ “focus and mission” to produce “academic excellence”?
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How do you specifically do all of this?
I live in the richest district in my state and the dumbing down going on in our own school district forces me to put my kids in a parochial school.
What drives parents out of these schools are summed up here:
Lack of discipline
Lack of academic excellence
The above post makes the argument that IF we raise the standard of living, and reduce poverty, this will all work out.
Really? Because I don’t see that in my district.
I opted to take my kids OUT of the richest district in the state and put them in a Catholic school that looks like it’s falling down.
WE have this BIG gorgeous public high school but I opted for the one that looks like it’s in desperate need of repairs. We serve the poorest children in the state in our Catholic school while our public school serves the richest kids in the state.
When a school with a tiny budget can offer a better education than the richest district in the state, then I question this solution.
The poorest kids in the state get academic excellence and a well disciplined environment in the Catholic school that looks like its falling down vs, a lack of discipline and a dumbed down education in the richest public in the state.
The STATE is a poor substitute for a parent.
I DO agree that the family unit needs to be supported. But that needs to come from other sources.
IF the argument is to support the family structure, there are plenty of pro-family groups out there that do a fabulous job. Let them do what they do best and let’s expect the schools to educate again.
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I’ m in favor of throwing money at this problem, but we have aim carefully. A modest investment in improving school breakfast/lunch programs, health care (there are more school nurses per child in rich schools than in high-poverty schools) and better school and public libraries in high poverty areas will significantly improve educational achievement (and make life much better) for millions of children. Instead we are throwing billions at testing and computer companies for systems and products/tests that nobody wants, nobody needs, and that are unsupported by research.
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Show me. We’ve been throwing money at these things and it’s still not enough.
Where is the PROOF that spending more money on this will improve education?
YES we are wasting it on computer companies, etc. but home-schoolers are proving that you can spend almost no money and give a child an EXCELLENT education.
Where do they succeed? Look no further than the materials they use.
When our schools waste it on fuzzy math/Outcome Based nonsense/ Language arts that lacks grammar instruction, it’s easy to see why we are graduating illiterates.
Go back to the basics. Offer these kids a solid academic education so when they graduate poor, at least they will be literate.
Many of them now graduate poor and illiterate.
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Have you ever taught in a classroom? Your comments are often insinuating that teachers don’t teach. That is demeaning.
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Kathy1 I have teachers in my own state telling me they are NOT ALLOWED to teach. That’s the problem. These teachers WANT to teach but are NOT allowed.
We have teachers who are being reprimanded if they teach for 15 mins a period. If they teach for 10 mins, they are fine.
This is the new re-invented school system that will be going nationwide, so just hang tight.
We have project based learning where the kids are teaching each other.
Now when the kids are frustrated because their teacher wont teach them, who do you think everyone gets angry at? NOt the STATE who is forcing this reform on the school. NOT the administration that goes along with this insanity.
Do NOT assume that this is an attack on teachers. The teachers are FED up with all of this too.
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