A letter from a disgusted teacher:
I QUIT
Kris L. Nielsen
Monroe, NC 28110
Union County Public Schools
Human Resources Department
400 North Church Street
Monroe, NC 28112
October 25, 2012
To All it May Concern:
I’m doing something I thought I would never do—something that will make me a statistic and a caricature of the times. Some will support me, some will shake their heads and smirk condescendingly—and others will try to convince me that I’m part of the problem. Perhaps they’re right, but I don’t think so. All I know is that I’ve hit a wall, and in order to preserve my sanity, my family, and the forward movement of our lives, I have no other choice.
Before I go too much into my choice, I must say that I have the advantages and disadvantages of differentiated experience under my belt. I have seen the other side, where the grass was greener, and I unknowingly jumped the fence to where the foliage is either so tangled and dense that I can’t make sense of it, or the grass is wilted and dying (with no true custodian of its health). Are you lost? I’m talking about public K-12 education in North Carolina. I’m talking about my history as a successful teacher and leader in two states before moving here out of desperation.
In New Mexico, I led a team of underpaid teachers who were passionate about their jobs and who did amazing things. We were happy because our students were well-behaved, our community was supportive, and our jobs afforded us the luxuries of time, respect, and visionary leadership. Our district was huge, but we got things done because we were a team. I moved to Oregon because I was offered a fantastic job with a higher salary, a great math program, and superior benefits for my family. Again, I was given the autonomy I dreamed of, and I used it to find new and risky ways to introduce technology into the math curriculum. My peers looked forward to learning from me, the community gave me a lot of money to get my projects off the ground, and my students were amazing.
Then, the bottom fell out. I don’t know who to blame for the budget crisis in Oregon, but I know it decimated the educational coffers. I lost my job only due to my lack of seniority. I was devastated. My students and their parents were angry and sad. I told myself I would hang in there, find a temporary job, and wait for the recall. Neither the temporary job nor the recall happened. I tried very hard to keep my family in Oregon—applying for jobs in every district, college, private school, and even Toys R Us. Nothing happened after over 300 applications and 2 interviews.
The Internet told me that the West Coast was not hiring teachers anymore, but the East Coast was the go-to place. Charlotte, North Carolina couldn’t keep up with the demand! I applied with three schools, got three phone interviews, and was even hired over the phone. My very supportive and adventurous family and I packed quickly and moved across the country, just so I could keep teaching.
I had come from two very successful and fun teaching jobs to a new state where everything was different. During my orientation, I noticed immediately that these people weren’t happy to see us; they were much more interested in making sure we knew their rules. It was a one-hour lecture about what happens when teachers mess up. I had a bad feeling about teaching here from the start; but, we were here and we had to make the best of it.
Union County seemed to be the answer to all of my problems. The rumors and the press made it sound like UCPS was the place to be progressive, risky, and happy. So I transferred from CMS to UCPS. They made me feel more welcome, but it was still a mistake to come here.
Let me cut to the chase: I quit. I am resigning my position as a teacher in the state of North Carolina—permanently. I am quitting without notice (taking advantage of the “at will” employment policies of this state). I am quitting without remorse and without second thoughts. I quit. I quit. I quit!
Why?
Because…
I refuse to be led by a top-down hierarchy that is completely detached from the classrooms for which it is supposed to be responsible.
I will not spend another day under the expectations that I prepare every student for the increasing numbers of meaningless tests.
I refuse to be an unpaid administrator of field tests that take advantage of children for the sake of profit.
I will not spend another day wishing I had some time to plan my fantastic lessons because administration comes up with new and inventive ways to steal that time, under the guise of PLC meetings or whatever. I’ve seen successful PLC development. It doesn’t look like this.
I will not spend another day wondering what menial, administrative task I will hear that I forgot to do next. I’m far enough behind in my own work.
I will not spend another day wondering how I can have classes that are full inclusion, and where 50% of my students have IEPs, yet I’m given no support.
I will not spend another day in a district where my coworkers are both on autopilot and in survival mode. Misery loves company, but I will not be that company.
I refuse to subject students to every ridiculous standardized test that the state and/or district thinks is important. I refuse to have my higher-level and deep thinking lessons disrupted by meaningless assessments (like the EXPLORE test) that do little more than increase stress among children and teachers, and attempt to guide young adolescents into narrow choices.
I totally object and refuse to have my performance as an educator rely on “Standard 6.” It is unfair, biased, and does not reflect anything about the teaching practices of proven educators.
I refuse to hear again that it’s more important that I serve as a test administrator than a leader of my peers.
I refuse to watch my students being treated like prisoners. There are other ways. It’s a shame that we don’t have the vision to seek out those alternatives.
I refuse to watch my coworkers being treated like untrustworthy slackers through the overbearing policies of this state, although they are the hardest working and most overloaded people I know.
I refuse to watch my family struggle financially as I work in a job to which I have invested 6 long years of my life in preparation. I have a graduate degree and a track record of strong success, yet I’m paid less than many two-year degree holders. And forget benefits—they are effectively nonexistent for teachers in North Carolina.
I refuse to watch my district’s leadership tell us about the bad news and horrific changes coming towards us, then watch them shrug incompetently, and then tell us to work harder.
I refuse to listen to our highly regarded superintendent telling us that the charter school movement is at our doorstep (with a soon-to-be-elected governor in full support) and tell us not to worry about it, because we are applying for a grant from Race to the Top. There is no consistency here; there is no leadership here.
I refuse to watch my students slouch under the weight of a system that expects them to perform well on EOG tests, which do not measure their abilities other than memorization and application and therefore do not measure their readiness for the next grade level—much less life, career, or college.
I’m tired of watching my students produce amazing things, which show their true understanding of 21st century skills, only to see their looks of disappointment when they don’t meet the arbitrary expectations of low-level state and district tests that do not assess their skills.
I refuse to hear any more about how important it is to differentiate our instruction as we prepare our kids for tests that are anything but differentiated. This negates our hard work and makes us look bad.
I am tired of hearing about the miracles my peers are expected to perform, and watching the districts do next to nothing to support or develop them. I haven’t seen real professional development in either district since I got here. The development sessions I have seen are sloppy, shallow, and have no real means of evaluation or accountability.
I’m tired of my increasing and troublesome physical symptoms that come from all this frustration, stress, and sadness.
Finally, I’m tired of watching parents being tricked into believing that their children are being prepared for the complex world ahead, especially since their children’s teachers are being cowed into meeting expectations and standards that are not conducive to their children’s futures.
I’m truly angry that parents put so much stress, fear, and anticipation into their kids’ heads in preparation for the EOG tests and the new MSLs—neither of which are consequential to their future needs. As a parent of a high school student in Union County, I’m dismayed at the education that my child receives, as her teachers frantically prepare her for more tests. My toddler will not attend a North Carolina public school. I will do whatever it takes to keep that from happening.
I quit because I’m tired being part of the problem. It’s killing me and it’s not doing anyone else any good. Farewell.
CC: Dr. Mary Ellis
Dr. June Atkinson
Diane Ravitch's blog 
reblogged on Home in Henderson, another NC blog local to our city news and events, where many discussions are had about our vance county schools. http://homeinhenderson.com/2012/10/30/opinion/nc-teacher-i-quit/
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I literally had tears in my eyes reading this. This is from my own heart and mind as I too quit teaching this past February after just under 4 years in the system. This person eloquently said every single thing that I was and still do feel about the broken system… Very very sad. You know a person is broken when they leave the children they have grown to love in the middle of the school year without notice, as this person and I did….
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As a parent I would stand behind Kris, though I no longer live in North Carolina, I am still from there, went to school there, and my education was nothing but lacking. I moved to Iowa and my son’s schools here are amazing. Franklin Middle and Auther Elem have been wonderful. This county’s education has been picked as some of the highest ranked educations in the nation. Kris, how about looking into schools in Linn County Iowa. I think it would be a blessing for you and your family. Not to metion it is a nice place to live and the snow is wonderful.
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Thank you. I still have plenty of fight here in NC, but I will keep that in mind. 🙂
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Amen, amen, amen! Do they think all children learn the same? It’s sickening as a parent and I’m fed up with it. Seriously considering home schooling! Public schools are a let down and it’s a shame!
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Talk with other parents, organize, and engage your leaders. Parents have the real power!
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I think your next step should be to run for office.
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I am the parent of a 9th grader in NC. She attends a public International Baccalaureate school and I’ve been well satisfied with her education. As an invested parent, though, I’ve made it my business to get to know the teachers in this area and I hear this sad tale repeated by many of them. (Though, curiously, not so much with the IB teachers.) Though many of these thread responses shed light on the problems with education in the US, and NC in particular, there is a factor at work here which has not been mentioned by anyone yet. In our mostly rural and deeply conservative state, the vast majority of people – parents, teachers, administrators AND politicians – live their lives in thrall to an illogical and highly superstitious belief system. Deep questioning of the world and our place in it is discouraged and critical thinking is viewed by many as a dangerous pathology. When my daughter was in 6th grade, she and her humanities classmates created a bulletin board showing the cross-cultural connections among creation myths around the world. The Instructional Facilitator of the school made them take it down because it offended HER views as a young earth creationist. No one defended the students or even bothered to explain why their work was academically unacceptable and they were left confused and upset about the rejection. I learned a valuable lesson then about the subtle ways religion was going to influence my child’s education. From parents who complain about science education to administrators seriously uncomfortable with open discussion about freedom and equality in American society, I have seen the erosion of education by forces hostile to intellectual inquiry. This problem lies at the root of much of what is wrong with public education today. For the record, I do not have a college degree and I’m just a housewife, so feel free to dismiss my concerns as the ramblings of an uneducated hick. I like to give people that out if they need it!
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I really enjoyed reading that post. It is people like you and the thoughtful students like yours that made teaching a joy. Unfortunately, the system doesn’t appreciate them…or us…when we try to change the world within our walls. The EOGs don’t test that, so it’s considered a waste of time.
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Here’s an approach that is easier and better.
First, just teach the science. Start at the beginning, physics, and then move to chemistry and then biology.
Point: If do this science well, then the students will begin to see what science is, what it is not, and how it works. That alone will greatly weaken any acceptance of ‘creationism’.
Second, in the biology, just get into some details. Just drill down, say, by having everyone watch the Eric Lander lecture:
http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/flash/lectures/20100419_publect_lander.shtml
April 19, 2010,
Eric Lander: “Secrets of the Human Genome”
Here part of what Lander wants to know is what segments of DNA are really important, and for that his first-cut approach is to look for segments in common across several species. Soon enough students will begin to suspect that the common segments had mostly a common origin. Hmm …!
No one in an educational bureaucracy could object to showing that Lander lecture from Princeton!
Do show trees of ancestors starting with just people over the past few hundred years; move on to such trees for animal breeding; then outline the evidence for such trees going back a few hundred million years. Never say ‘evolution’ or ‘creationism’. Just say that there is a lot of evidence for ‘trees of ancestry’. Stay away from birds on the islands of Galapagos or Hawaii.
Point: Students will begin to see how current research in biology works, and there will be nothing there at all like ‘creationism’.
Third, give a first-cut definition of science: What we can discover via the scientific method that is reproducible. Then outline the scientific method based on observation, hypotheses, testing hypotheses, theories, etc.
Mention that the scientific method is not best for all questions. E.g., point out how much important knowledge in daily life, especially about people, is obtained and refined by more intuitive means and without serious science.
Mention that, for many important questions in life, so far science has no answers and, thus, we must proceed with less reliable techniques.
Then give a lesson in the ‘humanities’: Point out that in practice in our society there is a wide range of beliefs, that it is important to work cooperatively with nearly everyone, and, thus, can’t just blurt out just anything to everyone. In particular, mention that some people like creationism and other people believe that it conflicts with some rock solid science.
Having students trace “cross-cultural connections among creation myths” is a guaranteed way to rub a lot of feathers the wrong way!
Good enough?
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Suits me. That pretty much covers the way I parent. If I was a teacher, I’d certainly get right on showing those to my class, except that I’d be an English teacher and it would be so obvious that it WOULD ruffle some feathers. Thanks for all the videos, though – we are suckers for good science vid in our little log cabin in the woods!
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For some more good lectures on biology and genetics that will effectively but indirectly just ‘suck the air out of’ ‘creationism’, have the students watch:
The Genomic Landscape circa 2012 – Eric Green
An overview and introduction to all the 13 lectures
Biological Sequence Analysis I – Andy Baxevanis (2012)
Week 4 — Biological Sequence Analysis II – Andy Baxevanis (2012)
The lectures should be plenty accessible and meaningful to students in the eighth grade or higher.
Since these are close to state of the art lectures at the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, the scientific credibility is off the tops of the charts so that no K-12 education bureaucrat could object to them unless they are just dedicated to teaching flogiston!
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This letter is an absurd culmination of “I refuse” and doesn’t take into account the fact that in the real world you don’t complain about the choices you’re given, you rise above them. People have this predetermined notion of what they want to do but in the end it’s a job and you don’t quit a job just because you hate the system, you do the job right until you’re in a position to change it. What you just taught you’re students is the wrong lesson and for that reason I’m glad you’re not teaching. Trials come in any job and the measure of a man or woman is the patience or virtue they use to overcome it.
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To ME
Stuck on iPhone. No power. Not sure this is lined up with your post but there are plenty of effective, talented, motivated veteran unionized teachers with character. I question your character and your motivations and your true identity.
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Perhaps what you’re missing in Kris’s letter is the systematic way in which the school system ensures that we will not be successful, not educate children in an ethical manner and not have any rights to protest. Essentially, one is left feeling as though he/she is just a mouthpiece, not a teacher in the true sense of the profession. Until excellent teacher starts walking out and saying why, there will be no change in the system. Yes, most of us are not in a position to do so. Until then, they, like I, support Kris.
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I left because I was too old to endure the systemic harassment of teachers who happened to be vocal union supporters. My neurotransmitters would not have lasted another year. Chris, you are “right on”. Kelley, I hear you loud and clear. And, you are not JUST a housewife. Don’t ever underestimate your invaluable place in the world. And thanks, Linda!!!!!
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Teaching never has, nor will it ever be, “just a job”.
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10000% yes!
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so we just allow the stress to kill us and destroy our families? We allow admins who don’t know they butt from a hole in the ground to harass us? We continue to watch as year after year our students graduate and find out they have been shortchanged don’t have the skills to go on to college because they haven’t been prepared by their twelve years of public education (I only have them one year,, there is only so much I can do to battle the craziness)?
I can tell you have never stepped in a classroom or even have any teachers in your family. If you did you’d know how asinine your remarks are.
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I retired from teaching after a 40 year career in Chicago’s inner city. I had the same frustration the writer of this article had but then I decided to act. I threw out the text books and the approved curriculum and wrote my own 3 year science program concentrating on basic physics, chemistry, biology and earth science principles. I had the students for 3 years so I was responsible for their entire science education for grades 6 to 8. The principal was on my back because my lesson plans did not reflect the state goals. But I persisted. When the standardized test scores came back, 73% of my inner city students reached state standards in science though they did not do so in reading or math. The science scores were the highest of any subject tested and made the principal look good. When two student projects won at the district science fair, the principal was flabbergasted. That was the first time in the history of the school a student made it to the city science fair. The principal decided to not only leave me alone but even gave me funds to expand my program. In my last year of teaching I reached my personal goal of having 90% meet or exceed state standards. I did it my way in spite of the system.
I am not sure being a maverick would work for everyone. But for me it was doing this way or the highway. Teaching is a tough job. Federal and state legislatures are making it an impossible job.
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Thank you.
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I was a teacher in the NC public schools for 6 years. In 2001, I made $25K base salary. After taxes, I made about $19K. And, yet, I was expected to educate 100 students with an array of learning challenges and discipline problems. I know of no other public servant paid that little with the ridiculous parameters that were placed around me.
I resigned from teaching in the classroom when my son was born. My experience as a teacher in our schools is the exact reason I homeschool now. I refuse to subject my children to the asinine testing and meaningless regurgitation for said tests that I was forced to subject my students to.
Thank you for saying all I wanted to say when I officially “quit.”
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The greatest failure of a country that still considers itself the greatest.
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I am a student and it is sad. I want to be a vet and I am trying! But the explore tests ask personal questions and stuff about my parents. How is that going to help anything! And with our school changing to common core stuff we have to work in groups and our seats are fixed in groups, how will that help? Maybe it will help someone cheat but we will work as individuals on the big tests. I have a good friend who didn’t pass because she stresses out about the tests! And then the uniforms come. School focuses so much on who has a logo on their shirt and not enough about other important things like bullying and extra tutoring! Not only that but it stresses the students out (including me). And we can’t have a necklace and religion is prohibited and have you ever noticed how teens have more acne as the tests come? Stress! And then the poor teachers are treated like delinquents. That is my point of view! ( I know this is anonymous and I would like to keep it that way)
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Thank you for your comment! There is one very obvious thing missing from all of our “adult” debates: the STUDENT voice. We tend to worry about all of the wrong things and forget what it means to be a student in this huge bureaucracy. On behalf of the whole system, I will say, “I’m sorry.” But, please know that there are more and more of us fighting for your future. Hang in there.
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My son is eight, in third grade. He announced before the school year started that he was worried about the state tests. That is criminal, and it breaks my heart. I teach in the district where he goes to school and I don’t believe in what we are being forced to do instructionally. The kids are numbers and the teachers are numbers.
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Dear Student,
I’m so sorry. Hang in there!
Dear Kris,
Thank you for sharing this letter.
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Unfortunately it’s not about the students anymore it’s about “data”. I feel for the students like you, they are getting the short end of the stick.
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What is your email address? NCAE would love to take your comments into consideration…
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klnielsen74@gmail.com
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I teach in Ohio and although we are allowed to strike, things aren’t different here. We are all tired and run down. I work in a high needs district, where nearly 80% of the kids are on free or reduced lunch and we haven’t met the states standards on state testing, and the state is In our district telling us if we don’t do better this year then they will take over. I am 8 years in and scared I can’t do this the rest of my life. Thank you for doing what I am not brave enough to do.
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Thank you so much for speaking. I will not allow my children to attend CMS students anymore. Ever again, unless something drastic happens and I have to, but probably not even then. I’ll find another way.
I do remember one of my eldest son’s best years though was with an incredible teacher in a CMS school. But I do believe she broke many rules to create such a loving, gentle, flexible environment. Thanks to all of you teachers who continue.
I will stand with you if you go on strike… not sure if that’s an option.
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I have never read a more complete and frank assessment of our problems in NC public schools. I’ve never wanted to be anything but a teacher and I’ve found myself searching for a new path. It makes me angry and sad. Thank you for posting this letter. I wish I could print and send it to my superintendent.
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I’d be happy to send it for you, if you tell me which county. 🙂
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You said it best…and I applaud you! May you find a nice Catholic school in the North where you will see how teaching should be! Good luck in you endeavor! Indianapolis needs teachers…
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Thanks, Kris! I was already planning to give my resignation this week, you inspire me! I want to be a part of the solution that Texas needs and I can’t do it if I stay in the problem. I’m scared of breaking my contract (I don’t break commitments) but I believe in my heart of hearts this is what I’m supposed to do.
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So well put….I am so sorry that you finally threw in the towel. You took all the words right out of my mouth….this should be on CNN. Its the same here in SC….morale so low….you nailed it all…I love my kids and I have to pay my bills or else I’d be out too…33 years old and burned out:-(
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Parents: join us!
http://mgmfocus.com/2012/10/30/parents-you-are-the-power/
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This makes me want to cry. When I was in the classroom, this is how I felt all the time. And I live in a good state. I can’t imagine. How sorry I am for our schools; how proud I am of you as a person, an educator, and a mother.
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It’s a shame that much of the east coast is like this.
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I am so tired, exhausted and stressed. The stress has led to multiple panic and anxiety attacks. I want to quit but no one understands why a teacher who has been teaching for more than 10 years would want an entry level job somewhere else. I am overqualified an underqualified for anything else and feel so stuck. I miss my husband and children dearly. I love my students, I love my co-workers, but I hate this job. It makes me sad and scared because I haven’t found any other employment options. I used to love teaching and at one time I thought I was good at it. I’m not sure what I’m doing anymore, responding to coaching and the latest district craze and it feels all I am doing is creating wider learning gaps in my students. What a mess, for everyone.
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There’s a lot of pressure and unfair expectations being placed on teachers (not to mention our students!!!) and there’s no relenting in sight. While all we want is to see our students achieve, we are being treated as if the only way student achievement can happen is if we are micromanaged and policed as if we’re incapable. It’s demoralizing, stressful, heartbreaking…you name it. I was laid off from my school at the end June 2012. My strength and passion is in teaching, but I wonder if I’ll find it in today’s schools if I’m given the chance to return, or if I will be pushed to quit in order to salvage my health and well-being?
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I resigned last summer after 7 years in the classroom in NC. Whenever people I asked how I felt about teaching, both in the past as well as currently, my answer is always that it was okay I couldn’t say that it was great, but at the same time, I couldn’t say that it was horrible. I loved being in the classroom and I loved my students, but I hated the bureaucracy and I definitely despised testing. I was fortunate enough that I didn’t have to worry about supporting a family, and when the opportunity presented itself, I moved on. I’ve been told that I look much happier and refreshed than I did when I was teaching and that’s really sad. I really do miss being in the classroom and engaging with students on a daily basis; however, the undue pressure of dealing with some form or standardized testing nearly every week (formative assessments, benchmarks, field tests), having administrators who have unrealistic expectations, and being bound by programs, policies, and procedures that did not have the best interests of the students in mind was enough to dampen even the most liveliest spirit. Honestly, I feel that I can do more to help youth now that I’m not actually in the school system than I could as a teacher. I had heard from others as well. It really is disheartening.
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BRAVO from Indiana!!!
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I agree wholeheartedly with her letter. I wish we could all join in this fight in our state because she’s telling the truth. I haven’t read everyone’s comments thoroughly but I HAVE read the “I Quit” post. If you want to know the reality, I just had my utilities cut off yesterday and had to seek local public assistance to turn them back on! Single parent, mind you, with a college degree and I’m in the freakin’ food & utilities line with one of my students who had been declared homeless. What does this mean? That my 16 years of teaching and over ten years of being the good Honor Roll kid and busting my butt to go to college meant absolutely NOTHING.
Again, if they PAID educators the way they do lawyers and doctors, we would not complain as much and would actually feel as if we had a leg to stand on when voicing our arguments. I applaud her for being solid enough to quit but education overall has become a Tupac Shakur anthem, “Ride or Die.”
In my BEST vernacular, I “ain’t ready to die over the pressures of standardized testing and the contradictions made by commissioners and legislature.”
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Sorry, Kris is male, but the point is the same: I agree!
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Mr Nielsen.
Kudos, sir. Now THAT is an inspirational message. Seems that the ‘ability to inspire’ is a teachers most important tool. I salute your obvious abilities, and your courage. To hell with these mind thugs, on to the future.
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A research study I read not too many years ago found that the only two predictors of “good teachers” were amount of education and years of teaching experience.
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Too bad the Oregon school district used seniority in dismissing teachers when budget cuts were necessary. I guess that was not the idea of a “top down” school administration but of a teachers’ union.
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Teacher unions are a joke to start with. I understand the purpose but they are a joke. Going on strike for reasons beyond me. If We could go on strike in the military because we didn’t believe what our Commander in Cheif was ordering us to do there would be alot of things not getting done. I feel the pain of this person as we do this every day in the military for pennies on the hour. Congrats for standing up for what you belive in. If only there were more people like you out there. Do whats right not what others want you to do.
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I completely agree. Both my parents work in the school system in North Carolina and I see the hardships that they have to deal with and it is only getting worse. I am a senior at an Early College this year. I made the decision to apply to the local Early college program in the 8th grade and feel that is was the best decision for me. My junior high experience was a blur. The instructors just taught us enough to pass the end of course standardized tests and to get us out of the class. All the staff at my early college are enthusiastic about every aspect of teaching their students and that rubs off on the students in their classrooms. Starting in the 9th grade the 212 total students are immersed into college classes on the technical college where our campus is located also. That prepares us for our futures on a 4 year college campus. We also don’t use number grades at our school. We use a “red, yellow, green” system where our assignments get a color and we have a chance to correct it before the final submission. The material is learned more efficiently. The test scores at my school have been the highest in the county for the past 5 years. We are also required to complete a certain number of community service hours to receive our high school diploma. I feel that my early college is the best thing to happen to my county’s schools. I am sorry that your experience was not the best in Union county but there are early colleges under the New Schools Project all over the US. Might try looking into that. I am very excited about the education I have received and cannot wait to make a difference in my soon to be called home at a university campus, my community, and the world.
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Reblogged this on isomKuade and commented:
This is the result of your job being strictly managed by the numbers. Many of us, irrespective of occupation or industry, are in the same exact boat. Life doesn’t need to be this way, and I applaud her for leaving.
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I want you to know that I fully understand what you mean when you say “some will shake their heads and smirk condescendingly…” Unlike one commenter, in particular, I don’t think you sound like a victim, at all. I did something very similar to what you did, and while I’m barely treading water, at least I no longer feel like going under. Rent: $600/month. Integrity: priceless…
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So true…”integrity…priceless”!
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I am a 13 year teacher who recently left the United States (Georgia) to come teach overseas.. I don’t know if I can ever go back to the USA and teach in public schools again for the very same reasons that the author of this blog wrote about..
I swear I came thisclose to a heart attack my last year teaching in Georgia..I have already talked to my husband about when I do go back home to Georgia how I do not want to teach in the same type pf atmosphere, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon. I would not survive it.
Education has become a business run by those who have never set foot in a classroom. No discipline in schools, teach the test, ever changing polices and curriculum teachers can’t keep up with, mind numbing professional developments that are a complete waste of time and pull us away from our jobs of being teachers, continued budget cuts (but money for crazy crap purchased from “educational consultants”). It’s not about about educating students or what is in their best interests. It is all about what is on paper, stats, and satisfying a federal govt checklist.. That’s it. The reality doesn’t matter at all anymore.
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I think I had the same position as you in Union County. If not they must all stink equally as much. I had to go out for a medical condition (thank God). I had taught for 7 years. My first six years were in Anson County and even without parental involvement we were able to bond together as a family of teachers, serving children who desperately needed us. Because it was in a very rural area the children were raised to respect their teachers “or else”. “Or else” a grandma would come to the school and spank the kid in front of the whole class. She was actually kin to most of the children or went to church with them so it didn’t take but one call. They really were good kids, for the most part, who appreciated the opportunity to learn. I decided to move to Union County and take a position in a Middle school there. I was used to no parental involvement but these parents, if called, defended their children even if they knew they were clearly wrong. I was a language arts teacher who was expected to teach to the EOG test every single day. My class had more than 30 kids with over 40% of the children speaking English as a second language. It was a nightmare. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was unable to work for the rest of the year. Not one single call from the administration or fellow employees, with the exception of 1, I was already friends with before I took the position. They were too wrapped up in their own nightmare. I never had to write the letter, you so eloquently wrote. You put into words exactly what I felt. I have never gone back to teaching. Now when someone is going to college to become a teacher I beg them to reconsider.
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I hope you are ok. When i left on medical leave no one contacted me either. I is like you have a catching disease. Luckily things worked out for me to retire. The principal even came to the retirement lunch thrown for everone who was retiring for the year!!
Good luck and prayers.
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Well said and kudos. Florida is in a sad state as well. Major reform is needed.
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I would just like to add, I work in MA in an inner city school district (70% free or reduced lunch) my salary is higher (but so is my cost of living) my state is highly unionized, and we are “the best in the nation” i read this and felt like you were telling the story of how i am treated in my school. Our tests are different but this is EXACTLY what we are going through.
My colleagues and I have been discussing how all of the test taking techniques we have to focus on so we don’t get taken over by the state, have created a district full of students that regurgitate but don’t think, and we have no time to combat it.
11 years in and i have never thought so much about what else i might be able to do with my life.
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15 years in a public education that is failing miserably….where am I now, teaching in the UAE making 3x what I made in the states with free housing, health & dental, and the autonomy to actually teach my students how and what they need to be taught.
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hmmm interesting. really
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Wow. No words. My wife and I left California for this reason. The school system has gone so far down. Even last week the Governor said if a new budget item that will tax millionaires doesn’t pass, he’s going to cut the school year by a month. No more 9 months of school, it’ll be 8 months of school with a 4 month summer. We moved to Missouri where the schools are much better, but still, America needs innovation. Thanks for sharing.
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Students in NC, especially the ones I know, don’t view education here like this.. but I guess it’s different for the teachers. We just go to school and try to learn. Isn’t it the same in all other places? I guess I’m just too close-minded.
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I support this teacher 100%! I am in Texas…my kids aren’t learning. They are told to memorize and do well on the landslide of ever changing standardized tests because my district (one of the best in the state) has A.D.D when it comes to tests and want to be one of the first to jump on the bandwagon of the newest, shiniest. “measure of success” …how about we just teach them to read, math up to a college level and basic grammer skills. How about we make them WRITE a paper….I have a high schooler who has yet to have to turn in anything handwritten. It is all computer typed. Handwriting IS A SKILL TOO! I hear that cursive isn’t even being taught anymore besides a couple weeks in 3rd grade! These “teaching to test” plans have to stop. They are hurting our kids!!
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Some days I miss teaching so much my heart nearly literally aches. Then the reasons I left come to mind. On behalf of all of us who wonder if we did the right thing, thank you for enumerating the reasons with such conviction and clarity.
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Ms. Ravitch,
I recently retired from teaching public school. At first, I really missed what I was doing. As an English Language Acquisition teacher, I was fortunate to have fewer kids; so that I could take the extra time to connect with them and their families. I really enjoyed my work, but I had been feeling so down about the way things were going with public schools–as in everything you mentioned. I get my “kid fix” at the local Boys and Girls Club and teaching for the city! It’s so much more gratifying because I can just teach my classes–creatively; and I don’t have to worry testing outcomes. When I found out that my previous associates will now be evaluated by having test scores factored in, my heart went out to all of them. I wish them all the best and suggest they buy a few years towards retirement–as I did. Thanks for the courage to speak your mind, publically.
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Please allow me to share a brilliant cartoon, by artist, Daryl Cagle, which beautifully captures the journey of the American education system… This has been my experience, precisely, as both a student and a former university faculty member…
http://www.cagle.com/2010/04/teachers-in-1960-and-2010-color/
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I have that cartoon on my fridge. Unfortunately it is so true.
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Yes! That was my family in 1960; but by 2010, I was that teacher!
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It’s unfortunate the pressure put on teachers to buoy up a system that is pressing them down. I achieved my teaching credential, taught a few semesters, got let go, and decided I wanted a job that would keep a roof over my head and food on the table, as well as time to myself outside of work. I hope we can change the system, because there are great people who aren’t able to teach.
We can get great teachers, if the government can treat teachers great.
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Such a shame. Why do all the good ones leave? Can you not link up with all the good teachers – create your own social group on linked-in perhaps? – and begin a school yourselves?
Kaye Bewley
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I don’t know why teachers are being blamed for the failures of students: it’s the fault of the district and state if they’re not funding a proper education. I hope you find a job in a district that actually does things right.
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I feel this way almost daily, for much the same reasons. As much a I want to be a part of the solution, I feel like I am chained to being a part of the problem. It angers me that I my disadvantaged students continue to receive a substandard education for reasons that the public and the community we are supposed to be serving continue to support and contribute to. No matter how much I know or how hard I work, I cannot give them the education they need and deserve without an effective public education system.
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My husband was certified as a high school history teacher in Connecticut 2 years ago. 400 applications, 5 interviews, 3 longterm sub positions later, he’s no closer to getting a “real” job, and each year another 150 high school history teachers are minted in this state. I’d like to scream, but it’s not his fault.
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Now you know how I feel about public education …. forcing me to become a progressive puppet on a string.
Let us change education back to education instead of programming a bunch of progressive robots?
ghost.
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Reblogged this on thewordpressghost and commented:
Everyone,
It is time we take our public schools back.
Diane is right!
Public schools have become the cesspools of our society.
Let us go back to the one room school houses.
Let us retreat from teachers’ unions and their progressive agenda.
Let us fire teachers for programming our kids.
Let us BECOME free indeed.
What do you think?
Am I just dreaming?
ghost.
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As a future teacher, this is a very discouraging letter to read. Other than that, I have two comments to make. First, congrats on getting Freshly Pressed. Second, if we as teachers can only teach in a limited and narrow way, what happens? What happens to the millions of kids who are in school right now or who will be one day? As the maitre d’ in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” said, “I weep for the future.”
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My kids attend NC public schools. I hate the standardized test prep every year and the stress it puts my kids under, but I love their school. They have fantastic teachers, take eight or nine field trips every year, and begin dissection in science in third grade. They have opportunities I couldn’t offer them if I homeschooled. I volunteer in their classrooms and I know what the teachers put into their work and what they do without due to budget cuts. I know there’s a lot of junk and politics for teachers to deal with, but it doesn’t go unnoticed. There are good schools out there.
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Imagine how much better they could be without the distraction? There are much better ways to assess our kids. Speak to other parents, teachers and principals about it.
http://mgmfocus.com/2012/10/30/parents-you-are-the-power/
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Amen. This has made me realize that I might hold out another year looking for a job locally, but that I’d be better off teaching college or trying a different profession. Thank you for the wake up call.
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I’ve made a list very similar to this. For the last 12 years I’ve worked hard in my classroom, but with each year that passes I start to wonder why I try so hard in a system that continues to devalue my work, pigeonhole students with ridiculous tests, and subscribe to rote memorization instead of creative and critical thinking. Public education is shooting itself in the foot in its quest to produce high test scores for the sake of funds. It’s wrong in so many ways and fails our students.
You sound like an amazing teacher and I hope you find a better place for your talents. I might recommend you stay away from Arizona. We rank 50th in the nation for funding and teacher pay. And they love to bog us down with worthless meetings that take me away from the work of helping my students learn.
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Public education is so important — historically one of the great opportunity equalizers, and continuing quality educational access is so important as the divide between haves and have nots continues to spread. Just because reform is not easy does not mean it should be ignored — and I fear in many places that is what is happening. We cannot continue to incrementally change a decades-old system and approach to learning and teaching when society as changed 10 times faster. My boys have had some wonderful teachers along the way, and some not so great, but the past few years in particular we have started to see the effects of state budget crises and feel fortunate with two educated parents we can help fill the void at home and through outside experiences, which is a large part of the equation — we are fortunate, and we know that. But, for those less so, those opportunities in the classroom and provided by the public education system are what fills the void, and it is not filled through ever-increasing testing curriculum. I hope you will continue to advocate for necessary reforms, funding and/or otherwise, and that you find a worthy outlet for your skills and passion. ~ Kat
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I am a secondary math teacher in NC and feel the exact same way….no books, no paper, no resources, no discipline, no student accountability and an administration that passes students thru because “do you think repeating is really going to help them” then the problem is just passed to the next teacher…..but as long as her numbers are good for “race to the top” (of what a sh** hill) that’s all they are worried about.
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This letter speaks volumes about the education system. I am also planning on leaving the profession that I worked so hard to enter. It is beyond frustrating to walk into the classroom everyday knowing that the expectations placed upon the teacher are unrealistic, yet we are expected to meet these expectations. The demands increase, but the resources decrease, and the teacher is still expected to “magically” make everything happen, often at the expense of our health in the form of non-ending stress. If we do not meet the expectations, adhere to the latest researched based teaching “band wagon,” then we are labeled as an ineffective educator. Teaching is an art, a skill that we work on crafting everyday because we love learning and we love teaching. The system is taking that out of the equation and turning us into nothing more than a statistic.
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Well doesn’t this sound familiar- please have a look at my blog and see for yourself how similar the situation is here in England.
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As a former NC student (graduated in ’01), I am now seeing all of this in hind-sight. Mainly the reason a lot of my teachers seemed to hate basically everything and everyone and the reason I don’t feel I learned all that much. Of all the classes I took in high school, the only ones I remember ( and can still apply) information from are the ones taught by teachers everyone said were ‘crazy:’ electronics, chemistry, and trigonometry (drama too, but that isn’t exactly applicable here). Electronics in particular, my teacher handed out our text books on day 1, told us to put them in our lockers and leave them there for the next 10 months (it was a 2 semester class). Then he handed us tool kits and we got to work actually building and doing, not just memorizing and regurgitating. The other electronics teachers in the county were the same. To this day, I could probably wire a circuit in my sleep. Then came the final exam: every single student in the county failed it. Not because we hadn’t learned anything. We’d learned plenty, we just hadn’t learned what the state and county said we should have. The rest of my classes went just like the state wanted and I passed all those exams, no sweat. I think it’s because of this that it took me nearly ten years to settle on a career path that didn’t involve working at a retail store of some sort and hoping one day to become a manager. I wasn’t prepared for life, I was prepared for pointless tests. I came out of high school with next to no practical skills, only a large amount of useless information. A change needs to be made, and it should be made now as opposed to ‘later, maybe, if we feel like it’
I would however like to say “Thank You” to those four teachers:
Mr. Kirby
Mr. Taylor
Mrs. Saunders
Mr. Scott
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Do you regret this decision now or glad you quit?
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SImple question with a complex answer. To keep it short, I do not regret this decision because I’m using this decision to join the fight to make sure that people like me won’t feel that they have to quit. I’m glad I quit to preserve my health and my family. I’m not glad that I even had to consider it.
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Health and family is important. I totally agree! Great blog! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/segplay-mobile/id395127581?mt=8
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That’s what I’ve been saying about the state of public education for the past 20 years – as a parent! We’ve been using turn of the 20th Century state of the art technology – Henry Ford’s Assembly Line – to educate our children for the 21st century and beyond. What’s wrong with people? Even I, who have an ordinary, public school education, can see this. Why can’t the educated educators? I’m so sorry we’re losing a caring, talented teacher due to the stupidity of institutionalization!
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Thank you for writing this. I am a new teacher in harnett county and i go through the things you mention everyday. I think it is disgusting how our schools are being run. I plan on quitting teaching at the end of this year after only teaching for a year and a half. What i have experienced has made me hate teaching. I will use what you have written and write my own resignation. I think your letter should be shared with all the people who make these stupid demands of us.
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I am SO glad you were freshly pressed for this. It is just what I needed to read. I am in the exact same position as you, only in the UK. It is distressing indeed to think that this situation exists in both countries. One of your former commenters said that it seems to depend on the leadership of the institution, and I think she’s right. Many of the idiocies put in place by governments can be kept under control by good leaders, but if you have bad ones – as you and I do – they can make life intolerable, and good teaching impossible.
I haven’t resigned yet because I can’t afford to until I find a job outside education, but I will as soon as I can. I wrote about it here: http://throbbingsofnoontide.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/is-this-going-to-be-in-the-exam/ but yours is more moving. I could weep for the loss of those very teachers that the students most need. It’s the ones in it for the passion of inspiring young people that can least handle this awful system.
Thank you for writing this, I will share it with everyone on Facebook and Twitter.
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I said the same thing all the way back in 1977, and I was teaching at a university at the time. A teacher at heart, I found ways to contribute through volunteer work at community colleges while maintaining my sanity.
Look forward, not back. And good luck.
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After 16 years, I will be another statistic. November 15 (is my resignation date) and only because our “kiddos” have two field trips. God Bless our students!
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Teachers, why are you angry about standardized tests?
It sounds like you believe that the really important work in teaching can’t be measured by tests; just what part of teaching is that?
What’s going on here? I’m guessing that you want ‘teaching’ to be more like mothering — drying wet noses and eyes, helping with psychological, social, literary, and artistic development, boosting self esteem, motivating and inspiring, encouraging ‘independent’ thought and investigation, stimulating ‘self actualization’, making up for bad parenting, etc.?
Do you know of any good tests for, say, the 3Rs in grades 1-8 or are all such tests bad?
Do you know of any good tests for grades 9-12 in math, science, English writing, English reading comprehension, foreign languages, history, physics, chemistry, biology?
Are you against all standardized tests? What about the SAT, CEEB, and GRE?
Measurement of accomplishment is nearly universal in all work, and tests are nearly universal in all of academics through at least a Master’s degree. For a Ph.D., what is crucial is the qualifying exams, more tests, and then the original research that usually students find more challenging than tests.
It appears from this thread that US K-12 teachers are against all testing.
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Standardized tests do not measure the types of skills that the experts have repeatedly suggested that students have in preparation for the unknowns of the 21st century–and that CEOs have asked for in advance of graduating classes. Even high-level colleges are diminishing the weights of ACT and SAT for admissions. They simply don’t paint the whole story.
And that’s the key. There are better assessments. To blanket us with being against all testing is an assumption that cannot be made from reading this board. What we ARE against is the increasing OVERtesting of our students–to the point where there is little time for anything else–and the over-reliance of the data.
I have five words that I’ve repeated to every administrator I’ve seen: performance assessment and student portfolios. They all say the same thing: “That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” It’s always followed by the incompetent shrug I mentioned in my letter.
Considering the wealth of knowledge and authentic data that can be garnered from these methods, yes, it would be nice.
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Your post adds a little clarity, but mostly the situation is still clear as mud.
I can believe that college admissions will start to rely on something other than SATs, CEEBs, and grades about the time pigs fly. There is one exception: If the student’s family is wealthy and the parents might give the college $10 million or more. Oh, yes, there’s one more: If the student can run a 100 yard dash in nicely under 10 seconds.
I’ve been in academics and business for a long time and seen ‘both sides’. I would say:
(1) Quantitative measurement remains important both in essentially all of academics and quite broadly in our economy.
Research professors get evaluated on number of published papers, especially in better journals, plus invitations to give lectures, etc. What really counts is a job offer at a higher salary from a better university.
For the research professor, behind just the number of papers has to be (A) some good problem selection and (B) some really good insight that leads to some significant progress on the problems, but (A) and (B) get measured mostly only indirectly via the resulting papers, lectures, etc. and not directly. That is, measurement of other than the actual results is not very promising.
If you like the ceiling Michelangelo painted, fine. But it would be nearly impossible to judge Michelangelo before having seen some of his work; that is, shaking his hand, looking him into the eye, trying to fathom what was between his ears would not be promising.
Teaching professors get judged partly on student course evaluation forms, number of students taking the courses, etc.
In good organizations, middle managers get evaluated based on the work done.
Salesmen get evaluated almost only on actual sales.
One production computing site evaluated their head guy with (a) one unplanned outage in a year meant no bonus and (b) two unplanned outages in one year meant no job.
In investment banking, an analyst on an M&A deal who submits some financial model results with an error is in trouble; two or three such errors and they get to try another job. Even grammatical errors are regarded as serious.
Once I had a student who also worked to manage a Wendy’s, and he explained some of what he did in adjusting staffing levels, dynamically, nearly hourly, to increase revenue and reduce expenses and, thus, improve pre-tax earnings. For someone who owns 10 fast food restaurants, such attention to detail could result in an extra $1 million in gross income for a year.
I’m lost on just what ‘results’ you have in mind other than test scores on subject matter to be learned. For your “performance assessment and student portfolios”, I can make only wild guesses just what you mean.
(2) For a person to be successful in the economy of the 21st century, yes, there will be some severe challenges.
I would suggest:
(A) A person should have a lot of drive to understand changes in the US and world economies; then the person should try to understand how to do well with those changes.
E.g., there are now about 100,000 apps for Android: So, roughly 100,000 programmers quickly saw the coming of Android, learned how to write for Android, and did. Next to none of what they needed to learn about writing for Android they learned in a class. So, Android was a change, and 100,000 software writers tried to do well with the change.
So, somewhere someone should develop a good video lecture on drive to understand and do well with change, and students in grades 8-12 might look at that video once a year.
Evaluating the resulting understanding via testing might be possible.
(B) To understand changes as they come and see how to do well with them, it would be good to have done well in the grade 1-6 3Rs plus math through pure math in college and a Master’s in applied math, physics through a college major, chemistry for few years in college, biology enough to get up to date, basic understanding of computers, algorithms, software development, and networks, domestic and international economics and politics, and basic human psychology.
Nearly all of this material can be evaluated with good ‘reliability’ and ‘validity’ with standardized testing.
(C) As a person charges forward facing the changes of the 21st century, most of what they will need to know they will have to learn by study that is independent or largely so. A good first step is to be able to take a standard college calculus book, study it independently, and do well on a good calculus test.
Teaching in grades 8-12 should encourage students to learn math and science just from a text, largely independently.
E.g., I’ve studied calculus plus several more advanced versions, applied it, published peer-reviewed original research in it, and taught it but actually never took first year calculus: I did my college freshman year at a silly college that didn’t want freshmen to take calculus. Since I only had to go to their math class for the tests, I got a good calculus book and used the free time to start in. I did my sophomore year at a much better college and continued with their second year calculus: I did fine. For another example, I’ve taught quite a lot of computing in college and graduate school, but I never really took a course in computing.
Of course, for the best graduate courses, the professor never took such a course.
One of the crown jewels of the US economy is computing, and the people who work in that field are almost entirely self-taught, even if they have college studies in computer science. E.g., college studies won’t make one an expert in installation, management, performance, reliability, backup, recovery, monitoring, and administration of relational database.
I am starting a business based heavily on computing, and if the business works then I will need to hire. Here is some of what I want:
(A) I will want good ability to write technical material clearly with high precision. Basically, in the end, much of the work product will be such writing. E.g., for software, I am more interested in the documentation as technical writing in English than the programming language code.
The best training I know of for such writing is the exercises writing theorems and proofs in a junior level college course in abstract algebra covering set theory, transfinite induction, construction of the number systems, the more important properties of those number systems, and groups, rings, fields, modules, vector spaces, and some selected applications.
(B) I will want a person who can do high quality work in challenging technical material. If their work is not of high quality, then projects they start will likely come to nothing, and work they complete if deployed in production might bring down out server farm. High quality is just crucial.
So, I will want to see good grades in challenging technical material — math, physics, chemistry, engineering — at the level of college or a Master’s.
This material can be evaluated with standardized tests.
(C) Nearly all the important work will be at least heavily original. So, I will want good abilities in original work.
I will be impressed with a grade of A in the content of Harvard’s Math 55 as in
http://www.american.com/archive/2008/march-april-magazine-contents/why-can2019t-a-woman-be-more-like-a-man/?searchterm=Sommers
At one time this course used Halmos, ‘Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces’, Rudin, ‘Principles of Mathematical Analysis’, and Spivak, ‘Calculus on Manifolds’. I read all three independently although did have a course from the second. Better than Spivak is Fleming, ‘Functions of Several Variables’ — which I also read independently. I read Kelley, ‘General Topology’ and gave a lecture a week to a professor. Later I was asked to take a course from that book, walked out after the first week of class, showed up for the final, submitted a stack of exercises from the book, and made an A.
Anyone who did well with those five books has a good start on enough ability with original work in math to think seriously about a technical Ph.D. Or, yes, high ability with original work is important, but the exercises in those texts, and other similar ones (Royden, Neveu, Breiman, Bourbaki, etc.) is a very good start. Trying to do well in that material with just memorization and regurgitation, from the ‘full and empty pitcher school of education’, is just laughable; instead, real understanding is just crucial. But ‘real understanding’ doesn’t really have to be taught; there’s no getting through that material without a lot of ‘real understanding’.
Evaluating understanding of this material with tests is common and effective.
In K-12, to prepare for college work in such material, I would recommend (A) good knowledge of English grammar, excellent English language reading comprehension, especially of technical material, and some good experience writing English, say, via term papers on hopefully technical topics; (B) math through high quality courses in first and second algebra, plane geometry, trigonometry, solid geometry, and analytic geometry; but I don’t trust US public education to teach calculus; (C) as much in physics, chemistry, biology, and computing as possible. It would be good for a student to have some good understanding of psychology and sociology, but the useful material is so politically incorrect that it could not be taught in a public high school; so, have to f’get about psychology and sociology.
I still don’t get what K-12 teachers want to teach that can’t be evaluated well by testing. And I can only make a wild guess about the meaning of “overtesting”: A one hour standardized test once each two weeks should be plenty of testing but not “to the point where there is little time for anything else”.
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Sure are a lot of A, B, Cs and “wild guesses” in there. This is why we ask that teachers be left to teach. The public at large wants the product, but does not specialize in the process.
Good anecdotes to try to show your point. My point is simple: the testing culture in this country does not culminate in well-educated students. It is overbearing and is pushing out every other part of a well-rounded education. I would love to start posting links to research and other blogs, but you seem like an intelligent person who can find that research through simple Google terms.
Students are not simple quantitative measurements: they are people. They are citizens in training, not robots. And this is not 1950, when a few test scores were good enough. The unknown future calls for new ideas, skills, and competencies that cannot be measured by simple computer-based, multiple choice tests.
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You fail to remember these are people, not robots. I have seen what the impact of testing even just once a year does to kids when they know their “future” depends on it. Anxiety and panic attacks (even in elementary), physically getting sick, kids breaking down DURING tests, and the list goes on and grows each year. Yes, there is a place for tests but NOT every week, every 2 weeks, etc. for some of what you mentioned, hands-on real world application is ten times more valuable. Watching a video and taking a test does not equal understanding. The portfolio and project based performance assessment you clearly do not understand offers kids the chance to both think and learn independently while gaining some of the important facts, knowledge and understanding of the process as they are guided by the teacher. Grading with a rubric on these projects and portfolios allows kids to know what they have to understand, create and be able to share. Testing can be impacted in aby nber of ways on a given day-diet, sleep habits, family issues, socioeconomic status, etc. A test tells the story of a person’s capabilities at one particular moment. I know for myself I do not tend to do well on timed tests because I like to be sure I understand what i need to do and follow through thoroughly. My SAT scores weren’t great. I took them 2 times then took rhe ACT because i worried they weren’t “good enough”. Thankfully, the school i eventually chose to go to knew the value of things beyond a simple test (as other higher ed institutions do). I know many students who are this way. With your proposal, tough luck for them and if you don’t test well, you might as well just stop now. How unfortunate is that?? Yes, there is absolutely a place for some of the strategies you mentioned but you won’t be taking an hour long test each week in your job-you’re using skills you have grown to understand and use and applying them to real world projects. I would hope in the world we are living in now and preparing student for that we would think more of giving them problem solving projects based on real world issues as the basis for how we teach those important concepts in reading, writing, math, etc. they need to connect what they do in class to their world otherwise it means little. Tests don’t give that connection. They tell you how “good” you are/were one moment in time.
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I know this is only a single observation, but my son’s scores on standardized tests have proved to be a much more accurate forecast of his performance in college than his high school GPA.
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In general, however, multiple studies plotting scores on standardized tests in school against the same subject’s performance in college and later successes have have shown there is no significant statistical correlation between them. Additionally, some of the most accomplished students I have ever taught, those able to deeply understand and apply critical thinking and real world problem solving, were terrible test takers. Given a real world science challenge they performed well. Hand them a test and the test anxiety crippled their thought process. The narrow, low level of the test question precluded the possibility of expressing the higher level solutions the students had discovered for themselves.
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What a sad situation, but not uncommon in the profession. I know many amazing teachers who feel as if they are in similar situations.
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Sad commentary on education in America today. I taught for 34 years and loved almost every minute of it. But the last 10 years of teaching became a chore, not because I had changed or burned out, but because of the statewide testing. Changed the entire culture of education in my state, Ohio. It affected everything from the top down, because now all that matters is the school report card and the student test scores on a ridiculous test not designed to measure much of anything. I feel your frustration and hope you can find another avenue to use your skills….
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Wow, I did the same thing two years ago. My small school in South Dakota merged with a larger school. We were promised the moon when we were absorbed. My daughter was basically cheated out of her 8th grade year of education, and all except one of the teachers was pushed out by year three. I agree that teachers should be supported. Too many administrators are busy playing politics with the community leaders rather than being there for their staff. As for testing, I loved testing as a student, but it needs to be inclusive. We had a very diverse population in the large school, and I am not so sure the tests spoke to that. However as teachers we were not allowed to look at the test for fear we would teach to it. How could we teach to something we never saw….. I am happy to be a substitute when I feel like it. I hope you and your family find financial freedom. Write a book, it would be a best seller!!
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If you ever run for an office in Education, I will vote for you in a heartbeat.
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Until public education stops being as much of a political pawn (I am not naive enough to believe it will stop altogether being one) and teaching professionals are given a greater degree of autonomy to make instructional decisions, NC (and other states likewise) will continue to face losses like this one.
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I wrote a post that drew on my own (very similar) issues with the education system, and someone left me a comment that loosely recalled some of her once professor’s enlightened words … “the education system was designed to make kids accept boredom as a natural state so that they would be content preforming the boring jobs that the capitalist system needs them to do.”
If you’re interested, there’s (was) a fella named Leo Buscaglia who I think you’d enjoy YouTubing / reading. He always brings tears to my eyes.
Glad a lot of people got to see this post. Kudos.
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You have so eloquently expressed my own frustrations as I attempt to guide freshmen into a world of independent thinking. I am just moments away from echoing your strong statement.
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I don’t get why this country blames the ills of society on teachers. Oh…I forgot, the politicos have to pretend they are doing something, and at the same time get money from lobbyists and the rich for campaign contributions. Then, when the politico leaves office, s/he takes all campaign contributions with them as “funny” money.
Teachers need to stand up to this insanity. I support teachers. Heck I was taught by teachers.
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I teach in the UK and after only three years I’m considering leaving the profession. It has such a negative impact in my family and my own health! It’s not the profession I signed up for. I spend more time filling in paperwork and marking assessments (4 per year group,per half term not counting GCSEs!) than I do planning my lessons and actually teaching the students! It’s so sad that people are forced from such a worthwhile industry.
Well said! X
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Please forgive me for my simplistic answer. Your experiences in NM and OR we’re exceptional, but the exception. The majority of public education in the US matches your NC experience. May I offer you the high water mark for education. The teacher’s name is Marva Collins. There is a book, a movie and a website of the same name. The results she obtained for 30 years are remarkable and undeniable.
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Welcome home…from another teacher who has had the luxury of being on the greener side. As many have commented about the sad state of affairs, I think that your letter offers a moment of truth into the American educational system.
Parents also, hear the state of affairs and shrug helplessly. It is a widespread apathy which I sometimes wonder if this country will ever be able to overcome. People are so use to the idea of pushing kids through the mill of “standardized” that they cannot conceive of the idea of children having a joy of learning.
For 17 years I consistently got results with children becoming avid readers who read 3-4 times the amount of the current “standard”, These same children learned math as an interactive language, not just a rote memorization of computing, math facts were a tool that allowed new math concepts to be achieved faster because one wasn’t trying to figure out basic arithmetic. And, did these students have the most beautiful handwriting skills, an art that is almost completely lost because of technology.
There are good educational programs out there. Parents and teachers should not have to settle for anything less. Getting our country on the voucher system would allow parents their choice of schools based on delivery of results. It allows parents the opportunity to really evaluate what kind of education they want their child to have and to invest in that. It makes the subject of education competitive…but competitive for delivery results, not government programs.
The idea of a voucher program is not a new one. I remember discussing the idea 30 years ago. Yet, we still do not have one. I do believe the increased numbers of parents opting to “home school” is a direct result of the American educational system failing to provide the quality education it should.
I’m glad you stopped being part of the problem! Teaching can be an amazingly rewarding profession…if one is allowed to teach!
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I left teaching in NC several years ago to pursue a career that would allow me to utilize my creativity, designing and engineering furniture. My wife has taught science for 12 years and is researching other options for all the reasons you highlighted. Having endured the increasingly restrictive and demanding environment NC is creating for the people who shape the leaders of our future, I will not encourage anyone to enter this career path without weighing the costs. Career teaching is creating a further and deeper divide between personal and professional time, if you envision a family in your future, don’t teach. 70+ hr weeks, the emotional toll, and the growing stress are not conducive to raising children, maintaining a relationship, not-to-mention one’s personal health.
I recently met a young woman who left her teaching position in the NC public school system to pursue selling Pampered Chef products. Insane you might think? She is now free to spend nearly every day with her daughter, she has the flexibility to present afternoon and evening shows during the week in balance with family time, and completely replaced the salary she earned teaching in two years (now having surpassed the level of income she’d bring in now had she continued teaching). We are in a sad state when a popular pyramid program is a wiser career option than educating the children in our communities!
NC public schools have been sewing in the wrong fields for years and harvest time is coming.
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You just described exactly how the NC system works. Prep prep prep for the tests that mean nothing. The pay? horrendous! My husband has been teaching in NC for six years now, and we still have not met the salary he made his 1st year teaching. The accountability teachers must hold to if one student doesn’t pass one of the “tests” is far to much. He has to write a report for each failure on how he can improve his teaching. Yet, teaching seems to have taken a back seat! He is not allowed to teach! Its awful! You have stated things in your blog that he has been complaining about since we moved here. Good luck on your future endeavors and congrats of being freshly pressed!
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I understand. I was a classroom teacher in Southern California for thirty years and the district where I worked was mostly top down (at that time). I retired from teaching in 2005 and have no idea if the district management still operates from the top down. All the top district administrators either quit or retired after I left—lucky me.
However, during my thirty years 1975-2005, there was a lot of unhappiness with the leadership of that school district due to top down control where teachers were often forced to conform to curriculum decisions starting at the State level and then trickling down to the district level where the elected school board was convinced by district administrators to implement more idiotic programs forcing teachers to conform or else suffer the consequences.
I have pet names for two of the worst administrators we worked under. I think of one as”Hitler” and the other guy as “Stalin”. I actually worked under one really good principal that stood up to Stalin. The pressure he was under from the top drove him to a stroke that he survived and then he quit because he realized Stalin would never let up on the pressure to do things from the top down.
Oh, yes, I understand and I’m so glad I retired when I did.
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Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
Another dedicated educator/teachers is forced out due to politics from the top down. When will America wake up and give teachers the power they need to decide how to run the schools?
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Wow, what a very eye-opening post. Thanks for sharing! Congrats on being Freshly Pressed this might shine some much needed light on the issue at hand.
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Reblogged this on Smiles and Bows and commented:
Not at all wedding related but… as a teacher… This is telling of the future.
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Thank you for sharing this with us. They are obviously losing a strong, competent teacher; I hope things will turn out for the better.
It seems many ‘developed’ countries in the Western world are actually going through an education crisis like this one. I see it in France, where it is not uncommon to have French middle and high school teachers hand in their letters of resignation.
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
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… started bringing tears of frustration and loss during the litany of ‘I refuse …’; and I work in the UK where they are only just finding the gears for the violation of that noblest of human activity – the giving of teaching; the systematic de-powering of a profession in the squalid name of ‘development’ ‘reform’ ‘improvement’ (when EVERYONE who knows anything about education knows it is about creating and exploiting a brand-new frontier market) is obscene; and there are real casualties happening; genuine condolences for this latest example – but also so glad it has found a broad audience (‘America … this is serious …’ – Allen Ginsberg)
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Oh my god. Come here to our country and you will find out that these things not only happened in a certain state (we called it province) but in our whole country. Most of the teachers here became one, not because they have passion, but because they couldn’t find another job. There’s also a standardized national exams that feared every teacher and of course their students, plus too much wasteful meeting and administrative works, worsen with a chronicle corruption culture in education dept. Just imagine how disastrous our education is.
NC better fix their system ASAP if they don’t want to end up like ours. God Bless.
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Add to this sad scenario, the neighborhood school approach that has become sop for many larger NC districts. What is sadder than the neglected potential of poor students in poor schools whose dedicated teachers are jumping ship? It is a disappointing turn for a state where real progress had been made. Many NC legislators are mean spirited and are undermining the best efforts of career educators whose mission has always implied the support of a system where a quality education via public schools might level the playing field.
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Okay, conclusion time:
I tried more than once here to ask what problems teachers were having with testing but got only weak answers that stand in strong conflict with most of education and the non-academic world.
Yes, what to teach, how to teach it, and how to evaluate the results and then how to bridge from academics to non-academics are not easy issues, but there is a huge ocean of successful experience on all of these issues.
I am awash in experience in education, as a student in K-12 through a good technical Ph.D., teaching as a graduate associate, lecturer, and professor, research scientist in industry, and business entrepreneur, and have seen all sides.
I am sorry that so many US K-12 teachers are so unhappy.
But from all that is visible in this thread, it is getting clear that much of the US K-12 education community has gone way off the main road, is wandering in a swamp, needs a ‘reality check’, and needs to get back on the main road.
In simple terms, the US will not pay the taxes, either local real estate or Federal, for wandering in the swamp by the K-12 community.
The arguments here about problems with testing, suggestions that testing treats the students like “robots”, and vague descriptions of education based on ‘projects’ with “performance assessment and student portfolios” strike me as just absurd, a version of make-work, junk-think, busy-work, teacher-scam nonsense mostly just as an excuse to hire more teachers and more teachers per 100 students and avoid evaluating the results of that hiring. Sorry, that dog won’t hunt. It’s a scam.
Here’re my conclusions:
First, it is clear that a lot of people who want to be dedicated teachers want something in teaching that is not realistic. Look, here’s reality:
“Here are the students, the material in a book, and the tests. Your job is to get the students ready for the tests. The tests have been carefully designed and validated and are good on ‘reliability’ and ‘validity’. Let’s here no more complaints about the tests. Just what is it about this job you are having so much trouble understanding?”
Second, it appears that there is a big industry to serve ‘special needs’ children, ‘learning disabled’ children, ‘culturally disadvantaged’ children, ‘problem learners’, ‘developmentally challenged’ children, etc. Sorry, but not all children have equal abilities in everything, and there is no reasonable way to get all of the class up to the top 10% of the class.
E.g., there is a famous professor with a math specialty, and he taught a second, advanced course in his specialty. Although I’d never taken even a first course, I guessed I didn’t need his advanced course. But, I was ‘advised’ to take his course anyway. You are lucky you weren’t in the course because I effortlessly blew away all the other students, on the deliberately challenging tests, and the best you could have done would have been to come in second. And I didn’t even try to be competitive and just thought that it was an easy class. There was no way for the other students to keep up with me in that course.
But since I did well on tests, that means that all I did was regurgitate rote memorization without any ‘real understanding’? Nope! Here’s an example: About the same time there was another course; there I saw a question not answered in the course. Then I couldn’t find an answer in the library. So, I got a ‘reading’ course to address the issue. But I’d already outlined a solution, and in the first day of the reading course I outlined my solution. Two weeks later I found a better solution, wrote up my results, and was done with the ‘course’ — all in about two weeks. It was the last I needed for a Master’s. I later published my work in a leading peer-reviewed journal. Trust me: Such work depends on real understanding and creativity.
E.g., my wife took a college course in history. It was a lecture course with 300 students. She just audited the course, but the professor insisted that even auditing students take the tests. Lucky you didn’t take that course because just as an audit she made the best grade in the course. Of course, she was also brilliant — Valedictorian, Phi Beta Kappa, ‘Summa Cum Laude’, Woodrow Wilson, and Ph.D. Take a course with her and come in at best second. There was no way to have all the class keep up with her.
People are different. Not everyone plays violin like Heifetz. Sorry ’bout that. I tried: I was largely self-taught in violin and got most of the way through the Bach ‘Chaconne’, but I never played even one bar of that music like Heifetz did.
It appears that the US K-12 education community wants to use various excuses to bleed the US economy white paying that community to push a big rock up a hill. Sorry: Let that rock just roll back down.
Third, the US K-12 education community wants to make no end of silly excuses, such as in this thread, excuses much like the classic “the dog ate my homework”, to get paid to do work and then not be evaluated on that work. So, the main excuse is that the real goals of K-12 are so ‘ethereal’ or some such that they can’t be quantified or tested. Horse feathers.
I repeat: Here’s a good, first-cut approach to teaching in grades 9-12: “Here’s the text. The first test will cover chapters 1-3 and be on the date in the syllabus which you have. I will be available for any questions. Get to work.”
I will predict: My three conclusions here constitute essentially an impossible scam by the US K-12 education community. This scam will not stand.
Instead, parents and their children will find alternatives, and then in the public K-12 schools the number of students, the financial support, and the financial support per student will all fall.
In broad terms, a solution is easy: Groups such as International Baccalaureate will outline curricula. For each subject, there will be lists of good texts. There will be lists of good video lectures on YouTube and some good Q&A fora much like StackOverflow (which works very well) for technical questions in software development. In each community, some good teachers will get some extra employment as tutors for small groups of students. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) will give achievement tests with good reliability and validity. Colleges and employers will respect the ETS results much more than current K-12 classroom grades or “performance assessment and student portfolios” whatever the heck those inexplicable evaluations are.
For good students with good parents, learning in grades 7-12 and in the first two years of college will be revolutionized. Students will learn better and faster, and the US will save huge amounts of money. The US K-12 public schools will be left with the rest, and respect and financial support for the public schools will fall.
The scam will not stand. People are not totally stupid and just will not stand for the nonsense.
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Apparently you’re not clear on why teachers are upset. You do seem to have a good ability to research topics then. Perhaps you could find some answers elsewhere, then.
if you want to know why teachers are upset with the current privatization push by the corporate interests in the country there are many good sources. Dr. Ravitch’s book would be a good place to start. Then I would suggest you spend some time reading some blogs…starting with this one…and not just the comments.
Schools Matter
http://www.schoolsmatter.info
The Answer Sheet
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/
Living in Dialogue
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/
and for a parent’s viewpoint, Parents Across America
http://parentsacrossamerica.org
Many of the entries won’t have research information in them, but they are out there. There are researchers who have provided information about what’s happening in public education. Start by googling Stephen Krashen and David Berliner.
My own editorial comments for you follow:
1. Education is not an exact science. It’s not a business. There are no products no matter what Bill Gates and Eli Broad think. Students do not respond in textbook fashion every time. Outside forces like hunger, family tragedies, personal weakness and gunshots outside the classroom can distract students and cause disruptions to learning. Homework is not always finished…students aren’t widgets. Every student, no matter what you think, is different.
2. American students learn well in our public schools despite the difficulties. Our students from low poverty schools score at the top of the world on international tests…our overall scores are lower because we have approximately 25% of our children living in poverty compared to much lower rates (e.g. 5% in Finland) in other advanced nations.
3. Standardized tests do not test everything a child learns or needs to learn in school. You want a scientific response? Here’s one…Standardized tests were not designed to be used to evaluate teachers or schools. Tests, if you know anything about tests and measurements, are designed to test the knowledge of the test taker on the subject covered. They are not designed to give a total picture of a child’s knowledge. A child’s knowledge of music, athletics, and art are rarely included. A child’s understanding of interpersonal relationships, the ability to work in a group and his or her personal work ethic is not measured. I could go on, but you get the idea (hopefully).
4. Sociology majors (the US Secretary of Education), attorneys (the president and his opponent), computer gurus (Bill Gates) and corporate millionaires do not know more about education than educators. Just because someone went to school doesn’t mean they know what it’s like to spend 10 months with a group of 20-40 students each year for 10, 20, 30 or even 40 years.
Anyone have anything else to add which I might have forgotten?
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Just a few comments,
Point one absolutely agree with, but it does suggest careful matching of students to schools. This is not possible if admission is geographically based.
Point two, comparing the educational outcomes of the wealthiest students in the United States to the educational outcomes of the average student in other countries is not particularly usefull. Also the Finish government reports a much higher poverty rate than your reported 5%.
Point three, standardized exams give students, especially high achieving students, the opportunity to demonstrate what they know without having to please a teacher. My oldest son did not suffer fools gladly, and his grades high school grades suffered for it. Standardized tests scores, along with the grades from his college courses taken in high school, allowed him to attend a world class university.
Point four, education is everyone’s concern, so while the opinions of experienced teachers should be given significant weight, it should not be the last word. The commander in chief of the armed forces is not a military officer, for good reason. For similar reasons we should not leave education decisions to the current practitioners.
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Point one. I’m not sure I understand what you mean. I was not intending to “match” students to schools at all. My point was that students are not products and education is not a business.
Point two. I mentioned students from low poverty schools (not just wealthy) because it’s my belief that the biggest obstacle to higher achievement in the US is poverty. If not, then all (or most) of the so-called bad teachers must be teaching in high poverty schools.
The Finnish government might suggest a higher poverty rate…I was just guesstimating. I will guesstimate that it’s still well below our rate.
Point three. Standardized tests have their uses. I don’t (and didn’t in my previous comment) deny that. Their uses, however, are specific to their design and they should not be used for other “judgments.” They should not be used for high-stakes decisions. They should not be used to judge teachers, administrators or schools.
Point four. I agree, however, current practitioners seem to be left out of most decision making when it comes to public education.
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When you said every student is different, I interpreted it to mean that every student has different and unique needs for education. Public schools have traditionally recognized this by allowing students to design a course of study in high school to match the student’s needs and desires. It would seem a natural extension to allow students to choose a school that best suites their individual needs.
I am just quoting from memory, but I believe Finland reports something on the order of 12% of children living in poor households. Your point about poverty’s impact on education would be more effective if you compared scores of children in wealthy schools both in the United States and in other countries, rather than the scores of wealthy students in the US to the average of wealthy and poor students in other countries.
My point was that standardized exam scores can present a better picture of student learning than teacher evaluations that attempt to incorporate non-academic standards, especially for gifted adolescent males. Doing pointless make work problems is not a measure of work ethic, but of how compliant the student is willing to be.
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According to UNICEF the Finnish poverty level is 5.3% and the US has a level of 23.1%. I’m was not talking about WEALTHY American students…just those who attend schools with low levels of poverty. They are NOT the same thing. Also…my point was NOT to compare test scores…though I did, and at this point I apologize for that. My point was to state that poverty is a huge issue for American schools and students in poverty have achieve at a lower level. It’s my belief that we need to focus on lowering the poverty level in the US in order to increase our students’ achievement.
I agree that busy work for students is not productive for any students, gifted males or otherwise.
Standardized tests should be used to evaluate student learning and for prescriptive information for teachers, parents and students to use to improve instruction. Standardized tests should only be used in ways they were designed to be used. To do otherwise would invalidate them. The current use of standardized tests in the US includes making high stakes decisions for students, and evaluating teachers and schools. The tests were not designed to do that…and are not valid as used.
Most secondary students’ needs can be met in a well resourced and well run high school. Sometimes a student needs more than a school can provide. Those cases should be handled on a case by case basis and other resources provided.
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The UNICEF poverty figure is based on a relative poverty measure. For education I think an absolute poverty measure is more relevant. You can find it here:http://www.stat.fi/til/tjt/2010/02/tjt_2010_02_2012-01-25_tie_001_en.html
It is good to see that you believe standardized tests are a valid measure of student learning. What schools do with that measure is a different issue that over which people might well have disagreements. I don’t know why you say these exams are high stakes for the students, but do agree that they are high stakes for the teachers. I don’t think my children’s scores on state exams had any impact on them. In fact, that is one of the criticisms of those exams.
I live in a state where most of the school districts have fewer than a thousand students. Many of the high schools in my state offer no advanced courses in science or math. My oldest child was lucky because we live in a university town. He was able to start taking college courses at 15, taking an upper level graduate course by the end of his senior year. I know of at least two other students who did the same. No zoned high school could have provided those resources.
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It’s reassuring to know that kids who live in poverty in the US are better off than kids who live in poverty in Somalia. But why are there so many in poverty in the richest nation in the world? Why so many billionaires? Maybe the extremes of wealth and poverty aren’t so apparent in Kansas. They are dramatic in New York City. Some people here think nothing of spending $300 for dinner, while there are families that have less than that to feed themselves for a month. Somehow it doesn’t feel right. But maybe that’s just me.
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Agreed! And our politicians, the people we elect “for the people”, have disdain for the “47%”.
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I left out that because students do have very different levels of understanding, what can be busy work for one student in the class can be valuable practice for another student in the same class.
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My point about poverty was not to claim that some poverty is worse than other poverty…it was that poverty is a factor in student achievement — relative or absolute. Our students in poverty are not achieving. Our students who are not in poverty are.
Standardized tests are good for one thing. They measure what they were designed to measure. They do NOT give a complete measure of student achievement.
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I know that we are all overly influenced by our own experiences, but I will throw this story out in defense of standardized tests. In tenth grade my son was in pre-calc in his high school and also took a state mandated standardized math exam. He received a B- in the math class. He scored so highly on the state assessment exam that he could no longer make any measured progress in mathematics. I think you would agree that these two assessments of his ability in mathematics are not consistent with each other. Which was more accurate?
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There are other factors that are taken into consideration when giving grades …. do students do their homework, do they interrupt the class, do they participate? I was a math teacher. I saw nothing wrong with the exams. The one huge problem I have is that teachers are told to “differentiate” according to the learning styles of their students. So, we use the Smart-board and videos and manipulatives because Johnny learns best auditorally and Mary kinesthetically. Says who? Are teachers really equipped to label a student thus. Students were given multiple choice questions. If Johnny had more “C’s” than “B’s” then he was an auditory learning. REALLY? Now we are psychologists? But here is my issue – if it is agreed that we need to differentiate – why are all the tests the same for all students? Where are the manipulatives, etc?
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There are many other factors involved in giving grades in high school, but I view that as a problem, especially with gifted adolescent males.
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I agree. I had a student once who was so far ahead and didn’t do ANY homework. I could have rationalized the “need” to follow directions, etc. but I told her she no longer had to do homework . She knew the math backwards and forwards and I hated to drop her grade by 10 points for no homework. I only did that once! I see your point re: gifted adolescent males!
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There is no need for you to “defend” standardized testing…I’m not attacking standardized tests per se. What I would attack is the MISUSE and OVERUSE of standardized testing in public education today.
Tests are designed for a purpose. The validity and reliability of a particular test is based on its being used for its intended purpose. When tests are used for purposes other than that for which they have been designed then the validity and reliability no longer applies. Standardized tests give us a specific snapshot of a specific part of a child’s learning.
If the standardized test used for your son was helpful in determining an appropriate direction for his education, then that’s good. That does not mean, however, that those tests should be used for evaluating school systems, schools, and teachers.
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I think we are agreeing here. As you said, standardized test scores are a way to evaluate student learning. The role that student learning should play in evaluating other things, like teacher quality, is a separate issue.
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I certainly don’t agree with that statement. Standardized tests should be used for large-scale assessment of states and districts, not for schools and not for individuals.
The tests are too flawed to use for high stakes purposes. They were not designed for those purposes.
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My career has been spent teaching grades k-4, so I can’t speak to the use of standardized tests in upper grades. I can, however, advocate for young children. Standardized tests have no place in the younger grades at all. Children should not be spending time bubbling in test booklets. I can learn a lot more about my students by listening to them read and by looking at their assignments. These tests are not valid measures of assessment. So much time is wasted on these God-awful tests, time that could better be sent teaching the children.
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Is it that only non-standardized tests work as a measure of learning?
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Yes.
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I think we have a way forward. Take a non-standardized test made up by an outstanding algebra teacher and give it to every student in the state.
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Wow! I’ve never seen an actual reply from GOD on these posts or any others (and “Norm” is a cool, 21st-century nom de plume, if I may say)! And talk about wrath! Every one of us who entered the teaching profession and have been confused now has enlightenment. I’m not surprised, of course, that if we would “take a course with me, come in second.” Such brass, such conceit, such arrogance! Oh, to be omnipotent and omniscient!
Now I’m in no way omniscient like the Lord, but I do have considerable experience for a mortal. If I may, though, I’d like to answer a few of God’s–er, Norm’s concerns (as I, too, have been “awash” in academia for my entire life):
1- The teaching recruiters do not sell prospects on being teachers of tests, but on being educators using their own knowledge to impart information about the world to their students. I agree that if the jobs were offered as he believes they exist, teachers wouldn’t have much room to complain. But how many young teachers were told, “Here are the students, the material in a book, and the tests. Your job is to get the students ready for the tests. The tests have been carefully designed and validated and are good on ‘reliability’ and ‘validity’. Let’s here no more complaints about the tests. Just what is it about this job you are having so much trouble understanding?”
2- Norm uses the phrase, “For good students with good parents…” Whoa, their, Lord. I know many teachers who have found the parents to be the biggest problem in getting students on task. I’m not the only one who called, visited, begged parents to get involved only to be given reasons why their child’s education was not their business. Yeah, if there is good parental support, teachers could accomplish a lot more. Without it, it’s a very difficult task.
3- Norm says, “there is a big industry to serve ‘special needs’ children, ‘learning disabled’ children, ‘culturally disadvantaged’ children, ‘problem learners’, ‘developmentally challenged’ children, etc. Sorry, but not all children have equal abilities in everything, and there is no reasonable way to get all of the class up to the top 10% of the class.” Obviously, Norm is forgetting Lake Wobbegone, where all the students are above average! What is your point here, Norm? You’re not making sense with that paragraph. Let me ask you, have YOU ever had to teach a high school class where only 10% of your 40 students spoke English as their native language, 20% spoke fair English, and the remaining 70% spoke very little or no English? That 70% didn’t speak just Spanish, but Thai, Laotian, Portuguese, Dutch, and Vietnamese. Some 50% of the class had learning disabilities (not all of the same kind), and 20% had police records. Oh, and as teacher I wasn’t allowed to do anything about the situation. Still, when I had students who did nothing–literally couldn’t write their own names or even try–and received F grades, it was ME who got chewed out by the principal! Those bad grades, you see, could hurt the students’ self-esteem. How did YOU handle that, Norm? How? Are your results useful across the grades? How’d you handle that self-esteem bit and not get sacked at years’ end?
Yes, God, if we all had classes with students eager to learn, who had a modicum of discipline and respect for teachers and other students, parents who would at least check their kids’ progress and maybe prod them when necessary, we’d all think we died and went to Heaven, maybe on your block! But maybe you’ve forgotten what it’s really like in the classrooms, with families, with neighborhoods. If you’re angry at teachers turn them into pillars of salt or drown them in unparted seas, but DON’T criticize them for things beyond their control.
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Thanks for the promotion to deity!
The course where everyone else had to come in at best second was a one time thing. I didn’t go into just why. There were three reasons: First, I liked the material. Second, I have some talent in it. Third, and by far the most important, from independent study before the course I had studied several times as much material as was in the course.
Heck, about there years before the course I had carefully written out essentially a textbook on the content of the course. I had ordered some smooth, 100% cotton paper from Southworth, worked hard to get some good pens, etc. Before the course, one evening, as review, I wrote out quickly from memory 80 pages of notes covering about 2/3rds of the course.
I’d studied from a stack of books from quite theoretical to quite applied. I’d used and applied the material in my career, where I was making per year six times what a high end Camaro cost.
The professor wanted the course to be a ‘filter’ so deliberately went a bit too fast for the students and gave challenging tests. So, I had plenty of room to beat the other students. That’s why I blew the other students out of the water. It was like a 100 yard dash where I started six inches from the finish line.
My main point in that story was just that my independent study worked great when I finally took a corresponding course. My objective was to emphasize the role of independent study and, in particular, to say that to a significant extent the K-12 teachers on this thread are trying to do too much.
Beyond that point, you are not doing really well with ‘reading comprehension’ of what I wrote! I offered up some real softballs you could have knocked out of the park with a gentle swing of your politically correct bat.
Suspicions confirmed: You outlined some just grim teaching and learning situations that are being used to spend ever more money on K-12 education.
The city where I went to a public high school had lots of really grim situations much as you described, but they also had some ‘effective’ solutions. My father had his Master’s in education and was long one of the world’s most important ‘technical’ educators for some schools of the US military, e.g., with 40,000 students at a time. So, when he looked for a house, first he looked at the schools. It was not difficult to pick the right public high school — a new school, with architecture partly borrowed from the palace at Versailles, in a new and relatively wealthy part of the city. There was a highly qualified, very hard working principal.
In that school there was essentially none of the problems you described. Essentially all the students graduated, and over 97% went on to college. One year three students went to Princeton and competed against each other for president of the freshman class. The best student, although I beat him by a little on the math SAT, went to MIT although quickly came home with burned out fuses. I was actually by a few points second best on the math SAT, and the student who beat me went to Purdue. I started at a silly college, and then finished at a good private school and got “Honors in Math” and 800 on the GRE math test.
Yes, the school had all the good Jewish students in town. The guys who went to Purdue and MIT were Jewish, but I wasn’t. They both studied hard to do well, and I only studied what I liked, but I liked math and physics a lot.
For the other students, the city had other schools. The situation in the worst of the other schools was grim and ugly. Net, I’m not sure there is much of a solution.
A friend of mine went to such a really bad school, but he was from a good family, made PBK at SUNY, got his Ph.D. at Courant, and was a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Then we were research scientists on the same project in industry. Net, with a good family, a horrible school doesn’t have to be a disaster. With a bad family, even all the enormous effort some teachers on this thread want to devote will come to next to nothing. You are trying to push that classic rock up that hill, guys.
Net, I just say, keep it simple and save the time, trouble, effort, money, stomach lining, tears, emotions, etc. Sorry ’bout that. Or, again, “the test will be on the next three chapters in three weeks, and I will be available for questions”. Right: Good students, mostly from good families, will do well, and the rest will do from not so well down to just awful. I’m saying, sure, that’s what will happen; it’s what happens in college; and don’t try to push that rock up that hill.
And as I have outlined, it appears that many families will come to similar conclusions with the main result being some really bad public education, much worst than now, and alternatives for good families with good students.
The tax money to be saved is enormous. Various entrepreneurs are drooling over how to ‘disrupt’ K-12 and harvest some of the billions being spent there now, and the venture capital community is willing to listen.
E.g., part of the K-12 scam is to beat up on all of us by claiming that the US is behind in education, being beaten by Finland, Switzerland, Singapore, etc. Horse feathers.
Sure, Melinda Gates wants to save the world and has Bill working hard at it, but even Bill has admitted that the good US students are the best students in the world.
So, what about the bad average? Okay, here is a non-politically correct explanation: Go to Minnesota and compare students of Finnish descent with students in Finland. The US students might win!
In general, as in social science, ‘control’ on country of origin. So, will find that US students with ancestors from Zimbabwe do much better than students in Zimbabwe.
More generally, there is a cute convexity argument that explains the data and has nothing at all to do with education: Pick any measure of performance you want, musical talent, running 100 yards, memorizing whole pages, learning calculus independently at age 12, etc. Then apply this measure to many counties. Presto: The countries at the top and the bottom will be homogeneous, and the countries that are mixtures will be in the middle. Quite generally. Done.
So, the problem with US education in the world has nothing to do with US education but is just a necessary consequence of the fact that the US is a mixture, that is, is ‘diverse’. So, the K-12 education establishment wants the bleed the US white fighting that necessary consequence. What a scam.
If you can get a job teaching in a good school with good students from good families and want to, fine. Otherwise teach in college or do something else. For pushing that classic rock up that hill, don’t.
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Stack exchange is not just for programing. Math Stack Exchange was very valuable to my son while he was studying mathematics on his own as a high school student.
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It’s difficult to answer your comment because you only talk about one thing: what worked best for YOU. And, I’m assuming, what worked best for you in the past.
The world–the global economy–is changing. Reading a text, doing some practice problems, and taking a test won’t cut it anymore.
That’s the bottom line. Teachers know it. Most parents know it. Most lawmakers don’t.
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I am curious about how to know that “Reading a text, doing some practice problems, and taking a test won’t cut it anymore”?
It seems to me to be a description of self-learning, a skill that is vital to changes in the global economy. Taking the test is certification of that learning.
Some high school students outgrow the high school curriculum long before they graduate. This is the only significant learning that they can do.
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Taking a test accurately measures one thing: content knowledge. Check out this place for more about being ready for the 21st century: http://www.p21.org.
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I don’t think that is true at all. You can easily design a test in mathematics that would tell you about a students ability to recombine knowledge in new ways.
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This is getting to be repetitious and tedious.
> It’s difficult to answer your comment because you only talk about one thing: what worked best for YOU.
I gave some examples of learning from the source I know best, my own learning. That I went “all the way” (to borrow again from the movie ‘Pretty Woman’) in school and did a lot of learning by various means, should help my ‘credibility’ to offer examples.
But with so much time in school as a student and teacher and so much learning out of school and for work, etc., I’ve seen a lot of examples of how others have learned.
E.g., I wrote in this thread:
> E.g., there are now about 100,000 apps for Android: So, roughly 100,000 programmers quickly saw the coming of Android, learned how to write for Android, and did. Next to none of what they needed to learn about writing for Android they learned in a class. So, Android was a change, and 100,000 software writers tried to do well with the change.
Why didn’t they learn how to write for Android in a class? Because next to no teachers of classes in computing have ever written for Android! Here the self-taught students are ahead of the teachers, including nearly all chaired professors of computer science at famous research universities.
So those 100,000 or so programmers did some work so far unique for the 21st century and did the work essentially totally via independent motivation, direction, study, and application with no doubt help from the Internet, StackOverflow, etc.
I mentioned some of the peer-reviewed original research I’ve done: Well, gotta tell you, original research is a solo activity and not a group project! It’s not done with cooperative, collaborative, congenial sharing sitting at a round table! It’s more likely done by thinking hard alone in a quiet room, trying various ‘thought experiments’ to find some partitions likely separating cases that are true or false, sleeping on the problem, and, then, maybe in a shower, finally having an idea with some real progress. Round tables with lots of chattering doesn’t cut it.
And original research, or just original thinking, academic or not, stands to be one of the most valuable forms of work for the 21st century.
I mentioned that in the best graduate courses, the professor never took such a course. Of course, by that I mean that they invented the course starting with a clean sheet of paper and their own research.
Indeed, at times the Web site of the math department at Princeton has explained that the courses offered are introductions to research by experts in the fields, no courses are offered for preparation for the qualifying exams, and, instead, students are expected to prepare themselves for the qualifying exams by independent study. What Princeton is saying is especially appropriate for the 21st century.
That department has also stated that graduate students are expected to have some research underway in their first year. Okay: I brought my Ph.D. research problem with me to graduate school, used some advanced material in my first year coursework to attack my problem, and did the research independently in my first summer. I believe that both Princeton and I were correct and followed what is especially appropriate for the 21st century.
Net, what I have said here is not nearly from just my own experience.
> The world–the global economy–is changing. Reading a text, doing some practice problems, and taking a test won’t cut it anymore.
SURE it will. Looks like your exposure to good texts is a bit limited!
Indeed, such work, often done independently, is one of the very best ways to do well with the changing global economy.
Progress requires prerequisites. Or to see farther than others, stand on the shoulders of giants (thanks, Issac).
Want to do high quality, original work in stochastic processes? Okay, start with Neveu, ‘Mathematical Foundations of the Calculus of Probability’. Neveu is a giant and a student of one, Loeve long at Berkeley reporting original work by other giants back to Kolmogorov, Lebesgue, and several others. If work hard, then can occasionally find a doable “practice problem” in Neveu! Solve a lot of those “practice problems” and will be in the high, thin ozone right away.
My current business project, uniquely suitable for the 21st century, has at its core some original math I did with some advanced prerequisites for which I thank especially John von Neumann. I learned von Neumann’s work from his book on quantum mechanics, some books of his ‘assistant’ Paul Halmos, from Neveu, and from some well known books of Walter Rudin and Hal Royden, etc. In each case, having some good exercises, e.g., “practice problems”, was very helpful.
For one paper I published and mentioned here, a good start would be some texts in optimization by Mangasarian, Zangwill, and Bertsekas.
For another paper I published, in ‘Information Sciences’, definitely a journal for the 21st century, a good foundation was the classic material on ergodic theory I got from my favorite course in grad school together with my undergraduate honors paper on group theory in abstract algebra — all that material is readily available in polished texts with good “practice problems”.
You are correct that academic texts are not always necessary and certainly not sufficient for the 21st century. So, I did write:
> (A) A person should have a lot of drive to understand changes in the US and world economies; then the person should try to understand how to do well with those changes.
> …
> So, somewhere someone should develop a good video lecture on drive to understand and do well with change, and students in grades 8-12 might look at that video once a year.
> Evaluating the resulting understanding via testing might be possible.
Another response to my post is
> Taking a test accurately measures one thing: content knowledge. Check out this place for more about being ready for the 21st century: http://www.p21.org.
Well that’s not true for all tests! Most of the tests I had after my sophomore year in college asked for some original thinking, at least likely original to the student. Here is an example:
Let A be a nonempty set and F a nonempty collection of subsets of A. Suppose that F is closed under relative complements and countable unions. Show that F is not countably infinite.
For the p21.org, that’s a bit silly: They have:
> the 3Rs and 4Cs (Critical thinking and problem solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and innovation).
Do much toward research, and will be spending a lot of time trying to separate what is true from what is false and will develop some high abilities at some of the best means of “critical thinking”!
For “communication”, I did write:
(A) I will want good ability to write technical material clearly with high precision. Basically, in the end, much of the work product will be such writing. E.g., for software, I am more interested in the documentation as technical writing in English than the programming language code.
Oh, yes, somehow I did omit giving lectures with a pointer, a big screen, a laptop, and a PPT file! For just how to do that, might need a ‘course’, right? Have some content the audience is very interested in and speak slowly and clearly and show some enthusiasm. Done. End of course. Everyone passes.
Continuing, for “collaboration”, that tends to conflict with the other two “creativity and innovation”. E.g., just how much “collaboration” was there in the work of Michelangelo, Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, Gauss, Maxwell, Einstein, Lebesgue, Schroedinger, Kolmogorov, von Neumann, etc. We could throw in Steve Jobs, the guy who did the romantic matchmaking site Plenty of Fish, James Simons, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. Still all fired up about “collaboration”?
I know; I know: Grades K-6 are all fired up about having the students, 4-6 at a time, sit at round tables and ‘collaborate’. The thing is, the girls are naturally unbelievably fantastic at such ‘social interactions’, and the boys are hopelessly terrible at it. Of course, since nearly all the grade K-6 teachers are women, to them the round table situations where the girls excel seems very appropriate! That works until they get to solid geometry where there is no ‘social’ component and the boys’ better spacial relations is a crucial advantage!
For “problem solving” and “innovation” I did mention:
> how to bridge from academics to non-academics
is not an easy issue. But for ‘innovation’ a lot has been written with a lot more recently from Steve Blank in Silicon Valley. Can get Steve’s main ideas in less than two hours even with several beers at the same time.
Yes, in K-12 it could be useful to have some of the students working on some collaborative projects. The good examples here appear to be like having several of the girls do the decorations for a party for Halloween or Homecoming! Of course, if the girls were pretty and nice, then plenty of boys would be eager to help and would likely be needed for any needed light carpentry or arranging the lighting or sound!
Of course supposedly one of the main ways to teach ‘collaboration’ is team sports. Alas, for all their years in team sports, the original Dream Team actually lost their first game, against a college team. Then the coach of the Dream Team announced his lesson: If the Dream Team, as good as they were, didn’t play well as a team, then they could actually lose. Lesson learned; that was their last loss.
But, gotta tell you, just what the key ‘secret sauce’ is for success in the 21st century is not so clear. In particular, the Silicon Valley venture partners have decided to f’get about trying to understand and, instead, for their investments just depend on what they see in the market: Net they want a company for a Series A round to have market ‘traction’ significant and growing rapidly. They believe in essentially a Markov assumption: Anything about the internals of the business and its future success are conditionally independent given traction. That is, just count the traction and ignore anything about how it was obtained! In particular, for the best material to study to get traction, they have no opinions!
Or, a self-taught programmer who dropped out of college or even high school with traction is fine; a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford and no traction is not fine!
Net, I’d suggest going back to Newton: To see farther than others, stand on the shoulders of giants, not nearly new.
Heavily what the giants did is in well written texts with good exercises; it’s a bit too soon to give up on the texts, exercises and tests!
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Norm…we agree on one thing. This is getting to be tedious.
I’m not sure what your point is (points?). One seems to be that we should continue to test students. I’m for that…let’s continue to test students…let’s just not spend all our time doing it instead of teaching. We should also confine our test usage to the purpose for which they were designed. They were not designed to judge teachers or schools…or to determine if a child should be promoted to the next grade. There are many things which need to go into those kinds of judgments. Testing has its place…I agree…but let’s keep it in its place.
Another of your points seems to be that we don’t need collaboration — with the added information that girls are good at it and boys are bad at it. I don’t think I can respond to that…it’s just so foreign to the experiences I had for 35 years teaching actual children. We didn’t spend all our time collaborating…and when we did there were some males who were very good at it.
Maybe I’m just too stupid to understand what you’re getting at…after all I was just an elementary teacher for 35 years (and a male to boot). Perhaps you could lower your level of explanation so that someone of my experience and limited academic ability can understand what you’re talking about. Write concisely and clearly. State your point. Give one example or reference.
For example…
1. We should continue to test students. It’s important because we need to see where their achievement levels are.
2. We shouldn’t focus on collaboration so much. Students will have to do a lot of work in their lives alone.
Thanks.
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After each of your posts, I considered a response … trying to find a way to fill the gap between your stated experiences and the reality of the various classrooms/schools that I’ve visited (and taught in). I could share my experiences (teaching an advanced class containing the school’s 12 Valedictorians or teaching inner city youth whose most important goal is living thru their teens into “adult-hood” — and they were never allowed to be children) but I’m sure that you’d deem them incredible/fantastic. I wouldn’t believe them if I hadn’t lived them.
The best I can offer is to encourage you to make the effort to visit various public schools in your area. Visit the higher performing ones first, develop a rapport w/ someone who can serve as a bit of a chaperone/interpreter/bodyguard before going to the poorest performing schools. Although your posts here have been verbose, I encourage you to listen — to the teachers/staff but also to the students. Try to maintain a questioning attitude w/o passing judgements. Observe the teachers who have the best performing students but also the ones who are the most popular and especially the ones who teach the “unwashed” (“Welcome Back Kotter”‘s sweathogs) … if you aren’t judgemental, many are very likely to share w/ you the reality of the job.
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Thanks mr.nielson you were my favorite teacher!! I know all the kids that had you at east union will miss you a lot!!
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You guys are awesome! You’re doing great!
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Mr.nielsen you will be missed at east union! I know for sure you were everyone’s favorite teacher!!
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The most important knowledge is that schools are NOT designed to educate. If you are a true educator, there is no place for you in most schools worldwide. Schools are designed to remove people’s ability to think for themselves and train them to be docile order-takers who will march into war, go to terrible jobs and never build an independent life for themselves.
I highly suggest reading John Taylor Gatto’s books.
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I agree completely! Thoreau said, “The state does not educate.” After Dewey and the socialist boys came along, it was all about churning out “good citizens,” not educated masses. Bureaucrats and their new-found friends, the educrats control the classroom and have turned it into a huge laboratory for group-think exercises (emphasis on group, “think” is strongly discouraged), designed to filter out nettlsome ideologies like the founding principles of our nation (you know, the things that lay at the foundation of what makes–er, made, our nation great, and the value and importance of our nation’s Christian heritage (what was it de Toqueville said, “America is great because America is good. America will cease to be great when America ceases to be good.”)
I’m a public school teacher who homeschools my children. I will not surrender them to this “apparatus of un-think.” I resent the fact that, while they waste my tax dollars on this mammoth failure, I am unable to get a credit or voucher for choosing an alternative to the state’s “fine educational product.”
Sorry for the rant and for straying off topic…and for stealing your soapbox…just frustrated…as I get ready to go to my teaching job this morning and try to stimulate my students to wakefulness that they might ponder the finer points of Hawthorne and Shakespeare this morning.
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I dont mean to sound ridiculous. I am only a second year student studying to be a teacher in Tennessee. I am from the North Carolina area and I am aware of the issues. I understand that this is a huge problem in NC and agree that it should not be that way at all. I do believe though that there can be change. Call me crazy, but there is a reason most teachers sign on for the responsibility. I know there are teachers that are simply in it for the summers off and it seems easy to them but most have a gift, A calling placed on their life to be in this field. There is a common passion to see children grow to their potential and yes you may go through hell but who ever said it would be easy? If every well qualified teacher that works in NC decides to quit because of bad leadership, what hope of success are you giving the students. In my opinion, quitting isn’t the answer. If you really cared you’d work even harder to change how things are. I know for my future students, I will fight to the death to see them succeed. They are the next generation to come, if we give up on them now, they have nothing. Giving up would be selfish.
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I taught for 35 years and never met any teacher who was in it for the summers off. If someone enters teaching with that in mind they won’t last long…unless they change their perspective. I rarely had a summer off…if I wasn’t going to school I was working a second job to help pay the bills, all the while doing what I could to increase my effectiveness for the next year — reading, going to conferences, working at school — all those things happen during the summer.
I agree that most of us go into this knowing that it won’t be easy…and that we won’t make lots of money. Those of us who last past the first 5 years (only about half of all who enter teaching) — or even the first decade — do it because we love the job and I, for one, can’t think of anything I would rather be doing. That’s why I do volunteer tutoring at a local elementary school even though I’m retired. I didn’t want to give up the contact with students.
People who quit, however don’t necessarily quit because they don’t care about their students, however. You suggest that they should work hard to change things…to make things better for their students. I absolutely agree…we all need to do what we can to change the course of public education across the nation, not just in NC. However, we also have to take care of ourselves. I can’t help my students if I’m reduced to treating depression and stress to the point of collapse…and make no mistake, there are places where teachers are treated in such a way that causes great emotional and physical harm. A teacher in such a situation would be no help to her students.
But that’s not all…often teachers are asked to do things which are academically harmful to students. Our first responsibilities as teachers are to our students. When it gets to the point where a teacher is required to do things which he/she knows are pedagogically unsound and academically harmful the caring thing to do might be to leave. Conscientious objection, in this sort of situation, is not a result of not caring…quite the opposite. It’s the result of saying to oneself, I’m not going to participate in this injustice any longer and I’ll find other ways to fight the good fight.
Sometimes people give up teaching to save their own health and the health of their family. Sometimes people give it up to “do no harm” and find another way to fight the status quo of the misuse of testing and privatization. It’s not a simple situation and everyone has to make their own choices.
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Solution: International Education
1. Find international job fair
2. Attend international job fair
3. Get a position with a legitimate school (Watch out there are bad schools all over but in general the international pool is better by far.)
4. Move family someplace overseas – covered by the school of course.
5. Teach highly motivated kids with parents who care while your kids attend some of the best schools around for free/a pittance.
6. Profit? Depending on the region this will be guaranteed.
The list is to long for proper meme format but you get the idea. I know how you feel. I taught several years overseas before returning home to teach in the states. The difference couldn’t have been more pronounced. Overseas I was educating students. In the states I was performing educational triage. Moved back overseas recently and couldn’t be happier.
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Great commentary on the decay of America’s education system and increase of bureaucracy. Bravo! I’m proud to be a 6-year statistic myself. The emotional toll wasn’t worth it.
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I’ve recently begun teaching AP English in NC and, sadly, most of my students are not AP-caliber. They and their parents have been talked into taking rigorous courses so that their beloved transcripts will reflect the kind of quality learning so sought after by the top colleges. Unfortunately, my students weren’t prepared academically. They struggle (do you hear me, struggle!) to read texts. Their writing is extremely poor, as well (something my 11th graders said they NEVER HAD TO DO BEFORE. This is high school!? This is preparation for the future? This is ridiculous! This is why my wife and I home school!
In one of the debates, Obama said he was looking to create not just jobs, but high-skill, high-paying jobs. Many of my students will not be ready for these should they come. Public education is a disgrace. It is an embarrassment. It is a criminal enterprise. The lid needs to be blown off of it, the nation needs to see it for the sham that it is.
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EXACTLY my point, too, David C.
I am well-aware of helicopter parenting and money/clout-pushing parents who mandate that their child is AIG-certified and AP material. In my area, parents tell the administrators and advanced teachers whether their child should be placed in a course or else they will remove their presence from the PTA or the sports Booster Club. Sports has a $100,000 windfall and until citizens stop frequenting those events, academics will always crumble. The teacher does NOT give the recommendation, but the parents place them anyway. We lie to the child–lie to the parent–all to “keep the peace.” We don’t give zeros. We allow late papers. We modify and adjust grades to fit IEPs which some parents use as a crutch to allow their low IQ child to be promoted. It’s a sad, vicious cycle because those uneducated, undeserving students grow up to be what? Our county commissioners? Our local blue collar core of individuals in the community who can’t run a decent trade? Our new so-called CNAs or RNs who can’t even properly run an IV in your arm?
Everyone’s talking “high-skill” and breeding “21st Century Learners” but most schools cannot afford the technology needed to teach these asinine lessons. We are preparing children for failure and these helicopter parents will forever be in debt because their spoiled babies will become spoiled adults with no social skills, no common sense, and no means of surviving without Mommy and Daddy’s help.
Argh!
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Thank you. I have posted your response on my Facebook page. I repeated, “” Public education is a disgrace. It is an embarrassment. It is a criminal enterprise. The lid needs to be blown off of it, the nation needs to see it for the sham that it is.” CRIMINAL! Teachers are harassed and threatened. PARENTS – WE NEED YOU! These are your children!! Someone at a PTA meeting somewhere…… Thank you!
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This can also work the other way. My son had problems with teachers not taking him seriously. Sometimes the parents do know better.
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Bull. Our middle and upper class students score higher on the rest of the world on international measures such as PISA and TIMSS.
Since you are a teacher, I would advise doing some research. There is nothing wrong with our public schools, other than the fact that our poor kids produce terrible standardized test scores on every measure.
Our public schools have educated 90% of our population and helped create the strongest and richest nation in the history of this world. If this “criminal enterprise” is so bad, then why has this country advanced forward with the most technological and creative ideas in the history of man?
Did YOU attend a public school by chance?
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Another transplanted North Carolina education experience. I teach in Texas in the largest school district that has inherited one of North Carolina’s education mediums, T. Grier. In his ready, shoot, aim masterplan, all teachers are graded on the growth of their students on a year to year basis, as the statistical junkies decide that growth will be measured on EVAAS- a nonpeer reviewed performance analyis program. This is in addition to a whole slew of other tests. We personally ran into an issue where our social studies students were passing 95% of the tests or higher provided by the State, but when the results did not grow past 95% the teachers were penalized! There is no average of, say, three years performance, or a plateau of achievement where the grading stops, but a slap for high achievement – the District refused to reconsider our highly validated protests.
Teachers were baited with the prospect of “bonus” money, and assumed we were like pipe salepersons who would do more for a bigger payday. A teacher might earn up to $7,000…great, but there have also not been any raises for over 4 years. The bonus money available has been reduced by half, so the District reduced the teachers who could obtain a bonus – no senior level teachers, art, electives, nor foreign language because??? those subjects do NOT have to be tested. In our case, high performance ran into an effective ceiling. So now, bonus money has shrunk, teachers salaries have been reduced, a bait and switch incentive atmosphere has been created. Incentives in business are great, this is not business. Teachers do not get to select inputs and the inputs change, perhaps dramatically, year to year; or we average over 37 kids in a class compared to 30, but that should’nt really effect performance. It defies good science to measure unlike test groups.
Morale in our District is terrible, particularly with the school administrators who cringe when the headquarters decides on some new hoop teachers and students need to jump through. For example, we are supposed to drop students into category buckets within the first month so we can establish their goals…what sense does that make? who knows kids after a month? and then the system crashed, or dropped data or just didn’t work. Nobody holds senior administration accountable.
So fair is fair, how is Grier and the District grading themselves in the Broad competition they flaunt? 1) on the basis of how many kids take the SAT 2) how many kids take Advanced Placement courses and 3) how many more kids graduate. Fine as it goes, but a) the District paid for the SAT for all 10th graders b) it pays for any AP tests and recruited teachers and kids who were completely unprepared for this incredibly rigorous course load (SpEd kids were enrolled in some cases!) and c) created an on-line self paced Grad Lab program that is never backstopped for performance nor any real check on comprehension. There are no effective teacher unions in Texas (no strike state), so no one can blame that factor on Texas’ dismal performance of Houston’s. Maybe it is the super? From North Carolina Greenboro, then San Diego…any comments from other teachers who taught under T. Grier and dealt with the North Carolina experience?
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I am the same, I home-school my kids for the same reasons now and “I am” a public school teacher, “not was”. I tell you not one day goes by that I don’t think about the children who are still in the system that is failing them with great sadness. We are soldiers, fighter, we are teachers. Well then what are “we” going to do about it?
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It was a sad sad day when after a week of MEAP testing in a Michigan Elementary School, my niece came home and just collapsed in tears from the stress of taking tests all week. Don’t think that these kids don’t know that school funding in Michigan depends on their scores. For shame. And no one asks how much all of this testing, grading, gathering, scoring, etc. costs–and then they wonder where the money for education is going.
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I’ve been in the teaching profession at the middle school level for almost 20 years. I agree that the demands placed on teachers are greater than ever before, and that can be frustrating, no doubt. But I am TIRED of people who bash standardized tests! The author of this post complains about a lack of accountability. Well, the EOG’s are a means to accomplish that! They are NOT simply a test of rote memorization. And they ARE a fair way to evaluate teachers: North Carolina is ahead of the curve in that it measures student GROWTH on the tests. So, if you start the year with very low kids, but they improve relative to last year, then you’ve done a good job. It has been my experience that the teachers who bash the EOGs are the ones whose kids do poorly on them. These teachers always say that they are teaching “higher order” lessons (does anyone know any teacher who doesn’t make that claim?) that can’t be measured on the tests. Frankly, I think it’s just sour grapes.
I am glad my child was not in this person’s class. He’s leaving? Then I say, goodbye and good riddance.
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Steve, you are right that standardized tests are valuable tools, and I, too, support standard measures of student progress. I also agree that it is reasonable to take test scores into account when evaluating teachers.
The problems arise from the response of school districts to the tests. Here are a few examples.
First, even if test scores are good, district administrators are easily convinced to spend large sums of money on consultants and their products. This draws resources from the students, because consultants don’t teach. They observe and criticize and state the obvious and sell their products. They also take a great deal of time away from teachers.
Second, in order to prepare teachers, the curriculum specialists in the districts increase in number. Some of them support the teachers, and work hard to create and implement resources, and some even teach! But many find it easier to watch and offer advice, and call extra meetings, and end up creating extra work for the teachers.
Third, some districts, including mine, require teachers to teach common and uniform lessons. We must also create common assessments that allow administrators to compare the results of different teachers from week to week. The idea is to gauge progress toward the tested objectives. But a lot of harm is done. The class time spent administering the multiple-choice assessments leaves less time for students to write or work on open-ended problems. I am part of a strong team, but time to analyze data and to plan is not allocated in our day. Our team struggles to create quality common lessons and assessments because not all of us are able to increase our work week beyond the 60-70 hours we already spend. Recently, a consultant found that our objectives were not uniform for one day, triggering a series of meetings with administrators that further decreased our planning time. We suffered and the students suffered, but the consultant was paid.
Fourth, besides the team common assessments, we must administer additional (multiple-choice, of course!) assessments from the district that we are required to use as test grades and final exams. One big problem is that these exams are made by district content specialists who are not specialists in our team’s content area. I won’t detail the other problems with these tests.
Fifth, the more advanced students are neglected. Because it is assumed that they will do well on the standardized tests, they are crammed into very large classes. We differentiate their instruction to the extent that we can find the time and resources after focusing on the high-priority weaker students, but the able students are forced to take the same multiple choice assessments as the other students. The quality of their education is decreased by the emphasis on the standardized tests.
I am fortunate that my students’ standardized test scores have been good in the past. But this year my class sizes and required tasks have increased to the point that I am not doing a good job as a teacher. I am considering resigning.
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Marilyn, I agree with most of you’ve said. I, too, tend to cast a skeptical eye towards so-called “specialists” who often don’t know what they’re talking about. I guess I’m fortunate that my school district doesn’t have the same amount of bureaucracy as yours has. And, like you, I am skeptical of too much uniformity, in our lessons and assessments. But I make a distinction between the standardized tests themselves, which are badly needed to ensure kids are getting a decent education, vs. the bureaucracy involved and the way the tests are misused, as you correctly point out. Also, about 90% of my own tests are free response, not multiple choice. But that doesn’t mean that multiple choice tests are inherently inferior. It’s all in how they are designed. For instance, there are math competitions that my kids are involved in that have some very difficult multiple choice questions.
You touched on the issue of gifted or advanced kids, and I couldn’t agree more. These kids often get the shaft because we have to spend so much time making sure the bottom kids are on grade level and pass the tests. My state (North Carolina) likes to say that GROWTH on the tests is what really counts, as I’ve mentioned, but when it comes time to publish information about the schools in the form of school “report cards,” all they seem to really care about are the percentages of kids who pass the tests. This does the advanced kids a great disservice, because merely passing the tests is a very minimal goal for them.
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I think you are doing the right thing. Somethimes you got to suck it up, but in certain situations you nned to move on.
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Haven’t heard any comments on the profit of testing. It is huge! Follow the money. It is very sad. Shame on big corperation that are only interested in making billions while destroying education in the Uniited States.
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Thank you for taking the time to outline all the craziness that happens in schools, places that hold so much potential for the future of individuals, communities, countries and the world–but places that definitely need to shift and change in order to meet that potential. I wish you well in your next endeavor. You are clearly an intelligent, committed educator who will find a place that regards your worth, passion and intellect. I wish you and your family during this tumultuous time.
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Reblogged this on syncopated hustle and commented:
Teacher calls it Quits…
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Reblogged this on readwriteteach and commented:
North Carolina, First in Pavement, Last in Education
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In Texas at least (not sure about other states), Pearson is in charge of providing our standardized testing. They also provide a majority of our textbooks. When kids fail and need remediation guess where we go for the materials? Even worse, they have bought several of the main companies that provide the achievement/intellect tests we use to assess children for special education services.
The fact that a textbook company is so heavily involved in the education of our children is disconcerting. Our students failing these tests means more profit for them.
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Hats off to you!
This happens to every teacher in India and to every student who has to behave like a zombie in the school mugging up everything and throwing in the paper. Sad to know that this happens in US as well- Killing innovation and creativity of not only the students but of the teacher as well.
In India, the private schools are only for profits and in government schools, the level of education has moved from bad to worse! The tests are just to ensure that the students mug up everything which doesn’t leave the elbow room for creativity.
And yes, the salary in the government schools is so meager that you are just able to sustain, leave thinking about your family. This kind of education system is ruining our future generation and who cares about the teachers.
I congratulate you for quitting your job, may be you can start your private tuition or for that matter your little school and try to change the thinking of people around you.
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Thank you sharing this. And thank you Kris for putting my own thoughts into words, better than I could have ever imagined!
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Here is a heartfelt video of a Wisconsin teacher who recently resigned in the wake of Gov. Walker’s destructive initiatives.
Wisconsinvoices.org
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Reblogged this on A Star in the Face of the Sky and commented:
I left the K-12 classroom almost 18 years ago. All of what Kris L. Nielsen writes about here was well on its way in St. Paul Public Schools. This letter brilliantly reflects the sentiments of colleagues who stayed as well as large number of the accomplished teachers I met as Teacher-in-Residence for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. And here, at SMU, what’s that over there? The camel’s nose under the tent.
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Just as bad in NY State! By the time the average 8th grader finishes this school year, he/she will have taken a minimum of 25 “tests”, which doesn’t count tests given by teachers based on their daily learning or final exams. Teachers have been discounted, vilified, and disrespected by the very people charged with ensuring that we have every opportunity to do our best to educate children. We have been told we have no hope of being rated as “effective” and that we need to “do more than just show up”. We are responsible for making sure all children succeed at the same level, despite the tremendous disparity in levels of ability and support each child posesses. I even told my own children not to consider teaching as a career, and that was 10 years ago, as this landslide to madness began. After 30 years, I am sad to say I am no longer proud to be a part of the education community.
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Are you sure you are not writing this from Ohio. The scenario is being played out quite like NC. Unbelievable, but true.
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Wow! I used to love my job but now no longer. I am overburdened with useless meetings and every spare moment if taken up by “professional development” that leaves my teaching peers and myself shaking our heads. Our district purchased iPads for admins so they can instantly “catch you” sitting down and I mean that literarily. When I began teaching 12 years ago, I was healthy and active but now spends hours grading papers at home because there is no time at school to get it done and am taking 5 different meds to survive the pain. Family members have begged me to quit but how can I. I have a $300 student loan payment to make so I can do this job. PLCs are a joke. Give me time to plan instead of telling me I need to make “centers”. Support me instead of making me feel like I’m doing everything wrong. My principal loves the word assessment. I feel that’s all I do. My kids are stressed and tired. One student screams at his peers and me, throws things and refuses to do his work. Yet I am supposed to have him ready to pass EOGs. Supportive parents shake their heads and say “I don’t know how you do it” while non supportive parents make excuses. I try to make the best of each day and teach the Common Core but my heart breaks every time I hear ” this is boring.” I want my students to learn and have fun but fun and school are not two words that go together very well.
My best advice to young people…DON’T GO INTO EDUCATION.
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I had to read this three times to make sure I didn’t write it…
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Reblogged this on angry ricky and commented:
Read it. Think about it. Act.
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I’ve found the solution! I experienced junk in public schools and private schools a like, even in private schools I was expected to use a “one size fits all” method. I finally got fired when the school ran out of money in the 1st week of a school year. Now I teach 7 kids in my home. The parents pay me to teach their children. Me, not a school board, not a district, not a government approved curriculum. I teach these children based on what each one of them needs to know. I am doing huge range of curriculum because none of the curriculum has something that works for every child no matter who the child is. And it’s a beautiful thing! Find out what the homeschooling laws are and then get paid to be the instructional monitor or appropriately licensed teacher or whatever term your state uses. And let the parents pay you to teach their kids the way you and they think they should be taught, not the way some government official who has never met them thinks they should be taught.
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Jamie, I am so proud of you and I commend you on taking things on yourself! We have a God given gift that must be used and not wasted. I agree with you hold hardly. I too have started a tutoring business in Fuquay-Varina, NC back in January. To date, I still only have one child. If you know of anyone who might need my services, please send them my way. I provide services online and one-to-one. Again, I commend you and I cannot wait to see my business grow, so I can teach my way…a way of making learning fun and meaningful!
Cheryl Reed
http://brightonoakstutorialservices.yolasite.com
http://www.meetup.com/Education-Concerns-for-NC-Parents-and-Teachers/
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I’ve had this idea in the back of my head for a while now….
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Honestly? This is why I pulled my child out of kindergarten and homeschooled him. I know plenty of wonderful teachers, and they are all constrained by a backward system that does not even recognize what real learning is.
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everyone’s jobs has requirements. didn’t we want to take the subjectivity out of whether or not a kid was performing? it sucks, its turned too severe, but you have to be the change you want to see. or yes, quit. it’s tough, and as a parent of 2 children, one that will always have an IEP in place for autism, I hope I continue to see teachers that won’t give up. As a parent, i would move to give my kids the education that is best for themm, but would never select it over the phone, move out there, then berate the school system, parents and everything else because I wasn’t diligent in my search.
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As a former home educator who was forced by the recession to place my three children in the public school system, I have been utterly appalled by the entire public school system. Unfortunately, I have been unable to bring my children back home to educate them and yet I spend many hours ensuring that they are educated for life, not just for the test. I stay in constant communication with their teachers, and I often wonder if I am adding stress to their lives. I know that most teachers do not like being in the position of being stuck between what they want to do and what they are forced to do by the top-down philosophy. Kudos to this teacher for quitting and putting this letter out there. It is my hopes and prayers that more teachers will revolt against the system so that we can have a complete overhaul. Ultimately, this topic is about our children being prepared for life, and without a complete overhaul, only those children whose parents can manage to squeeze in enough extra education at home will be adequately prepared for life.
Sadly, we are dumbing down America because although this letter is from a former NC teacher, and I am in NC, it is happening in many communities across America. We are failing to provide our children with a foundational learning environment in which they learn the basics of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic first with application of those foundations to follow. Teachers are under such stress to “teach to the test” that the children who struggle or misunderstand a lesson are ultimately left behind. If a child cannot spell, the child will not be able to write a coherent sentence much less a paragraph or an essay. When I was a child, children were retained in a grade if they were not grasping the material. I see nothing wrong with retaining a child in a grade level if they are not prepared for new material. Throwing more material at a child who is not prepared will actually discourage that child from learning, and by the time that child reaches high school, he/she will essentially give up. This leads to drop outs or flubbing of grades and passing the child to graduation without being able to fill out a college or job application.
It is my hope in today’s election that we get new administration that will be able to perform a much-needed overhaul on North Carolina’s education system. Otherwise, I would call for a combined effort on the parents and teachers to revolt against the system and start educating our children for the sake of educating them for life!
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