This comes from Michael Hynes, one of the best superintendents on Long Island, Néw York, epicenter of the Opt Out movement:
Public Schools Work- We Need to Focus Below the Iceberg
Everyone in American education hears the relentless and consistent criticism of our schools: Compared to schools in other nations, we come up short. But the evidence on which that judgment rests is narrow and very thin.
A January study released by the Horace Mann League and the National Superintendents Roundtable, “School Performance in Context: The Iceberg Effect,” challenges the practice of ranking nations by educational test scores and questions conventional wisdom that the U.S. educational system has fallen badly behind school systems abroad.
The study compared six dimensions related to student performance—equity, social stress, support for families, support for schools, student outcomes, and system outcomes—in the G-7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) plus Finland and China. They then examined 24 “indicators” within those dimensions.
Of the nine nations, the United States remains the wealthiest with the most highly educated workforce, based on the number of years of school completed, and the proportion of adults with high school diplomas and bachelor’s degrees.
“Many policymakers and business leaders fret that America has fallen behind Europe and China, but our research does not bear that out,” said James Harvey, executive director of the National Superintendents Roundtable.
Despite high educational levels, the United States also reflects high levels of economic inequity and social stress compared to the other nations. All are related to student performance. For example, in American public schools today, the rate of childhood poverty is five times greater than it is in Finland. Rates of violent death are 13 times greater than the average for the other nations, with children in some communities reporting they have witnessed shootings, knifings, and beatings as “ordinary, everyday events.”
Some key findings:
• Economic Equity: The United States and China demonstrate the greatest gaps between rich and poor. The U.S. also contends with remarkably high rates of income inequality and childhood poverty.
• Social Stress: The U.S.reported the highest rates of violent death and teen pregnancy, and came in second for death rates from drug abuse. The U.S.is also one of the most diverse nations with many immigrant students, suggesting English may not be their first language.
• Support for Families: The U.S. performed in the lowest third on public spending for services that benefit children and families, including preschool.
• Support for Schools: Americans seem willing to invest in education: The U.S. leads the nine-nation group in spending per student, but the national estimates may not be truly comparable. U.S. teachers spend about 40 percent more time in the classroom than their peers in the comparison countries.
• Student Outcomes: Performance in American elementary schools is promising, while middle school performance can be improved. U.S. students excel in 4th grade reading and high school graduation rates, but perform less well in reading at age 15. There are no current studies comparing the performance of high school graduates across countries. All nations demonstrate an achievement gap based on students’ family income and socio-economic status.
• System Outcomes: The U.S. leads these nations in educational levels of its adult workforce. Measures included years of schooling completed and the proportion of adults with high-school diplomas and bachelor’s degrees. American students also make up 25 percent of the world’s top students in science at age 15, followed by Japan at 13 percent.
“Too often, we narrow our focus to a few things that can be easily tested. Treating education as a horse race doesn’t work,” said HML President Gary Marx.
American policymakers from both political parties have a history of relying on large, international assessments to judge United States’ school performance. In 2013, the press reported that American students were falling behind when compared to 61 other countries and a few cities including Shanghai. In that comparative assessment—called the Program for International Student Assessment—PISA controversially reported superior scores for Shanghai.
The study doesn’t oppose international assessments as one measure of performance. But it argues for the need to compare American schools with similar nations and on more than a single number from an international test. In a striking metaphor, the study defines test scores as just “tip of the school iceberg.”
A fair conclusion to reach from the study is that while all is not well in the American classroom, our schools are far from being the failure they are painted to be. Addressing serious school problems will require policymakers to do something about the huge part of the iceberg that lies below the waterline in terms of poverty and economic inequity, community stress, and support for families and schools. We must stop blaming public schools and demonizing educators. The problem is not at the tip of the iceberg, it is well below the surface.
**************************
Michael Hynes is the superintendent of the Patchogue-Medford School District and member of the National Superintendent’s Roundtable
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Michael-Hynes-US-Educatio-in-Best_Web_OpEds-CRITICISM_Diane-Ravitch_Education_Education-150513-45.html#comment544741 with a comment (and embedded link) from the post here
David Berliner Speaks Out About the Teaching Profession and America’s Future
When a profession as large and necessary to society as teaching is insulted by state and federal Secretaries of Education, judged negatively by the nation’s presidents and governors, see their pensions cut, receive salaries that do not keep up with inflation, often cannot afford to live in the communities they work in, cannot always practice their profession in ways that are ethical and efficacious, are asked to support policies that may do harm to children, are judged by student test scores that are insensitive to instruction and more often reflect social class differences rather than instructional quality, see public monies used to support discriminatory charter and private schools, yet still have a great deal of support from the parents of the children they teach, then there is a strategy for making teachers’ lives better. It is called unionization. The reasons for unionization could not be plainer. New and veteran teachers should band together and close down school systems of the type I have described. It will be difficult, of course, and some teachers will no doubt be fired and jailed. But if teachers do not fix this once noble profession, America may well lose its soul, as well as its edge.
“America may well lose its soul, as well as its edge.”
America’s “edge” was achieved through not having a “soul” to begin with. Ask the Native Americans, the African slaves, the poor indentured white slaves, the Chinese immigrants in the 19th century-and many more since.
Exploitation of the defenseless, hopeless and the weak is one constant in US history. Exclusion of groups via discrimination by gender, race, ethnicity from the political and economic gains have been slow to be changed.
USA the “no soul” to lose country.
I have to be careful Duane… I am getting so cynical about human nature that I do not believe in the future of this planet let alone the future of this country. I think that Thomas Wolf had it right bout the deadliest of sins being ‘greed.’ I think Darwin had it right when he discussed the ‘bottleneck’, that evolutionary moment when a species moves forward because of a special trait… I think that this ‘trait’ was the human desire to control as much ‘wealth’ as possible, or as Adam Smith put it: ‘all for me and nothing for anyone else’ or something like that.
I think, Duane, that you might have trouble identifying a society that does not or has not suffered from the same weaknesses. There has never been a golden age that wasn’t hell for someone else. Are you pointing out our obvious shortcomings (and that of every other major civilization that comes to mind) to encourage or discourage? Some days it just doesn’t seem worth it to advocate for anything better when we have such so much baggage to overcome. Or do you just need a hug today? 🙂
2o2t,
You are quite correct in the “never has been a golden age”. Pointing it out mainly so that folks realize (and most here do realize) that American Exceptionalism had/has its costs paid for by many so that a few could/can reap the benefits. While gains for the “outcasts” have been made there is still a long way to go. Maybe one day we’ll re-recognize the need for a progressive tax system that stems the one-way flow of money up to the top-you know that vaunted “Flood Upwards*” economic theory.
*rebranded from “Trickle Down, aka Piss On” theory.
“Maybe one day we’ll re-recognize the need for a progressive tax system that stems the one-way flow of money up to the top-you know that vaunted “Flood Upwards*” economic theory.”
One can only hope. On the state level, Illinois power brokers are fighting it tooth and nail.
I am a big fan of International House Hunters. The show used to mostly feature people that moved due job transfers or humanitarian work. Recently, I have noticed many more episodes where people elected to move due to lack or opportunity or quality of life. They often express frustration living “paycheck to paycheck, ” As income inequality continues, many young people will leave, if they cannot find decent opportunities in this country. This is not a criticism of the schools; rather, it is a criticism of an economy that favors the interests of billionaires over the future of its young people.
“A fair conclusion to reach from the study is that while all is not well in the American classroom, our schools are far from being the failure they are painted to be. Addressing serious school problems will require policymakers to do something about the huge part of the iceberg that lies below the waterline in terms of poverty and economic inequity, community stress, and support for families and schools. We must stop blaming public schools and demonizing educators. The problem is not at the tip of the iceberg, it is well below the surface.”
I find it both curious and troubling that when education, an endeavor that reflects the values and characteristics of a society, is found lacking, we blame the image in the mirror rather than the reality it reflects.
Mirror, mirror on the wall . . .
“I find it both curious and troubling that when education, an endeavor that reflects the values and characteristics of a society, is found lacking, we blame the image in the mirror rather than the reality it reflects.”
I found this statement profound.