The Parkway School District in Missouri posted this beautiful video about the first day of school. It asked students what they hoped for. It asked teachers what they hoped for.
Please notice that no one mentioned higher test scores.
They spoke of hopes and dreams. Being better. Making new friends. Having school feel like home. Caring. Feeling wanted. Belonging.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The things the children mentioned is what education according to humankind’s greatest minds listed: the search FOR ultimate good, truth, and beauty, what it means to be human etc etc.
Now, children are to be trained, not educated, to fee the maws of the corporate industry. Slavery, indentured servitude ad nauseum.
We used to believe that one trained animals, we educated people.
How far have we fallen.
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As a retired teacher, I remember those first-day-of-school jitters! Anxiety can run rampant for both students and teachers! Still it calmed my students and me to realize we were all in the same boat, and somehow we’d all survive that first day! A sense of humor helps immensely!
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I think most of your readers are going to love this if it’s accurate.
“LIVERMORE California — On the first day of school, more than 500 new students swarmed into Livermore public schools, the vast majority fleeing the city’s two embattled charter schools in light of a litany of accusations ranging from fiscal mismanagement to criminal wrongdoing.”
http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/08/livermore-more-than-400-students-flee.html
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Both students and teachers mostly spoke to the importance of healthy social-emotional domains. “Reformers” treat students like a test score completely ignoring all the aspects of the whole student. Authentic teachers understand relationships and emotional health impact a student’s performance in school and life. Primary needs such as nutrition, a stable home, and access to healthcare must be met before we can turn students’ interest to academics. This is a main reason “reform” is not scalable. Charters can get some positive results from choosing students with the fewest problems the most stable families. Troubled, traumatized students with special needs are dismissed. When charters take over most of an urban area, the results are less than stellar, and these types of charters harm what is left of public schools as they siphon off the funds needed to address the many problems of the remaining students. They are not worth the disruption, and they offer no solution.
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True!
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Yes, exactly, r.t.
I have never understood why the mega-billionaires are spending so much money pushing charter schools (and cyber-education), and the destruction of public schools. (Well, yes, I do, it’s to produce compliant workers, and voters, as well as make money for the corporations selling their educational products to the schools.)
If only they would spend their money on improving the lot of the poor. Not just in the inner cities (although that’s a huge part of it), but also in the poverty-stricken rural and remote mountain areas.
If kids come to school hungry, sick, if they come to school without the support they need at home, they are not going to be able to do their best at school.
Public school teachers who are supported, public schools that have social workers, guidance counselors, school nurses, can certainly help a great deal, but they cannot change our society. (And how many public schools have any of these support personnel any more?)
We need a new and more effective “war on poverty,” if you will.
And we also need to support those in “the trenches” of the public schools, as well. The teachers may be the only caring adults that some of these kids come into contact with on a daily basis, after all.
{{Sigh}}
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Zorba, well stated. I agree 100%.
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Parkway is a suburban upper SES district in west St. Louis County (outside the 255/270 belt) in which the expectations of the parents, students and district align and coalesce into forming an excellent learning environment. It is sufficiently funded and the schools have all of the amenities. I have known quite a few folks who went to school there and/or have sent/send their children to Parkway schools and haven’t heard too many complaints overall.
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You can see the ratings for these schools here, and by plan some real estate ads from the greatschools.org website. If yu go, poke around to see who the”partners” are, what goes into the ratings, and where the data is stored, etc.
http://www.greatschools.org/search/search.page?q=Parkview%20School%20District%20Mo
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Parkview is not the same district as Parkway. Parkview is in Cape Girardieau which is about two hours south of St. Louis. Parkway District (districts in Missouri to not necessarily align with the geopraphical boundaries of towns and cities) is just west of St. Louis and is part of the greater metropolitan area.
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It’s interesting when the reviews from former students, parents, etc. total a 4/5 stars for the high school, but GreatSchools rates the HS a 3/10.
Reading the reviews of this HS was great!
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Students did ask for higher test scores — Good grades all A’s. It’s the same thing. Friends, to be included, being happy. Schools are great at giving A’s. Get a test signed and you get an A. Forget to get it signed and your grade is cut in half and you get detention. Welcome to public school in a diverse school district.
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I’m not sure what you mean. I understand that good grades and all “A”s isn’t the same as asking for higher standardized test scores. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that for most classes our teachers teach across this country, students are still earning their grade through non-standardized tests, projects, discussions, and other means.
I know of only one teacher when I taught for the Detroit Public Schools who based an entire semester grade off of student performance on a standardized test (I felt terrible for those poor kids). I’m arguing that, despite this crazy test-going culture, this one teacher is the exception and not the rule.
That said, asking for good grades isn’t the same as asking for high standardized test scores. 😎.
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Of course, I’m assuming we are talking about “standardized” test scores. I think it’s safe to say that students understand that they have to perform well on classroom syllabus requirements (tests, quizzes, projects, etc.) to earn a good grade in the course.
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Speaking of test scores, this was recently posted on Gallup.
http://www.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/194666/bringing-education-back-roots.aspx?g_source=WWWV7HP&g_medium=topic&g_campaign=tiles
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