Higher expectations for student achievement are a must — but today’s education news is rife with contradictions about setting and reaching them.
The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers have just offered their draft of much-needed college and career readiness curriculum standards for students, reflecting the demands of the 21st century world in which students will live as adults. Thus far, however, the Common Core State Standards Initiative is paying too little attention to the context in which these standards will be firmed up. And while the group led by NGA and CCSSO acknowledges the need for new investments in higher quality performance assessments and the spread of teacher expertise, we do not hear how sorely these investments are needed.
Next we look to the latest MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, which reveals that fewer teachers in schools with high proportions of low-income students strongly agree that their schools uphold high standards for all students. Teachers in these schools are also less likely to be confident that they have the necessary knowledge and skills to help their students succeed academically. That shouldn’t surprise us: More and more of the teachers who enter high-needs schools have less and less high-quality teacher preparation. Too many are flying solo in classrooms with only a few weeks of training — mostly tips on how to manage classrooms — when they need serious preparation to help our most challenged students master the 21st century skills called for by the Common Core student standards.
And then there's the recession. As the need to make deeper investments in students and teachers becomes ever clearer, we are now learning the extent to which the current economic crisis is forcing districts to lay off teachers and cut back on the number of days students attend school. Yesterday, the Kansas City Board of Education voted to close almost half of its schools and cut 700 of 3,000 jobs directly related to student achievement, including almost 300 classroom teachers. When a school district like Kansas City with many high-need students has to cut $50 million from its budget, one wonders how our nation will muster the extra resources to help millions of American children on the wrong side of the achievement gap reach new global standards of achievement.
And then there’s the media hysteria.
Newsweek blares a cover page story claiming that the key to saving America’s “failing public schools” is to fire all of the bad teachers protected by their unions. Yes, there are unfit teachers and we shouldn’t let them teach anybody’s children. But few experts would suggest that the number is very high — and certainly not so high that by removing them we will instantly solve the complex problems that plague high-needs schools and communities. Newsweek’s editors never once reflect on root causes — like the large numbers of ill-prepared teachers who enter and exit teaching quickly, or the many high-needs schools led by a revolving door of ill-trained principals who botch teacher evaluation and undermine the potential for effective teachers to work together to solve the problems in their own schools. Most blatantly, the article fails to consider just how our present mechanisms for teacher recruitment and preparation will replace teachers lost in wholesale firing frenzies. With laid-off journalists, perhaps?
If we expect all students to jump the bar of higher expectations now being raised by the Common Core Initiative, we will first have to own up to the contradictions that are impeding progress in our most challenged schools. Serious investments. Teacher preparation and support. Better leadership development. These are the things that will strengthen our schools. Not a teacher witch hunt.
The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers have just offered their draft of much-needed college and career readiness curriculum standards for students, reflecting the demands of the 21st century world in which students will live as adults. Thus far, however, the Common Core State Standards Initiative is paying too little attention to the context in which these standards will be firmed up. And while the group led by NGA and CCSSO acknowledges the need for new investments in higher quality performance assessments and the spread of teacher expertise, we do not hear how sorely these investments are needed.
Next we look to the latest MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, which reveals that fewer teachers in schools with high proportions of low-income students strongly agree that their schools uphold high standards for all students. Teachers in these schools are also less likely to be confident that they have the necessary knowledge and skills to help their students succeed academically. That shouldn’t surprise us: More and more of the teachers who enter high-needs schools have less and less high-quality teacher preparation. Too many are flying solo in classrooms with only a few weeks of training — mostly tips on how to manage classrooms — when they need serious preparation to help our most challenged students master the 21st century skills called for by the Common Core student standards.
And then there's the recession. As the need to make deeper investments in students and teachers becomes ever clearer, we are now learning the extent to which the current economic crisis is forcing districts to lay off teachers and cut back on the number of days students attend school. Yesterday, the Kansas City Board of Education voted to close almost half of its schools and cut 700 of 3,000 jobs directly related to student achievement, including almost 300 classroom teachers. When a school district like Kansas City with many high-need students has to cut $50 million from its budget, one wonders how our nation will muster the extra resources to help millions of American children on the wrong side of the achievement gap reach new global standards of achievement.
And then there’s the media hysteria.
Newsweek blares a cover page story claiming that the key to saving America’s “failing public schools” is to fire all of the bad teachers protected by their unions. Yes, there are unfit teachers and we shouldn’t let them teach anybody’s children. But few experts would suggest that the number is very high — and certainly not so high that by removing them we will instantly solve the complex problems that plague high-needs schools and communities. Newsweek’s editors never once reflect on root causes — like the large numbers of ill-prepared teachers who enter and exit teaching quickly, or the many high-needs schools led by a revolving door of ill-trained principals who botch teacher evaluation and undermine the potential for effective teachers to work together to solve the problems in their own schools. Most blatantly, the article fails to consider just how our present mechanisms for teacher recruitment and preparation will replace teachers lost in wholesale firing frenzies. With laid-off journalists, perhaps?
If we expect all students to jump the bar of higher expectations now being raised by the Common Core Initiative, we will first have to own up to the contradictions that are impeding progress in our most challenged schools. Serious investments. Teacher preparation and support. Better leadership development. These are the things that will strengthen our schools. Not a teacher witch hunt.
The common core standards could be a mechanism to bring a national consensus to a hodge podge of disjointed and varying quality levels of state standards. Unfortunately, our country is rather unique in the developed world since it often only looks at high stakes tests and an accountability system of punishments as a way to improve our educational system. South Korea and Singapore have made remarkable educational transformations with a focus on a strong curriculum and strong teaching. Our national commitment to high stakes tests and punishment will never compete with countries that are focused on giving every child a highly effective and competent teacher. We keep pressing the accountability lever and are surprised when we label so many schools and districts as failures and without reflection want to push the accountability lever even harder. The likelihood is high that we will use the common core standards to write national assessments which will be used to label even more schools and teachers as failures.
We are also unique as a country in looking at a particular governance structure as a solution to educational problems instead of a real focus on improving the quality of teaching. We are thrown into a constant whiplash between false solutions of charters, more testing or dismantling unions, We are like a basketball player determined to find the perfect shoes and clothing attire instead of improving our ability to work as a coherent team and improve our skills. We have become accustomed and complacent with inequity and vastly variable levels of learning without ever getting to the root causes of what improves education: improving teaching quality and effectiveness. There are some high needs low achieving schools which continually lack resources and always have high rates of ineffective and inexperienced teachers. Firing everyone discourages experienced and effective teachers from ever considering working in a high needs school and punishes and traumatizes any effective teachers working in high needs schools. We need to stop calling these moves "turn-around" solutions and call them more appropriately "turn over" solutions where we will likely see the same results with a different staff.
As per media criticism, Newsweek shifted about a year ago to being more provocative in their writing and focus. "The case for unplugging Granny" was a cover about death panels. Our focus should be on holding them accountable. Newsweek got so many things wrong. The UFT president was quoted as saying possibly up to 2% of teachers are so ineffective that they should be fired. Newsweek says Michelle Rhee laughed derisively at the number. Michelle Rhee laughing is not data that refutes the 2% estimate. Michelle Rhee needs to be held accountable for what she has done in her tenure at the helm of DC public schools. Continuously blaming teachers and unions and laughing at them is not leadership.
Teach for America is not a model that scales up for our country and the complexities and challenges to become an effective teacher is not mastered in two years. TFA teachers that quickly jump to administration and that have never mastered being effective in the classroom are not solutions for effective leadership. Our purpose is not to demonize TFA but to be realistic and pragmatic as to the degree to which TFA can help improve the quality of education.
The sloppy journalism of Newsweek was an advertisement for dismantling teacher unions. We need to continuously attack the demonization of unions. Unions are consistently criticized because there is a strong resistance whenever teachers collectively have power and influence. As individual teachers, we often get lip service or political courtesy at best. Collectively, we have influence and power that others do not want us to have. Unions are not perfect and we should work to make them better; however, we must not yield one of the few areas where we actually have influence.
And lastly, we react to all these conflicting messages by doing what we always do; stepping back into our classroom and giving our students an effective and high quality education.
Bob Williams
Alaska 2009 Teacher of the Year
Posted by: Bob Williams | March 17, 2010 at 09:24 PM
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Posted by: April CF | April 21, 2010 at 10:03 PM
Interesting article. You make some good points. Thank you again.
Posted by: mba | August 04, 2010 at 12:41 AM
we react to all these conflicting messages by doing what we always do; stepping back into our classroom and giving our students an effective and high quality education.
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