Here's what I've been thinking about regarding education in America - but, before I go on, I'd like to say that I am incredibly blessed to be surrounded by educated, bright, talented folks - family & friends, alike - who challenge my thoughts and cause me to think about my positions in critical ways - for that, I am grateful. Okay - my dream job would be to think, surrounded by you smart folks who would challenge me, while I drink a glass of white wine and sample sweet grapes & fabulous cheese (Team South Hadley - I expect this dream to materialize!)
What do you think about -
Charter Schools - The Lottery - a documentary that highlights charter schools. Geoffrey Canada and the success he has achieved with the Harlem Children's Zone is featured on the video clip. The RFP for the Promise Neighborhoods closed recently. Can Arne Duncan really improve education by lifting the cap on charter schools & funneling money into geographic areas of poverty?
Despite reading the Hart & Risley (1995) study, why am I always stunned by its findings? Why am I always shocked when researchers reference it? More importantly, a decade has passed and little has changed. What is wrong with us?
In a typical hour, the average child hears:
| Family Status | Actual Differences in Quantity of Words Heard | Actual Differences in Quality of Words Heard |
|---|---|---|
| Welfare | 616 words | 5 affirmations, 11 prohibitions |
| Working Class | 1,251 words | 12 affirmations, 7 prohibitions |
| Professional | 2,153 words | 32 affirmations, 5 prohibitions |
How about this - 7,000 students drop out of high school EVERY DAY! Seriously? And, 15% of the high schools in the US produce 50% of our dropouts! President Obama & the big A.D. are right to shut down the bottom 5% of schools in American because they are BROKEN!
How do we fix our educational system? (This is the thinking part I like so much.) How do we ensure that every child in America has access to a world class education? People...we have got to do something!
Those are my thoughts today - along with, how can the Metro stop running a train in the middle of the afternoon commute? (Since this happened to me at 5:17 this evening, I'm just wondering...)
Tomorrow I hope to have front row seats to see & hear Arne Duncan present at the OSEP Leadership conference. Maybe we'll meet tomorrow...I need some solutions - and fast - to impress 'ole Arne.
Here are some Q's for Arne:
ReplyDelete1. When will the federal government start paying it's FULL SHARE of SPED?
2. How do you hold a HS teacher accountable for 8 years of poor instruction? (see RI Central Falls)
3. How do you teach & "measure" dependability, perseverance, and integrity - all the primary factors that help people land and maintain jobs?
4. How do you design an evaluation system that encourages teachers to improve, rather than encourages administrators to rate all teachers "above average"?
Those are just a few that I can come up with now - although I'm sure he'd give pat answers to these questions that deserve anything but.
AT some point, Democrats are going to have to stop saying they are on the side of education and actually do something that demonstrates it. Taking millions of $$ a year from the Teachers' Union doesn't equal "Change we can believe in".
Sorry for failing to respond immediately! Between the complexity of your questions, and a looming deadline for an article I'm writing about for-profit institutions of higher education, I kept putting off posting a response.
ReplyDeleteI feel frustrated when starting conversations like this. Our nation's public schools are a reflection of our society. Questions about performance, or lack thereof, in public schools are questions about the failure of our society to provide equal opportunity for all students. It's no secret that majority-minority schools tend to be underperforming. It's not secret, as your chart so eloquently illustrates, that poor and working class families have not had access to social, economic, and political capital that would translate into "more words and affirmations" for their children. Can we really have a conversation about equity in education if we don't address inequity in our society? Until we address the latter, attempts to address the former just won't cut it; we'll be chipping away at the edges, but we'll never get to the heart of the issue.
Geoff Canada, however, does seem to be trying to get to the heart of the issue. He's not doing anything so innovative in public schools that hasn't been going on in wealthier suburban schools forever. What he is doing, however, is getting at some of the larger societal inequities that undermine academic performance for children of color. He's pulling marginalized parents into the fold, he's addressing issues of housing and health care. He trying to fix the things that, as a society, we have not yet committed to fixing.
And, no; there is no way to get that DC Metro to run more efficiently. Just be happy it's clean and there are no rats.