I believe that most of the major assumptions upon which current reforms are based are totally incorrect. We have discussed these before on this blog. In this post I want to discuss the results of these assumptions and policies and suggest we replace them with what I believe are more appropriate reforms.
The Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg education reform movement has been in effect now long enough for us to assess the results. While improperly blaming and demoralizing the teaching profession and destroying hundreds of community schools, needlessly moving or displacing thousands of children and replacing real teaching with test teaching, the movement has accomplished almost no educational improvement. That is the conclusion reached by a comprehensive study focusing on the three large cities that have seen some of the most intensive reform efforts by current reformers. Those cities: Washington DC, New York, and Chicago had the results of their students' achievement for white and black and non-poor and poor students compared to other large cities and were found to have produced no improvement whatsoever over traditional methods. In most cases the areas of most intense reforms did worse than comparable school systems using traditional methods. The study found that the rhetoric of the reformers is in no way matched by their results. The Washington Post column, Answer Sheet also did an analysis of this study and arrived at the same conclusions.
Breaking News: A report just released by NAEP finds no change in student performance nationwide in the past 4 years even after all the emphasis on high stakes testing and Race to the Top "Innovations".
See the report on Diane Ravitch's blog.Another report by the Bill Moyers news organization found pretty much the same negative results of all the major reform movements nationwide. This story concluded that major education reforms that have been sweeping the nation have actually been counterproductive. Most educators believe that all the money spent on reforms could have benefited children much more if it had been spent on basic classroom instruction and materials instead of being spent on more testing, more charters, more vouchers, teacher merit pay, and expensive systems designed to evaluate and fire teachers based on student test scores.
Amazingly Michael Bloomberg, Arne Duncan, Jeb Bush and others don't seem to have noticed that their major initiatives have failed. Instead they continue just pushing for more of the same. Their reforms have now become the status quo in education and continue to expand creating havoc in education. I think it is time we propose real positive reforms that are instead based on sound educational principles. I would like to list those principles and reforms that would naturally flow from them.
- Children are all different. They come to schools with greatly varying talents, interests and backgrounds. The most viewed TED talk ever was by Sr Ken Robinson, a noted British educator. In his talk he makes the point that current education reform approaches are repressing and stifling student creativity. While reading, language skills and basic math are very important for the education of all students, we should not expect all students to reach the same attainment levels in these basic skills. Reading is the most fundamental basic skill and every child should be encouraged and instructed in every way possible to develop their reading abilities to the maximum extent possible. Yet we cannot and should not try to force all children to learn the exact same curriculum at the same rate without regard to their unique talents and interests. Our major emphasis in education, according to Robinson, should be seek to identify each child's talents and interests and to encourage and develop the creativity and diversity of our students instead of trying to force them all to develop in the exact same way with the same skills. The children would benefit greatly from such an approach and so would our economy which needs a vast variety of human talent and skills. It is ironic that countries such as China are trying to imitate the US development of creativity just at the time we are switching to their old education style of drill for high stakes testing.
- Poverty, background and environment make a huge difference in children's performance in school and should not be ignored nor should schools and educators serving such children be penalized and stigmatized. If schools are to be rated at all, the ratings should take into account poverty as well as the positive programs at each school designed to provide stability, discipline and a nurturing environment for all children attending. Instead of closing schools that have a large number of low performing students we need to provide such schools with the most effective teachers and administrators and give them the time and resources they need to produce a good learning environment. We should never expect however, that a good learning environment will automatically produce excellent performance by all students. The fact is that in a positive learning environment some children will excel, some will achieve average results and some will under-perform. But all children should be valued and efforts made to help them achieve their potential and learn skills that will help them succeed in life. All student talents, skills and interests should be valued and all potential careers based on these talents, skills and interests should be valued. Superintendent White is correct in seeking to promote the career diploma or career pathways within one diploma system. Much greater flexibility must be provided to students starting at age 15 to choose and pursue a curriculum that will lead to a great career in line with his/her unique talents and interests. No particular pathway should be stigmatized if it properly serves the needs and interests of our students.
- All of our public schools should offer a rich curriculum that includes balanced emphasis for music, the arts, physical education and vocational skills as well as basic academic skills. Recent studies have shown that most students perform better on standardized tests of basic skills if their schools offer a varied curriculum that stresses music, art, and healthy physical activities. The current narrowing of the curriculum caused by high stakes testing is starving the needs of our students for a varied curriculum and turning schools into dreary uninspiring places.
- New technologies such as virtual instruction, Internet resources, and interactive learning software should be implemented in all schools. But the school should remain the base of operations for such innovative programs to insure that students receive guidance and assistance from highly qualified educators and counselors. Children need the mentoring, social interaction and guidance of real live teachers even when they are receiving part of their instruction via distance technologies. The brains of children are hard wired to learn by imitating trusted adults and learn more effectively with the assistance of caring adults with whom they can interact closely.
Well trained and qualified teachers should be sought and retained by attractive salaries and benefits. Teachers should be evaluated rigorously and either improved or dismissed if they do not perform well. Teachers who have demonstrated effectiveness over a period of years should be given proper due process rights in the event they are recommended for dismissal.
Regular student testing in basic skills should be utilized at a level that does not seriously restrict or dominate instruction time. Test results should be used for guidance and diagnostic purposes but not for failure of students.
The use of value added data should no longer be used as part of the teacher evaluation process because it is unreliable and results in destructive unintended consequences.
Common standards for all students should apply only to the end of the 8th grade or by the time the student reaches the age of 15. No students should be failed based on non-attainment of standards. When students do not achieve proficiency in one area, school personnel should seek to better focus on the student's talents and interests and to help the student find productive areas where he/she may succeed.
Students, parents and guidance personnel should work together to create individualized career pathways for each student at the high school level. Maximum flexibility should be provided to all students to switch pathways at any point based on the student's interests and abilities.
Graduation from high school should be based upon the attainment of career goals or the completion of a solid college prep curriculum. Students who do not complete college prep requirements should complete industry based certification or a minimum of approved courses leading to such certifications soon after graduation. The rating system for high schools should be revised to reflect the achievement of these varied goals by students. Schools that do a good job of teaching vocational skills should be rated on an even par with schools that produce college prep graduates.
We need to stop the non-productive, destructive, dehumanizing education reforms that have never been based upon sound educational principles. In their place we should adopt positive, productive educational practices that recognize the dignity and value of all students and teachers. Schools should become places where students and teachers express and develop creativity as well as develop the basic skills needed by all students. The goal should be the maximum development of the potential and talents of each child rather than to expect the same standards of achievement for all children.
No plan is perfect. I invite all interested parties to make comments and suggestions for the next generation of education reform.
Michael Deshotels
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