Summing up my perspective (in less than 500 words): 1. Teachers are not the primary problem in schools. In fact, one study found that school-related factors account for only about 21% of academic outcomes, and teachers alone account for only 9% variation in student achievement. Outside of school factors account for the majority of school performance- about 60%. Are there bad teachers? Yes. Do excellent teachers make an impact on their students? Absolutely! But schools arent failing because all the teachers are bad. 2. What IS the primary problem? Increasing poverty in schools. Nashville has seen a 42% increase in poverty in the last 10 years, which mirrors national statistics. 73% of MNPS students are considered impoverished (this obviously does not mirror Nashvilles overall population), and many schools serve populations with 90% plus students in poverty. The number one factor impacting student achievement is the socioeconomic status of the childs family, and the second greatest factor is the socioeconomic status of the childs school. Does this mean I believe poor children cant learn? Of course not, silly. It means that we need to focus on solutions that actually address the problem. Good teachers cant do their jobs if they have hungry children in the classroom. Good teachers dont matter if a child moves several times a year and has no continuity in learning or home life. Good teachers need greater supports and resources to do their job effectively, and these children need help! 3. Charter schools are a bandaid, because they do nothing to address the real problem of poverty. Some perform well, but its often difficult to figure out which are using best practices to secure high test scores, because some charter schools exclude some students and because they sometimes benefit from extra funding from investors/philanthropists. Some use practices that may be detrimental to social/emotional learning. Also, the continued growth of charter schools is dangerous. It threatens the financial health of the entire school system by draining funds from other schools, and if charters are not required to accept and keep every student, they will help create an inequitable, tiered educational system. 4. So whats the solution? (1) Wrap-around services at schools to provide children in need with health and dental care, clothing, meals, family supports, social services, counseling, laundry facilities, classes for parents, etc. (2) Socioeconomic diversity in schools; if schools are well-balanced socioeconomically, struggling students improve while high performing students continue to fly. (3) Ensuring that we focus on more than standardized tests, so that we provide for the social/emotional and physical health of students. All children need art, music recess, PE, time to interact with peers, enrichment activities, and time to recharge- and these have been shown to actually boost test scores! (4) And of course, we must still focus on recruiting and retaining great teachers and leaders in all of our schools. This will not happen if we continue to demean the teaching profession and remove teacher/school autonomy and local control of schools. These are evidence-based solutions! We are having the wrong conversation. We must stop discussing philosophical differences about how schools are structured, and start talking about addressing poverty, whole child education, and supporting the work of excellent teacher and leaders in our schools.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 19:28:15 +0000
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