Surprisingly from the Times Union editorial board
Diane Ravitch looks around the American school system and sees too many demoralized teachers.
She sees too much testing that can never substitute for the qualities of good education.
She sees simplistic solutions to the difficulties faced in the school system.
And she sees an unwillingness to accept the difficulties of teaching children in a high-poverty neighborhood.
These kids often can't count on reliable meals at home. They often have visited family members in prison. And the idea that they would have reading material at home is pure science fiction.
Ravitch sees the school reform movement that she used to be part of turned into the trend of the moment, "reform churn."
For instance, the impact of performance pay has been overstated, she writes. "No manipulation of salary schedules will suffice to overcome the absence of a sound curriculum, willing students, supportive parents, collegial administrators and good working conditions."
None of the trends alone can make the improvements that everyone wants.
Look beneath many of the successful schools of the moment and Ravitch finds less success than meets the eye.
In her book, "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education," Ravitch writes that an obsession on tests is not leading to the sort of education that prepares young people for life, "to lead fulfilling lives, to be responsible citizens and to make good choices for themselves, their families and our society."
Here are the characteristics of a successful educational system:
- A strong curriculum.
- Experienced teachers.
- Effective instruction.
- Willing students.
- Adequate resources.
- A community that values education.
All of these traits need to be working together in concert for excellence in education.
Overlaid all of this is enormous effort, the kind that can burn out principals and teachers.
Research from the University of Chicago has shown that if any of the characteristics is lacking, a school cannot be consistently successful.
Instead, Ravitch finds that Americans are looking for shortcuts. This constant change winds up frustrating parents who don't know what to expect from their school systems.
"The most durable way to improve schools is to improve curriculum and instruction and to improve the conditions in which teachers work and children learn," Ravitch writes.
When the latest shortcuts don't work, then neighborhood schools sometimes are closed, which is devastating.
"Neighborhood schools are often the anchors of their communities ... Most are places with a history, laden with traditions and memories that help individuals resist fragmentation in their lives.
"Closing a school should be only a last resort and an admission of failure, not by the school or its staff, but by the educational authorities who failed to provide timely assistance."
Instead, well-meaning leaders set up charter schools as competitors rather than allies of the public schools.
While it is not politically correct, resources do matter. Schools with affluent parents have access to extras that go beyond frills. They're more likely to have non-working parents available to volunteer, to be able to raise money at a moment's notice, to have ready access to business partners.
And the students raised in intellectually rich settings often have traveled widely and have rich vocabularies that were stimulated by reading material at home.
Ravitch argues that America needs to bring back a national curriculum. We need to bring back classic literature.
Massachusetts has the best scores in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. She credits an excellent curriculum, but no doubt that state with its surfeit of excellent colleges makes education an expectation.
She looks at outstanding charter schools like KIPP and sees an emphasis on good behavior and regrets that has slipped out of the public schools.
"Schools must enforce standards of civility and teach students to respect themselves and others," she writes.
The sort of tests typified by the FCAT are only a minimum. Ravitch describes the characteristic of a truly educated young people.
- The ability to think for themselves.
- To have good character, to delay gratification for a greater goal.
- To have a sense of justice and fairness.
- To be responsible citizens able to take an active part in civic life.
- To take the attitude that they will leave their first rental unit or last house in better shape than they found it.
- In short, they will leave the world better for having lived.
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/editorials/2011-11-01/story/tests-and-gimmicks-arent-solutions#comment-498481#ixzz1cbJWyHmz
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