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PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE THE BEDROCK OF OUR
SUCCESSFUL DEMOCRACY
A member of a Florida civic club recently reacted to a presentation
on school policy by saying "we could improve education by simply
getting rid of government operated, tax-gouging schools."
Anti-public school arguments form a long list: Parents should have
free choice in the education of their children; Operation of public
schools is like the inefficient federal bureaucracy;
Government-operated schools lack accountability for results; Public
schools are a monopoly; Compulsory school attendance is a
19th-century concept that has outlived its usefulness; and, Making
K-12 public school attendance voluntary will make education a matter
of choice. Now, more than ever, writes William L. Bainbridge in the
Jacksonville (Fla.) Times Union, public schools are vital to the
continued success of American society and our democracy. Public
schools serve every child that arrives, regardless of its national
origin, gender, race or socioeconomic status. The goal of democracy
is to produce citizens from all of society who are prepared to
succeed as contributing adults. There is no doubt there remains: A
place for home-schooling, charter schools, magnet schools and
vouchers; A need to focus and monitor high achievement for all
children, regardless of how they are schooled; A demand for
marketplace incentives for teachers in areas in critical shortage;
An often inappropriate governance model that needs repair; A place
for achievement based upon growth and progress rather than arbitrary
grade levels and test scores; and, Still a vital role for the public
school system to serve the public and its children. The astute
observations of Alexis de Tocqueville, who came to America in 1832,
remain a classic guide to America's success. He saw our democracy as
a beacon for the world. American prosperity and success, he
concluded, were based on several conditions unique to this society.
He believed that our system of public education provided the skills
and knowledge that citizens could employ to take advantage of in a
classless and mobile society. Even though the public school system
is far from perfect, public education remains the primary pillar
supporting American democracy. Citizen taxes do not just support
education of our own individual children. Taxes pay to undergird the
role public education plays in enhancing and extending democracy,
and in civilizing and enriching our society.
ASSESSING WHETHER A STUDENT MIGHT COMMIT A
VIOLENT ACT
After every school shooting, the Center for Mental Health in Schools
at UCLA is asked about how schools should assess students who may be
a threat. The threat assessment approach asks the person conducting
the inquiry to gather information, and answer key questions about
the instant case, to determine whether there is evidence to suggest
movement toward violent action. The questions focus on:
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1.
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motivation for the behavior that brought the person being
evaluated to official attention; |
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2.
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communication about ideas and intentions; |
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3.
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unusual interest in targeted violence; |
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4.
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evidence of attack-related behaviors and planning; |
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5.
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mental condition; |
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6.
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level of cognitive sophistication or organization to
formulate and execute an attack plan; |
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7.
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recent losses (including losses of status); |
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8.
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consistency between communications and behaviors; |
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9.
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concern by others about the individual's potential for
harm; and |
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10.
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factors in the individual's life and/or environment or
situation that might increase or decrease the likelihood of attack. |
Taken together, the information learned from these questions --
as gathered from the student and from corroborating sources
(family members, friends, teachers, classmates, school and
mental health records, etc.) -- should provide evidence to
answer the question of whether the student is moving on a path
toward violent action. The answer to the last set of questions
in particular can inform the development of a risk management
plan. For example, school officials could decide to take active
steps to minimize factors that could put the student at greater
risk for an attack, such as through referral to appropriate
services. Or they could opt instead to monitor the student
(perhaps with assistance from family and others close to the
student) for changes in factors that could increase the
student's targeted violence risk . . . ." The American Academy
of Pediatrics also has assembled a collection of resources to
help parents, teachers, students, schools, and pediatricians
cope with the aftermath of this terrible event. Additional
resources are provided on violence prevention, school safety,
and promoting mental health. For more information, please visit
this
link.
PARENTS WHO WON'T PLAY ACTIVE ROLE ARE
FAILING THEIR OWN KIDS
Mary Schultz can think of no greater disservice to children than
to fail to equip them with a good education. A good education
begins before children enter school, with involved parents
encouraging them to learn and try new things. Once a child has
entered the school system, too often parents think it has become
the school's job to educate and promote education. Schools must
provide quality teachers and mentors for our children, but
parents must establish attitudes about school and the importance
of achievement. The more support and encouragement children get
from their parents, the more likely they are to continue.
Parents must provide an environment the puts education first --
putting homework before television and praising good grades, not
just the number of tackles in a football game. Parents must set
achievement standards and be willing to help their children when
additional support is needed. Parents must be connected with the
school and familiar with school policies and activities. If a
child does not feel confident and encouraged while at school, a
parent has the right to know why. That is best done when a
parent has established a relationship with and respect for the
school. Motivating students starts at home. Parents must be
willing to get know the school, faculty, administration and
other students. In this article from Lafayette/West Lafayette
(Ind.) Journal & Courier, Schultz writes that parents must
encourage their students to see education as an asset.
OUR CHILDREN ARE DYING FOR HEALTH CARE: HELP
THEM
How did America get to the point where Deamonte Driver, a seventh
grader in Prince George’s County, Maryland, died because he didn't
have health insurance to cover an $80 tooth extraction and his
mother couldn't find a dentist to treat him? What happened to
Deamonte, writes Marian Wright Edelman in the Children’s Defense
Fund’s "All Healthy Children" plan, is a Dickensian horror story
that, sadly, is not unique in our rich nation. More than nine
million children in our country try to live without health
insurance, nearly 90 percent of them in working families. Edelman
says that if we are to prevent similar tragedies, Congress and
President Bush must enact long overdue legislation, this year,
guaranteeing health and mental health coverage to all children. The
United States provides health care to all senior citizens, although
children are the least expensive and most cost-effective group to
cover. Should children have to wait until they are 65 to be insured?
Virtually all major, industrialized nations provide universal health
care to children. Why do we lag so far behind? We certainly don't
lag behind in the brain power to figure out how to solve this issue.
We certainly don't lack the resources. Children are too young to
vote, so you must fight for their health and lives. Health coverage
for all children in America is our moral and practical obligation
and now is the time to get it done. All that’s needed is the
political will to make it happen this year -- 2007. We must do this
because children are sacred. They can't wait. And tragically, like
Deamonte, they are dying. For more information on the plan, go to
electsusie.com.
CLOSING THE "EXPECTATIONS GAP"
One-quarter of all states have implemented significantly tougher
graduation requirements, and virtually every state has taken steps
to ratchet up expectations for high school students, according to a
national survey of high school reform efforts conducted by
Washington, D.C.-based Achieve, Inc. The survey updates the efforts
of all 50 states to align their high school standards, graduation
requirements, assessments, and accountability systems with the
demands of college and work, and finds that at least 48 states are
now actively engaged in reform efforts of some kind. There is more
momentum in the states now than at any time since education reform
became a national priority with the release of A Nation at Risk in
1983. Some of the most dramatic progress has been made in the area
of graduation requirements, where 13 states, up from just two in
2004, now require high school students to complete a college- and
work-ready curriculum in order to earn a diploma. According to the
survey report, "Closing the Expectations Gap 2007", 16 additional
states are taking steps to implement similar graduation
requirements, which include four years of challenging mathematics at
least through Algebra II and four years of rigorous English. States
also have achieved significant progress in making academic standards
rigorous enough in English and mathematics so that they accurately
reflect real world expectations, but have moved more slowly in
developing complementary assessment systems and holding high schools
accountable for the college-readiness of their students. "While the
federal government has been driving K-8 education policy, states are
leading the way on high school reform," said Michael Cohen,
president of Achieve. "This is a heavy lift for governors, but their
leadership is urgently needed as states take the steps to prepare
young people to succeed in the global economy where good jobs
increasingly require some postsecondary education. College-ready
skills are a must for every high school graduate today."
URBAN SCHOOL PROGRESS CONTINUES ON STATE TESTS
The nation’s big-city school districts continue to improve in
reading and mathematics on state-mandated tests, with evidence of
racial achievement gaps narrowing and low-performing students making
gains, according to a new study. Students in 67 major city school
systems in 37 states posted substantially higher test scores in 2006
than in 2002 in fourth-and eighth-grade mathematics and reading on
state assessments, according to "Beating the Odds: A City-by-City
Analysis of Student Performance and Achievement Gaps on State
Assessments" by the Council of the Great City Schools. Although
urban school achievement is advancing, it still lags behind state
averages. However, 20 percent of big-city school systems scored at
or above their respective states in fourth-grade math, while 16
percent did so at the eighth-grade level. The new report also
indicates that racial gaps in math achievement in urban schools
appear to be narrowing.
TEACHERS: THE NEXT GENERATION
Generation Y, the 40 million people born between 1977 and 1986, is
dramatically changing the composition of today's teaching staffs.
Demographically, women continue to dominate the profession, but as
millions of baby boomers enter retirement age, the faces of today's
K-12 teachers are younger than ever. In New York City public schools
more than half of the teachers have less than five years experience.
The U.S. education system typically views teachers as independent
operators, encouraged to be creative and expected to do a good job
behind closed doors. Collaboration is rare. Worse yet, new teachers
seldom see another classroom in action. Loneliness and lack of
support further exacerbate the frustrations of beginning teachers.
In ASCD Express, Harry K. and Rosemary T. Wong write that induction
programs that foster collaborative work and are structured around
learning communities can be an effective means of mentoring young
teachers. Most young teachers are receptive to the wisdom of older,
seasoned teachers. They crave the guidance of knowledgeable,
confident administrators and coworkers. They also want their
contributions appreciated and their ideas heard by expert listeners.
The newest generation of teachers is perhaps the most intelligent,
talented, competitive -- and compulsive -- group this country has
seen. It's a renaissance generation with great potential. Most are
well-educated, thoughtful, confident, and creative. The grandeur of
the future is in their capable hands. Let them work together.
TEACHER CONTRACTS: RESTORING THE BALANCE
Today’s teacher contracts reflect an earlier era in America: the age
of the rise of industrial unions, during the 19th and 20th
centuries, when a factory system rigidly governed work outputs. The
Education Partnership, a local education fund in Providence, R.I.,
has been researching teacher-union contracts for three years. It is
clear to them that the factory model has become a disservice to
students in the 21st century, and that Rhode Island school
committees and unions must work together to move beyond it. It is
time to create entirely new contracts that will lead to highly
successful schools and the solid education that students will need
to compete in a global economy. In "Teacher Contracts: Restoring the
Balance, Volume III, 2007", The Education Partnership highlights the
best practices of highly successful schools and illustrates how
these practices are often neutralized by the industrial-style
components of local school-district contracts. The Education
Partnership believes that the best teaching practices, as confirmed
by research, should not only inform professional staff development,
but also be incorporated into teacher contracts. Teachers in highly
successful schools are committed to the schools’ visions and
missions, and are professionally accountable for the successes and
failures of their students. The preservation of today’s outmoded
collective bargaining agreements is a function of state level law.
Their 2007 report examines how school committees and teacher unions
are thwarted in local bargaining from overcoming the inadequacies of
state law, and recommends that state laws should be changed. Some
matters of great importance to a quality education for students
should be taken off the table, and no longer bargained away. The
report also examines the inability of the federal No Child Left
Behind Act (NCLB) to override district bargaining agreements. In
Rhode Island, all of the components of flexibility, staffing,
accountability and professional planning time must be negotiated
through the collective bargaining process. Too often, this means
narrowly defined bargaining, with economic interest rather than
professional interest taking precedence. The report includes a set
of policy recommendations and a series of elements that teacher
contracts should incorporate.
MAKING WRITING INSTRUCTION A PRIORITY IN
AMERICA’S MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOLS
The Alliance for Excellent Education has released a new brief which
argues that the ability to write well for a variety of audiences and
in multiple contexts is as great a predictor of success as is the
ability to read proficiently. However, large numbers of American
students are graduating from high school unable to write at even the
minimal level of ability required by colleges and employers. It is
critical that writing proficiency be recognized as an integral skill
for success in an increasingly competitive 21st century economy, and
that America's secondary schools incorporate more writing
instruction into students' coursework. In Writing Next, published in
October 2006, the Alliance identified 11 specific teaching
techniques that research suggests will help improve the writing
abilities of the nation’s middle and high school students. The new
brief suggests policy options that would support strategies designed
to improve students’ ability to write proficiently and help to
ensure that they graduate with the skills necessary to succeed in
postsecondary education and in today’s workplace. Funded by a grant
from Carnegie Corporation of New York, "Making Writing Instruction a
Priority in America’s Middle and High Schools" is available at the
above link.
MINDING MYSPACE
Schools are hard-pressed to balance the benefits and risks posed by
kids' online social networks. Web sites such as MySpace, Facebook,
LiveJournal and Xanga make it easy for students to post photos,
personal information video clips and music files, and to build
networks of "friends" across the country. But they also pose an
irresistible lure to pedophiles, and they can be abused by children
who use them to post scurrilous attacks on teachers, administrators
and other adults. They also contribute to "cyberbullying" attacks by
students on their peers. Carol Brydolf surveys the terrain of this
brave new world for the California School Boards Association's
"California Schools" magazine, offering school governance teams
expert opinions on how to work with the emerging technology. |
