Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Educational Hostage Crisis in Memphis

            Last week the Memphis City School Board in Memphis, Tennessee voted to delay the start of the school year until the city pays the $55 million dollars it owed the Memphis City School District.

            Since 2008, the city and the school board have been in legal dispute over money ($151million total).  The board claims the money is owed to them from educational funding cuts that were found to be illegal by the State Appellate Court and upheld by the State Supreme court.  Although the city lost and is under court order to pay, the city still has not paid the school board, which has led to the school board to take this extreme position[i].

            Each side claims that “the children will not be caught in the middle” of the dispute[ii].  However, both sides fail to realize that the children are already in the middle and have been for the past four years.  When the city cut its educational funding, the children suffered, and when the school board voted to delay the start of the school year, they are using the children as pawns to force the city to pay back the district.  The families of the children are also caught in the middle of the dispute.

            According to Wikipedia, Memphis is the seventh largest city with a high percentage of low income residents[iii].  If the district delays the start of the school year, families with elementary age children will be forced to find and pay for childcare with their limited income or they will be forced to take days off from work without pay. Having to pay for childcare or take off work without pay could decimate a fragile household budget and lead to the inability to pay major bills (including rent/mortgage), buy food, or pay for transportation to get to work via public transportation or by personal vehicle.  For families that cannot afford to pay or childcare, parent(s) could lose their job for taking too much time off to watch their child.

Families with middle and high school age youth may have to worry about their children being unsupervised without the structure of the school day.  Unsupervised youth could lead to an increase in teen pregnancy, crime and violence, and school apathy.  These youth would also be missing vital instructional time that would prepare them for the SAT/ACT and other post-secondary planning. 

The decision to delay the start of the school year due to a funding dispute is being quietly watched by districts and city officials across the country.  The final outcome of this bold strategy, could be used by districts in the future who will place children in the middle of a funding dispute by holding their education hostage.  There may some city officials who will give into districts demands and then take the lost funds from social service programs or increase property taxes which will hurt families. 

In this educational hostage crisis, children and families will still lose.  There is no way to avoid it.  Hopefully reasonable minds will prevail and end this hostage standoff.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Fear of Failure: The Atlanta Cheating Scandal

            The recent findings of widespread cheating and the falsification of scores on standardized tests by principals and teachers of the Atlanta Public School District, has brought to fruition a nightmarish situation legislators and educators hoped would not happen.

            When the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation was enacted in 2001, its proponents hailed its reliance on standardized test scores and benchmarks to objectively determine specific districts and schools that are failing to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).  NCLB was supposed to instill a system of standards and accountability for states to monitor their districts and provide support to districts struggling to meet their AYP targets.  NCLB also had severe consequences for districts with schools who failed to meet AYP.  This is where the opponents and critics of NCLB had expressed concern.

            Opponents of NCLB argue that defining success on the basis of test scores does equate to student knowledge or intelligence.  Standardized test and benchmark scores only reflect a point in time on the learning continuum.  Opponents further argue the legislation is unfair to base accountability on test scores alone.  NCLB does not take into account extraneous variables that may cause poor scores.  NCLB does not consider students who are poor test takers, students who have test anxiety or students who are in treatment for mental or behavioral health crisis.  NCLB does not take into consideration students who are below their grade level, but they are improving.  NCLB is only concerned about students meeting a prescribed score on a standardized test.

            Basing a districts and a schools success on how well students answer correctly on a standardized test, led districts and teachers to believe the federal government does not care about actual learning, it cared about test scores.  This belief combined with the punitive measures placed on districts and schools have led to the unfortunate events that have occurred in the Atlanta Public School District and possibly in other districts across the country.

            NCLB created a culture of fear among some superintendents, principals, and teachers.  The fear of staff transfers, staff terminations, and school closings, has led to focusing instruction for the sole purpose of students passing the standardized tests and schools making AYP.  This fear has not only stunted student learning, it promoted students who should not have been promoted, and has made a mockery of education.  In the end, NCLB became more about adults wanting to keep their jobs at the expense of the students.

            Unfortunately, the cheating scandal in Atlanta may not be an isolated incident.  Currently, there are a number of state and federal investigations occurring across the country to determine how far the NCLB culture of fear has spread.  What the country should be worried about is the long term impact this will have on the innocent students affected by the cheating scandal.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Schools Students Need Part 2

                Resources are a problem for many urban public schools.  Unlike their suburban counterparts, urban schools have to use more of their resources on non academic programs.  Being located in impoverished communities, urban schools have to program for the effects of poverty.  The effects of poverty have made urban schools spend more resources (money & manpower) dealing with a plethora of social service issues, turning them into social service agencies.

                With the growing number of students who are becoming homeless, abused/neglected, or need of mental/behavioral health services, the schools students need will have to become social service satellite locations.  Utilizing the empowerment zone model in Harlem where social service agencies are housed in schools to provide immediate resources to students and families who need assistance.  Having a social worker, a behavioral/mental health therapist in the school building would provide school staff an onsite resource to report concerns, refer students, provide additional resources, and collaborate with on how to support students in crisis.

                Having social service programs in schools would also be benefit parents.  Parents would be able to access resources at location that is familiar and close to home.  Parents would also be able to receive services on child development, parenting, and how to help their child with homework.  Parents would also have access to health care for their children.  Having a health clinic in a school would ensure that parents receive follow ups to their children’s’ medical appointments, provide education on nutrition, and remind parents when prescriptions need to be filled.  Lastly, parents would also be able to receive referrals for self-improvement such as going back to school, learning how to get a better job, and coping with stress of parenting.

                Having social service programs in schools would also be helpful to the students.  Students would have immediate access to professionals who are able to help them through a behavioral or mental health crisis.  For students who are on medication, they would have access to professionals who show them how to properly self administer medication, ensure students are taking their medication, and educating students on nutrition.

                Finally, having social service programs in schools would be helpful to students because it would provide them with a safe place after school.  Students could receive aftercare services where they can receive tutoring in areas where they are struggling or areas of enhancement.  They can receive counseling for their mental or behavioral challenges, and art and music therapy to help them manage their challenges.  Students could also receive mentoring or participate in a rites of passage program

                Urban public school districts and local social service agencies can no longer act separate from each other.  It is time urban districts and social service agencies follow best practices and bring the resources into the schools so the child can be receive services and not lose instructional time.  The schools students need will have to understand that working with social service agencies to remove barriers that place stressors on students will affect their desire to learn.  

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Schools Students Need Part 1

                Infrastructure is an overlooked problem for many urban public school districts.  Many of the school buildings in urban public school districts are at least 30-50 years old with some buildings at or near the century mark.  With all the problems plaguing urban public school districts, infrastructure is a low priority.

                Since infrastructure is overlooked, its subtle importance is under-estimated.  The appearance of the school building is important to the learning process.  The school building provides the first impression of the type of learning experience a student might receive.  If the building grounds are littered with trash, the playground is unevenly paved and cracked, and the outside of the building has faded, cracked paint or has graffiti, a student may begin to form an opinion about their chances of receiving a quality learning experience. 

When a student enters the school building and the hallways look industrial, lacking color and warmth, a student may sense that learning will not be engaging and creativity absent, a student may begin to view learning with negative skepticism.  When a student enters the classroom where the black board is antiquated, the desks are old and the climate control is irregular, the student may begin to internalize a pessimistic view of learning.  A student could be lost due to the appearance of the school building.

                In order to keep students from formulating negative opinions about the quality of their learning experience by the appearance of the school building, more attention needs to be paid to infrastructure.  The current “band aid” approach many urban public school districts use to address infrastructure concerns addresses short term solutions to long term needs.  This creates a situation where a district spends more money on frequent repairs of the same problems, purchasing newer equipment instead of modernizing the building.

                The school students need must give them confidence their learning experience will be positive and have quality.  Building student confidence begins with the outside grounds which should be clean, groomed, and evenly paved.  It continues with the outside of the building that should be modernized painted, and absent of graffiti.  The outside of the building should give a student a feeling of warmth and care.  The outside of the building should generate a positive attitude towards learning that will make a student fell ready to enter the building to receive a quality learning experience.  Once a student enters the building, the hallways should be a space that is clean, well lit, and show the products of student works.  The inside of the school building should be reflective of the learning that as occurred and continues to occur during the school day and throughout the year.  The student should be excited about going to their classroom and mentally prepared to learn.

Lastly, as a student enters their classroom, the room must solidify the idea that the student will receive a quality learning experience.  The classroom space should be welcoming, provide a sense of encouragement and safety, and provide a quality learning experience.  This can only occur when the classroom is climate controlled, has modern equipment such as white boards or smart boards, computers that can be used in the classroom, textbooks and materials for each individual student, and most importantly, a teacher who is an engaging instructor.