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.

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.  

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. 

The Parent(s) Children Need

A child’s first teacher is their parent(s).  From their parent(s) and their environment, children begin to learn the social norms and expectations of our society.  A child also learns to value or learns apathy towards education from their parents.  Unfortunately, more children are learning apathy towards education which is causing major problems for public education.

Student readiness is one of the major problems plaguing public education.  More children are beginning their formal education experience in the first grade unprepared academically, socially, and behaviorally.  This lack of readiness has placed children behind and has teachers spending more time with remediation of academic tasks such recognition of alphabet, numbers, and shapes and colors. 

Teachers also have to spend time working on student socialization and behaviors.  Teachers are spending more time getting students to sit down in their chairs, to listen, to follow directions, to use appropriate language and prevent fighting.  Learning how to acclimate to the school and classroom setting can be very frustrating to young first graders who have not been prepared by their parent(s).  By the time a teacher get students somewhat acclimated to the classroom routine the school year may be half over.  When the school year ends, some students may not be ready academically, socially, or behaviorally for promotion to the second grade.  These students may be left back in the first grade for an additional year or be promoted even though the student may not be ready for second grade.

 

If young children are going to have a chance to succeed, the elementary level will provide them with the foundation for future academic, social, and behavioral success at the higher grade levels.  However, the foundation cannot be built without basic school readiness skills that are the responsibilities of the parent(s).

The parent(s) children need must provide the basic school readiness skills.  The first is a desire to learn.  Children are curious and exploratory by nature.  Children in their early interaction with the world ask a plethora of questions that lead to more questions.  It is the responsibility of the parent(s) to cultivate, encourage, and guide children to develop an excitement and desire to learn.  The second is a desire to read and write.  Developing pre-reading skills and pre-writing skills is crucial to academic success in the elementary years.  Children early on learn to read, recite, and write based on symbols they see and hear during their everyday interaction in the world.  Children use words to describe their needs and they quickly learn that symbols are connected to word.  Children can speak recite and write their version of the McDonalds symbol, more than any other fast food brand.  Parents must utilize this desire to read, recite, and write to develop an excitement for reading, reciting stories (sometimes in their own version) and writing stories of their own.  When a child asks their parent(s) to read the same story over and over again, the child is solidifying their love of reading, developing early comprehension, developing pre-word recognition and developing creativity. 

Third, the parent(s) children need must provide them with boundaries.  It is the responsibility of the parent(s) to provide children with routines that help them to develop an understanding of societal norms.  Prior to entering elementary school, parents must teach their children the rules and expectations of school and classroom culture.  Children must learn how to appropriately interact with the teacher and other adult staff in the building and how that interaction may differ from the way they interact with family and friends.  Children must understand they are to respect their teacher and other adult staff.  Finally, children must learn how to appropriately interact with their peers in the classroom and on the playground and how this interaction may differ from the way they interact with their siblings, friend at home and family members of the same age.

These are the parent(s) children need

The Principals We Need

                Growing up, the urban school principal was more than just an administrator.  The principal was a role model, a mentor, a life coach to students and a child psychologist to parents.  The principal was the purest definition of an educator.

                In school, the principal ran a tight ship.  The Principal was aware of everything that occurred in the building.  The principal was the first person in the building greeting students and teachers to make sure every staff and student got a good start to the day.  The principal could also be seen walking the halls monitoring student and teacher behavior inside the classroom making sure students were engaged in learning and teachers were making the lessons engaging.  At the end of the school day, the principal would remind students to be safe, do their homework, and come to school on time.  The principal would then stop by each teachers classroom to find out how the day went and if there were any needs or concerns.  The end of the day is when the principal began the work he/she was supposed to do during the school day.

                Today’s urban school principal is overwhelmed by central office bureaucracy, state and district demands, union regulations, and the affects poverty and crime have on children in the community who attend the neighborhood school.  These demands have taken principals away from being a presence in the school and community.  Today’s urban principal is spending more time away from the building, less time dealing with teaching and learning, less time with students and teachers, and less time being a partner in the community.  Today’s urban school principal has been reduced to a bean counter and paper pusher. 

                The school principals we need must be allowed to focus on learning and instruction.  They must be freed to work with teachers and support staff to ensure that struggling students are getting the additional support to improve deficit areas and to maintain or increase academic proficiency for students on grade level.  The principal also needs to mentor first year teachers and make sure veteran teachers continue to enhance their pedagogic and instruction skills.  A principal is only able to do this if he/she is in the building walking around conducting observations and monitoring student progress.

Finally, the school principal we need must be able to connect with the community.  It is well known that schools that thrive have the support of the community.  Schools not only had the support of parents, they also had the support of local businesses.  Unfortunately, the deterioration of a majority of urban communities has eroded the relationship between the school principal and the community.  Many principals have not fostered a relationship with the community because they fail to understand how a strong relationship with the community will aid in promoting a commitment to academic achievement.  Additionally, the principals we need must be able to develop relationships with parents.  Getting parents involved in the educational process is crucial to promoting a commitment to academic achievement. 

If the education is going to be turned around, one of the crucial components to a successful turnaround will be removing principals from some of the bureaucracy and allow them to that focus on improving learning and instruction, making sure students are engaged and teachers are providing engaging lesson plans, and fostering relationships with parents and the community.

Will Raising Teacher Salary Improved Education?

                There was a recent article in the New York Times by Dave Eggers and Ninive Clements Calegari titled “The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries.”  The premise of the article was that teachers should not be blamed for poor tests scores, District leadership should be blamed and teachers should be better supported.  Using the analogy of the military, Eggers and Calegari state:

                                “When we don’t get the results we want in our military endeavors

                                we don’t blame the soliders…if the results aren’t there, we blame

                                the planners.  We blame the generals, the secretary of defense, the

                                Joints Chiefs of Staff.  When we don’t like the way our students score

                                on international standardized tests, we blame the teachers[i].”

                The use of the military analogy to support their argument is very weak and inappropriate.  Their attempt to argue that teachers should not be solely held to blame for poor student performance has some merit.  Eggers and Calegari further argue what teachers need is more support, resources and training.  They argue the first place to start is to raise the salaries of teachers. 

                Eggers and Calegari argue the average pay of teachers is similar to a toll taker or bartenders.  They claim that teacher salaries have declined over the past 30 years with the average starting salary being $39,00 and the average ending salary (after 25 years in the profession) is $67,000[ii].  The low salaries they argue prevent the profession from attracting the most talented people.

Citing a poll by the McKinsey Consulting firm, the poll found that 68% of college students in 900 top-tier colleges stated they would consider teaching if salaries started at $65,000 and rose to a minimum of $150,000[iii].  With a projected high number of retirements occurring within the next 10 years combined with 20 percent of first year teachers leaving the profession, Eggers and Calegari argue it is time to restructure the teaching profession recruit and retain talented graduates.

Higher salaries will not solve the myriad of complex problems plaguing public education.  Increasing teacher salaries is important however one of the things teachers need is training.  Teachers need more training on how to provide instruction with students who have difficulty understanding the material.  Teachers need more training on using multiple techniques in classroom management.  Teachers need more training on diversity and sensitivity to diversity, teachers need a refresher in pedagogy, differentiated instruction for students with disabilities, and finally teachers need more training in their subject.  This can only occur if teachers receive training during the summer.  Teachers should be given vacation from the end of school in June to the end of July.  August to the start of the school year should be used for professional development training and school preparation.

In addition to training, teachers need more support in the classroom.  Districts need to hire more reading and math specialists, psychologists, behavioral health specialist, and other support staff to assists teachers with students who need academic and behavioral help.  The addition of staff will allow the teacher to focus on instruction while students who are struggling can receive individual or group help.

 
          Teachers are the foundation of our educational system.  The success of our economy, national security, and technical innovation depends on the products (students) of our educational system having a world class education.  There needs to be more investment in training teachers to become the effective instructors and world class professional that our educational system needs.

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[i] Eggers, David & Ninive Clements Calegari (2011) www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01eggers

[ii] ibid

[iii] ibid

Weekends Without Homework?

                Recently the Superintendent of the Galloway Township School District in New Jersey, recommended to the school board that schools should only assign students ’homework Monday through Thursday.  The superintendent also recommended that students receive no more than 10 minutes of homework multiplied by a student’s grade level per night

The rationale for this recommendation is to “ensure students are not assigned busywork and to give them time for family and extracurricular activities[i].”  The recommendation to give less homework is puzzling at a time when national confidence in education is at an all time low.  As documented in recent reports, last year 1.3 million students failed to earn their diploma[ii].  This report combined with the fact that US students have fallen behind their international peers in reading, math and science, Galloway Township School Districts might want to reconsider their stance on weekends without homework.

With US education wallowing in mediocrity, school districts, specifically small and suburban need to stop thinking their district is not contributing to the educational mediocrity.  According to the documentary, “Waiting on Superman”, the top 5% of US students’ rank 23^rd out of 29 developing countries.  It is time these districts to understand they no longer have the luxury to believe the fate of poor performing districts will not impact them.

The recommendation by the Superintendent to not assign homework to students on weekends is not based sound research or best practices.  The idea that no homework on weekends will give more time to spend with family is counter to current research.  There is a plethora of evidence that shows that families are spending less time together.  Research has shown that an alarming number of youth are spending a majority of their time watching tv and playing video games.  

Lastly, the idea that a Superintendent would recommend not assigning students homework over the weekend to give them more time to be involved in extracurricular activities is appalling.  With a mountain of evidence that show an increase in juvenile diabetes, obesity, and hyper tension because youth are not being physically active, not assigning homework on the weekends may not cause an increase in physical activity.

At a time when the US economy is projected to become second to China in the global economy within a few years, a school districts focus should be on how to ensure their students’ are prepared to compete academically with their global peers and focus more how to decrease the loss of instructional retention by students.  Giving students no homework over the weekend is not the answer.

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[i] www.philly.com/philly/education/20110525_ap_njschoolsdistrictmightbanweekendhomework.html

[ii] Wittenstein, Rebecca (2010).  Progress on Graduation Stalls: 1.3 Million Students Fail to Earn Diplomas

(www.edweek.org)