It's my favorite time of the year again -- fall! And with fall comes back-to-school time, which I've always thought of as the real beginning of the year and the best time for new year's resolutions. (That was true even when I wasn't an educator, but a lawyer working in the world of big business -- fall is always the new year for me.) In any event, one of my resolutions this year is to do a better job of posting on this blog, as one way of communicating and engendering some dialogue about education.
Interestingly, most people don't seem to differ much about education on the local level, either about the purposes of education or the type of school they want for their children. My own belief is that there are two essential pillars of a good school -- a warm, welcoming, safe climate that encourages growth for both children and adults, and stimulating, challenging academics -- and from what I hear it seems that many people agree. As we head into the new year, those two aspects are again our focus at Neary, and we have initiatives underway in both areas. We will be spending our opening professional day looking at the new Common Core curriculum and ways of providing students with the academic challenge they need, and we will also be working on a new section for our progress reports and report card that will help us work with parents on the habits of mind and work habits and skills that students need to be successful. Next Wednesday, as the students return, we have plans for both -- assemblies and activities that are welcoming, fun, and engaging, and beginning work that is exciting and challenging. I'm looking forward to the year!
In my recent reading, I found an interesting blog post and a useful article that I would recommend. The blog post was written by Carol Burris, a New York principal, and appeared in one of the Washington Post blogs, "The Answer Sheet," last Thursday. It's entitled "Three Ed Reforms Parents Should Worry About Most," and is an excellent analysis of some of the more damaging trends in education legislation and regulation with which parents should be concerned. It's well worth reading!
The article is more of a practical set of tips for parents for helping their children have a great year. It appeared in the most recent issue of Parents magazine and is entitled "Classroom Confidential." The article provides tips and thoughts on many topics, from talking with teachers, to helping students with homework, to helping children fit in. I think it's crucially important for kids' success to have a good partnership between parents and teachers and this article provides some ideas on how to do that successfully. (I would add -- please do contact us if you're concerned about something. We can usually work together to resolve the problem.) We have this issue of the magazine in our office if you'd like to look through it. (Our outer office also has a library of books relating to child development, parenting, and education -- you can browse through them and borrow one if you'd like. Just sign it out with one of the secretaries.)
Here's to a great school year 2012-13 for all our students and families!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Standardized Testing Pressure and the Endangered Curriculum
Recently I have read much commentary in the news and on various blogs about a principal who was fired from her position in Dallas as a result of false grades on report cards. Apparently, according to the news stories, she was obsessed with making sure that her school scored high on the Texas state tests, so she eliminated music, art, science, and social studies in her school and focused only on test preparation, but she insisted that teachers put grades for music, art, science, and social studies on student report cards anyway. As a result, her school's test scores did indeed go up, and her school was lauded as an exemplary school for two years, until the problem was discovered. (This all came up in connection with the Washington, D.C. public schools hiring her as a principal -- see "The Answer Sheet," one of the blogs from The Washington Post, for more information.) What interests me about this situation is that of course what this Dallas principal did was clearly blatant cheating, but schools and districts all over the country are eliminating music and art, and reducing time spent on science and social studies, in order to greatly increase time on math and reading, in order to score higher on the tests. One way of scoring higher on the tests is to eliminate or reduce everything else but focus on preparation for the tests -- this shortchanges the kids, but makes the school look good. In our own state, many Massachusetts schools are doing exactly this -- not cheating, we hope, but certainly many schools are reducing or eliminating their art and music programs and reducing the time allocated to science and social studies, and greatly increasing the time spent on test preparation in order to achieve high MCAS scores. As a result, some of the schools that are being congratulated publicly for their excellent test scores may or may not be providing their students with the kind of well-rounded, thoughtful education needed in this day and age -- and, conversely, many schools that are providing their students with an excellent education are under pressure to change what they are doing in order to increase their MCAS scores.
In our district, we believe that student success is much more than achievement on the MCAS tests. As indicated by the Texas "example," the huge risk in NCLB and MCAS testing has always been the narrowing of the curriculum to test preparation and the elimination or reduction of non-tested subjects, with a consequent “dumbing down” of the curriculum in the better school districts. Southborough has been consistent in resisting that narrowing of the curriculum, in ways that we believe are crucially important (for example, maintaining our social studies curriculum and maintaining the discussion of government and current events within the social studies curriculum). Because of this, comparisons among schools based on MCAS results do not provide a complete picture of our results with our students.
Student Achievement:
So -- how should student achievement be defined? And how can we measure it in order to track our progress?
As defined in our district, student success is much more than high scores on the MCAS tests. Our district’s mission is “to maximize academic achievement, social responsibility and lifelong learning by attending to the intellectual and developmental needs of individual students in supportive classroom environments.”
Unfortunately, many important goals cannot be precisely measured. For example, our goals for our students, include, among other things (and in addition to competence in math and reading):
> Excellence in the 4 C’s of 21st century learning: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity;
> Understanding and knowledge of history and government (becoming thoughtful citizens of our democracy)
> Understanding and knowledge of scientific concepts
> Ability to investigate and learn on their own
> Appreciation of music and art, and skills enough in these areas to be able to enjoy them in their own lives
> Fluency in another language
How can we assess our success in achieving these goals? Indicators of success include the following (MCAS test results are only one indicator):
> District assessments, including both common end-of-course assessments, and teacher-made assessments
> Feedback from parents and students
> Private school acceptances & feedback from those schools (e.g., Trottier students’ acceptances at private high schools and continuing positive feedback from those schools and from parents about the students’ preparation)
> MCAS results
> High school graduation rate
> College acceptance rate, and colleges attended by our graduates
> SAT scores
> AP testing results
> Student success on national exams in different subjects (e.g., world languages)
Our students do, of course, need to pass the MCAS, and they all do. But our goals for them go way beyond that.
Current Data:
2011 MCAS scores:
> Southborough, K-8: Scores range from a high of 92% advanced & proficient in 8th
grade ELA to a low of 51% advanced & proficient in 8th grade science
> Algonquin Regional High School:
> 10th grade ELA: 96% advanced & proficient
> 10th grade math: 91% advanced & proficient
> 10th grade science: 91% advanced & proficient
Southborough’s scores put us mostly in the top 20% or 25% in the state, with last year’s 3rd grade scores in the top 3% and Algonquin’s scores in the top 10% or 15%. Since Massachusetts’ average scores on the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress, a.k.a. “The Nation’s Report Card”) reading and math testing are first in the nation, and Massachusetts’ most recent scores on the PISA (“Programme for International Student Assessment”) reading and TIMSS (“Trends in International Math and Science Study”) math and science testing are up with the top nations in the world, this means that the math and reading achievement of Southborough students is excellent.
Other Current Data:
The following are some other recent metrics that give an indication of the achievement of the students in our district.
Algonquin's AP Test scores (2009-10):
> 598 tests taken, in 22 different areas
> The average percentage of students scoring in the 3-5 range was 94.3%
> Algonquin’s percentage of students scoring in the 3-5 range was tied for 7thin the state
Algonquin's Average SAT scores (2009-10):
> Reading: 557 (39th of 292 districts)
> Writing: 563 (29th of 292 districts)
> Math: 580 (26th of 292 districts)
Algonquin's Graduation rate (2009-10):
> 98.1% (tied for 6th in the state)
Could we increase our MCAS scores without harming everything else?
This year, we have experienced a fair amount of pressure about trying to increase our scores on the MCAS testing; even though our scores are in the top 20-25% in the state, people have asked why we couldn't be in the top 10% or top 5% in the state. I believe that the answer is that we probably could be at that level, but not without injury to student achievement in other areas. If we narrowed our goals for our students and simply pursued a high ranking on one indicator (MCAS tests), we would probably do many things differently:
> As many Massachusetts schools have done, we would probably eliminate or greatly reduce subjects such as music and art;
> We might reduce the time allocated to social studies, since it is not tested, and eliminate the study of government and current events;
> We might eliminate many of the hands-on investigations in science and other experiential activities in other subjects and just focus on material that will be on the tests;
> As many other schools do, we would spend significantly more time on preparing for the tests;
> As some Massachusetts schools do, we might divide students into groups based on test scores as early as 4th grade and focus much time on extra test preparation for those who are doing less well rather than providing all students with rich learning opportunities.
As stated previously, one of the biggest detrimental results of NCLB and MCAS testing has been the narrowing of the curriculum to test preparation and the elimination or reduction of non-tested subjects, with a consequent dumbing down of the curriculum, other than in the better school districts that have succeeded in resisting the pressure. With more and more pressure for higher rankings on the MCAS, we could drop everything else that we think is important and pursue a higher ranking, but it would be to the detriment of our students (and could also result in lower SAT scores, and lower student performance on AP tests, both of which would be harmful to our students).
Currently, we provide our students with a full, well-rounded curriculum. They all pass the MCAS in high school, as they need to do, and in addition, are as well-prepared for college and for life as we can make them. In addition, while accomplishing all of this with our students, our MCAS scores are in the top 25% of scores in Massachusetts, which is first in the nation on the NAEP testing and up with the top countries in the world on the most recent TIMMS tests. Dumbing down our curriculum to pursue a higher rank on the MCAS math and reading tests does not seem worth it. We want more for our kids than that.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Children and Sports
The other day I was talking to a student who was heard by a teacher swearing during a recess game. I asked him why he was swearing, and he said, "Because I got out." I pointed out that getting out was part of the game, and asked again why he was so angry. As we talked, it became clear to me that he thought getting angry and swearing was an appropriate response to getting out and didn't understand why I thought there was a problem.
This incident made me think again about the modeling that our children are getting from the adult world. Obviously, as one of our teachers pointed out to his class, most of the professional athletes are behaving appropriately, congratulating the winners at the end of a game, respecting the referees and the other players, and generally showing good sportsmanship. Unfortunately, the media choose to highlight the bad examples, and the result is more and more children who think the only important thing is winning, who think it's appropriate to get angry when you don't win, and who don't respect the decisions of a game ref. (A physical education teacher I talked to told me that more and more kids are arguing and questioning her decisions during games.)
Earlier this week, I used the following quote (from Project Wisdom) as our quote of the day and asked students to think about it:
You may have heard the story of Armando Galarraga (GAL-a-RAGA), the Detroit Tigers’ pitcher who threw a perfect baseball game but was denied that recognition because of an umpire’s bad call. Armando showed strong character and good sportsmanship by accepting the call with respect and dignity. The umpire later acknowledged his mistake and apologized to the pitcher. We can all learn a lesson from the good sportsmanship of both men.
Listen to this:
When circumstances are unfair, you can show good character by continuing to do the best you can do.*
We don’t have to be athletes, though, to show good sportsmanship. Whether we’re competing in the science fair or playing a board game with our brother, we can play fairly and show respect for our competitors. And if we lose, even unfairly, we can still win by showing strong character and knowing that we’ve done our best.
If you can, it might be a great idea to talk with your children about good sportsmanship, about enjoying a game but not making it into more than a game, about losing gracefully and appreciating your competitors. Not only will this help our children grow into mature adults able to handle things well, but it will also improve our world.
This incident made me think again about the modeling that our children are getting from the adult world. Obviously, as one of our teachers pointed out to his class, most of the professional athletes are behaving appropriately, congratulating the winners at the end of a game, respecting the referees and the other players, and generally showing good sportsmanship. Unfortunately, the media choose to highlight the bad examples, and the result is more and more children who think the only important thing is winning, who think it's appropriate to get angry when you don't win, and who don't respect the decisions of a game ref. (A physical education teacher I talked to told me that more and more kids are arguing and questioning her decisions during games.)
Earlier this week, I used the following quote (from Project Wisdom) as our quote of the day and asked students to think about it:
You may have heard the story of Armando Galarraga (GAL-a-RAGA), the Detroit Tigers’ pitcher who threw a perfect baseball game but was denied that recognition because of an umpire’s bad call. Armando showed strong character and good sportsmanship by accepting the call with respect and dignity. The umpire later acknowledged his mistake and apologized to the pitcher. We can all learn a lesson from the good sportsmanship of both men.
Listen to this:
When circumstances are unfair, you can show good character by continuing to do the best you can do.*
We don’t have to be athletes, though, to show good sportsmanship. Whether we’re competing in the science fair or playing a board game with our brother, we can play fairly and show respect for our competitors. And if we lose, even unfairly, we can still win by showing strong character and knowing that we’ve done our best.
If you can, it might be a great idea to talk with your children about good sportsmanship, about enjoying a game but not making it into more than a game, about losing gracefully and appreciating your competitors. Not only will this help our children grow into mature adults able to handle things well, but it will also improve our world.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Deep and Rich Learning
One of the things I always notice when observing excellent teaching (something I fortunately have lots of opportunities to do) is the skillful interweaving of multiple strands of learning. This creates a rich and varied learning experience that engages students and allows for success and challenge at all levels. Recent examples of this kind of learning experience in the context of a major project include the 4th grade Invention Convention and the 5th grade Colonial Day projects.
In 4th grade, a student working on a project for the Invention Convention first learned about simple machines and participated in locating the simple machines in the school and making a video describing their use. The student then learned about innovation and participated in it by creating an invention which incorporated a simple machine and met an identified need. Students also documented their inventions, and developed business cards, brochures, and other marketing materials. This is a project with obvious real-world connections that incorporates science and technology concepts, literacy work, and business and economics, and is certainly one the students won't soon forget!
In 5th grade, the Colonial Day projects incorporate historical learning, reading, writing, and research skills, artwork, and critical thinking. I was particularly impressed by the "flip books" describing particular historical characters because the thinking and analysis went way beyond the factual. Each one was different and showed good critical thinking on the part of the student. Art and music were also incorporated into the experience, and on the day itself students were immersed in Colonial times, engaging in hand sewing, tinsmithing, butter-making, and a variety of Colonial games. Again, a rich learning experience, and one that students won't forget!
During the course of working on these projects, students also learn planning and time management skills, as well as the patience and persistence to pursue a long-term goal, all of which are important life skills. Now, of course, although I intended to write a simple post describing my excitement about these projects, I just have to ask -- how can any standardized test measure these things or measure the skill of a teacher who makes a difference for a child by helping him/her to develop these life skills or discover a passion or a new motivation? Children learn many different things from these projects -- for one, it may be finding a new confidence in her artistic skills; for another, it could be discovering his passion for history; for yet another child, it could be learning how to plan and complete a large project and feeling the pride of accomplishing that.
The best and most accomplished teachers consistently weave multiple strands of learning into their teaching -- learning about content, learning skills, learning attitudes, learning confidence, persistence and competence. This is learning that no child should miss. I am delighted to see this happening throughout our school, and hope we can continue to provide and value these rich learning experiences for our students.
In 4th grade, a student working on a project for the Invention Convention first learned about simple machines and participated in locating the simple machines in the school and making a video describing their use. The student then learned about innovation and participated in it by creating an invention which incorporated a simple machine and met an identified need. Students also documented their inventions, and developed business cards, brochures, and other marketing materials. This is a project with obvious real-world connections that incorporates science and technology concepts, literacy work, and business and economics, and is certainly one the students won't soon forget!
In 5th grade, the Colonial Day projects incorporate historical learning, reading, writing, and research skills, artwork, and critical thinking. I was particularly impressed by the "flip books" describing particular historical characters because the thinking and analysis went way beyond the factual. Each one was different and showed good critical thinking on the part of the student. Art and music were also incorporated into the experience, and on the day itself students were immersed in Colonial times, engaging in hand sewing, tinsmithing, butter-making, and a variety of Colonial games. Again, a rich learning experience, and one that students won't forget!
During the course of working on these projects, students also learn planning and time management skills, as well as the patience and persistence to pursue a long-term goal, all of which are important life skills. Now, of course, although I intended to write a simple post describing my excitement about these projects, I just have to ask -- how can any standardized test measure these things or measure the skill of a teacher who makes a difference for a child by helping him/her to develop these life skills or discover a passion or a new motivation? Children learn many different things from these projects -- for one, it may be finding a new confidence in her artistic skills; for another, it could be discovering his passion for history; for yet another child, it could be learning how to plan and complete a large project and feeling the pride of accomplishing that.
The best and most accomplished teachers consistently weave multiple strands of learning into their teaching -- learning about content, learning skills, learning attitudes, learning confidence, persistence and competence. This is learning that no child should miss. I am delighted to see this happening throughout our school, and hope we can continue to provide and value these rich learning experiences for our students.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Critical Thinking & Analysis -- An Essential 21st Century Skill
One of the real joys of my job is the opportunity to observe exciting teaching and learning; this past Friday I was fortunate to observe two wonderful social studies lessons, both of which pushed 5th graders into greater critical thinking and analysis. Unless you are lucky enough to be in today's classrooms, you probably are not aware of the extent to which teaching and learning has changed. Students are no longer simply memorizing and regurgitating names, dates, and conclusions; rather, they are thinking hard about historical situations, analyzing the different interests of the parties involved, and working toward their own analysis and understanding using primary sources from the time. This kind of analysis is frequently mentioned as a 21st century skill, and I completely agree that all of our students need to develop this ability and to become excellent critical thinkers. Seeing what's happening in our classrooms is wonderful; students are indeed being taught these skills, and they are responding with engagement and learning.
Sometimes, though, I am puzzled by what appears to be a lack of critical thinking in some of the media reporting today about educational issues, and it seems to me that everyone could use the lessons I saw last Friday in the two 5th grade classrooms. Recently, for example, newspapers reported the results from the international PISA testing, pointing out that the overall U.S. results were in the middle of the group, and using this to again say that our schools are failing. Interestingly, though, this year's PISA results were reported somewhat differently, in that the U.S. data was provided disaggregated by schools at different poverty levels. When you look at the disaggregated data and take the U.S. schools with a poverty level of 10% or less those schools outscored every other nation except Shanghai. The newspaper articles I saw did not mention this, though -- they were fine with simply reporting what they saw as yet another failure of U.S. schools, and didn't think it important to point out that our schools in affluent areas outscore the world, while our schools in poverty-stricken areas come in last. Drawing on what they learned last Friday about propaganda, and about presenting information to achieve a particular purpose, I think our 5th graders might now ask what the intent or purpose is of those who wish to paint all our schools as failing, and hopefully as adults they will continue to ask these kinds of questions, delving deeper, and demanding thoughtful answers to important questions. (You can find the disaggregated PISA data on-line, if you are interested, and/or read a related article by Gerald Tirozzi in the NASSP Newsleader -- http://www.principals.org/NewsLeader.)
Sometimes, though, I am puzzled by what appears to be a lack of critical thinking in some of the media reporting today about educational issues, and it seems to me that everyone could use the lessons I saw last Friday in the two 5th grade classrooms. Recently, for example, newspapers reported the results from the international PISA testing, pointing out that the overall U.S. results were in the middle of the group, and using this to again say that our schools are failing. Interestingly, though, this year's PISA results were reported somewhat differently, in that the U.S. data was provided disaggregated by schools at different poverty levels. When you look at the disaggregated data and take the U.S. schools with a poverty level of 10% or less those schools outscored every other nation except Shanghai. The newspaper articles I saw did not mention this, though -- they were fine with simply reporting what they saw as yet another failure of U.S. schools, and didn't think it important to point out that our schools in affluent areas outscore the world, while our schools in poverty-stricken areas come in last. Drawing on what they learned last Friday about propaganda, and about presenting information to achieve a particular purpose, I think our 5th graders might now ask what the intent or purpose is of those who wish to paint all our schools as failing, and hopefully as adults they will continue to ask these kinds of questions, delving deeper, and demanding thoughtful answers to important questions. (You can find the disaggregated PISA data on-line, if you are interested, and/or read a related article by Gerald Tirozzi in the NASSP Newsleader -- http://www.principals.org/NewsLeader.)
Sunday, January 2, 2011
NCLB Measures vs. Actual Student Achievement
I recently read a very interesting paper from the Center on Education Policy entitled "How Many Schools and Districts Have Not Made Adequate Yearly Progress? Four-Year Trends" (available at http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/consolidated/index.html). Aside from the obvious fact that over time more schools and districts are failing to make AYP (inherent in the definition of AYP, which requires equal increments of progress, in all subgroups, toward the goal of 100% proficiency by 2014), the paper contained some fascinating comparisons and illustrated huge discrepancies in NCLB performance among the different states.
But do the differences in NCLB performance really reflect actual comparative student achievement? In 2009, in Massachusetts, 79% of school districts did not make AYP -- a huge percentage! -- and these districts are thus subject to federal sanctions, which could include replacing principals and teachers, paying for private tutoring for students, and/or transporting students to other schools and districts, all of which are costly. In addition, the publicity about the NCLB "failure" of Massachusetts schools decreases parental and community trust and support for the schools. By comparison, in the same year, 2009, in Alabama, only 2% of districts did not make AYP -- thus, only 2% of Alabama districts are subject to federal sanctions and 98% of Alabama districts are regarded as doing well. Are Alabama schools really that much better than Massachusetts schools? Well, on the last NAEP testing, Massachusetts schools were 1st in the nation on the 4th and 8th grade math tests, while Alabama schools were 50th. (The other NAEP test results show similar, although less dramatic, differences.)
This comparison raises many questions for me -- among others, why are we in Massachusetts setting ourselves up for failure, criticism, and compliance with expensive and detrimental sanctions when our schools are doing well on the NAEP national tests and are doing better than other states where the schools are not subject to the sanctions? The federal sanctions seem almost designed to be detrimental to good schools (and there are many good schools and districts in Massachusetts that did not make AYP). There also is no evidence that any of these sanctions is effective in improving schools. So. . . why are we in Massachusetts setting ourselves up for federal sanctions and loss of local control and support for our schools when other states are not? Is there a political agenda being served here? And, if so, whose agenda is it? I think these are important questions to think about and to answer, before we end up doing serious damage to our public school system. . .
But do the differences in NCLB performance really reflect actual comparative student achievement? In 2009, in Massachusetts, 79% of school districts did not make AYP -- a huge percentage! -- and these districts are thus subject to federal sanctions, which could include replacing principals and teachers, paying for private tutoring for students, and/or transporting students to other schools and districts, all of which are costly. In addition, the publicity about the NCLB "failure" of Massachusetts schools decreases parental and community trust and support for the schools. By comparison, in the same year, 2009, in Alabama, only 2% of districts did not make AYP -- thus, only 2% of Alabama districts are subject to federal sanctions and 98% of Alabama districts are regarded as doing well. Are Alabama schools really that much better than Massachusetts schools? Well, on the last NAEP testing, Massachusetts schools were 1st in the nation on the 4th and 8th grade math tests, while Alabama schools were 50th. (The other NAEP test results show similar, although less dramatic, differences.)
This comparison raises many questions for me -- among others, why are we in Massachusetts setting ourselves up for failure, criticism, and compliance with expensive and detrimental sanctions when our schools are doing well on the NAEP national tests and are doing better than other states where the schools are not subject to the sanctions? The federal sanctions seem almost designed to be detrimental to good schools (and there are many good schools and districts in Massachusetts that did not make AYP). There also is no evidence that any of these sanctions is effective in improving schools. So. . . why are we in Massachusetts setting ourselves up for federal sanctions and loss of local control and support for our schools when other states are not? Is there a political agenda being served here? And, if so, whose agenda is it? I think these are important questions to think about and to answer, before we end up doing serious damage to our public school system. . .
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The Nature of Community
I have recently been reading a very interesting book -- Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam. In this book, Putnam chronicles the decline of participation in community organizations during the past decades and raises the question of the impact of these changes on our society. Reading this book makes me care even more strongly about the development and maintenance of community and the importance of placing community goals first in many instances. This conflict frequently appears in schools, as, for example, in making placement decisions for students, when the best interests of the students as a whole may require a different decision that a parent would prefer for his/her child. It also appears in discussions of budget, at all levels -- local, state, national -- when individual interests (for example, in lower taxes) may conflict with the needs of the community (for safety, for example).
As we all know, our country has a long tradition of individualism and a strong emphasis on individual freedom. However, along with the emphasis on everyone's right to pursue happiness in his/her own way there has also been an equally strong tradition of cooperation and community. (Think, for example, of the individual freedom of the "Wild West" coexisting with the cooperation and community of barn raisings, quilting bees, and sharing resources to survive a difficult winter.) I think there is an important balance here, and I think that we need to consider that balance very carefully in making decisions. Take, for example, charter schools. Charter schools are very popular with many people, and many parents prize their ability to send their children to schools that they choose. However, when charter schools, particularly in urban areas, end up enrolling primarily the children whose parents are motivated and involved, do not have learning disabilities, and whose first language is English, and when they eliminate from their student bodies students who have behavioral difficulties or who are unable to keep up with the pace, the children who are still enrolled in those charters may benefit from attending school with other motivated students without disabilities, but the public schools in those communities end up having the most difficult students to educate with fewer funds available to do it with. Is that what's best for all of us, as a community? Or is it an example of some people profiting at the expense of others?
As everyone knows who knows me, I am a passionate advocate for public schools, for the American common school described in the works of Lawrence Cremin, and for the philosophy expressed so well by John Dewey, when he said, "What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon it destroys our democracy." I am currently very worried about the future of American public schools; I see our excellent public schools (which, in Massachusetts, lead the nation and compare favorably in international comparisons) in danger of being destroyed by short-sighted policies unsupported by evidence (for example, those required by the so-called "Race to the Top", and the increased emphasis on standardized testing to the exclusion of other measures of student achievement).
Getting back to Bowling Alone, I also think that we may need in general to think about moving our current individualism-community balance back a bit in favor of community in all areas, and to remember that we are all in this together. If you read it, and/or if you read Diane Ravitch's recent book on the American school system, let me know what you think!
As we all know, our country has a long tradition of individualism and a strong emphasis on individual freedom. However, along with the emphasis on everyone's right to pursue happiness in his/her own way there has also been an equally strong tradition of cooperation and community. (Think, for example, of the individual freedom of the "Wild West" coexisting with the cooperation and community of barn raisings, quilting bees, and sharing resources to survive a difficult winter.) I think there is an important balance here, and I think that we need to consider that balance very carefully in making decisions. Take, for example, charter schools. Charter schools are very popular with many people, and many parents prize their ability to send their children to schools that they choose. However, when charter schools, particularly in urban areas, end up enrolling primarily the children whose parents are motivated and involved, do not have learning disabilities, and whose first language is English, and when they eliminate from their student bodies students who have behavioral difficulties or who are unable to keep up with the pace, the children who are still enrolled in those charters may benefit from attending school with other motivated students without disabilities, but the public schools in those communities end up having the most difficult students to educate with fewer funds available to do it with. Is that what's best for all of us, as a community? Or is it an example of some people profiting at the expense of others?
As everyone knows who knows me, I am a passionate advocate for public schools, for the American common school described in the works of Lawrence Cremin, and for the philosophy expressed so well by John Dewey, when he said, "What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon it destroys our democracy." I am currently very worried about the future of American public schools; I see our excellent public schools (which, in Massachusetts, lead the nation and compare favorably in international comparisons) in danger of being destroyed by short-sighted policies unsupported by evidence (for example, those required by the so-called "Race to the Top", and the increased emphasis on standardized testing to the exclusion of other measures of student achievement).
Getting back to Bowling Alone, I also think that we may need in general to think about moving our current individualism-community balance back a bit in favor of community in all areas, and to remember that we are all in this together. If you read it, and/or if you read Diane Ravitch's recent book on the American school system, let me know what you think!
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