Well it has been a few weeks since my last post. I resisted posting because I was so upset with the political propaganda I saw in the media about school reform. I have not seen the movie "Waiting for Superman" yet, but I am sick and tired of the skewed opinions of politicians and corporate CEO's stating that we need to get rid of bad teachers and hire new, young, innovative teachers. This got me thinking about testing. We have been ridding schools of the so called bad teachers and hiring new fresh out of college or career changers Teach For America and New Teachers Project teachers in many under performing schools, however in some schools testing results are about the same. But beyond the testing, many kids are not getting the content or a good understanding of the subject matter. What will happen to our children if we don't bother to make sure that they understand what they are learning, understand how to be critical thinkers? What will happen if students are not taught to question what they think and why they think what they think? When children are not challenged to be independent thinkers I believe that they will not be adults who understand the world around them or speak up when they witness injustice in the world they live in.
I will speak from my personal experiences and the experiences of friends and colleagues. I have been told by administration not to worry about making sure students understand the themes or content in a text, but to focus on comprehension skills; how good is their fluency, can they find the main idea? Teaching literature can be difficult with a group of students that have not been challenged to analyze the text. I want to know what my students think of the characters, to make predictions, develop a theory and defend what they think based on the content of the text. It is frustrating to have the Socratic Method taught in every Education course, but when you step in an urban school in America the focus is teach to the test. I have been interviewed and told that I could be innovative and rigorous and later realized it was all a lie. I learned that I have to juggle what administration wants and what I know my students need. Many school administrators are so afraid of being a turn around school that they focus so much on scores and not content.
Scores vs. Content debate, this is not a new debate in school reform but one that is disproving the myth that higher test scores equals smarter students. I have a former student that scored a 26 in Math on the ACT and couldn’t place out of remedial math on his/her college entrance exams. This student graduated from a high school that focused so much on the ACT test that it led this particular student really think they were a math wiz. But this was not the case at all, the student learned how to analyze the test and identify tricks and distracters. In most urban schools math is the poorest performing subject. Students are so far behind in math that textbooks are misleading, for example in most poor performing high schools students take Algebra 1 freshman year and Algebra 2 Sophmore year. Algebra 1 is remedial math, but it’s embarrassing to call it that so we trick students and parents. Taking two years of Algebra means you don’t get Geometry until junior year and maybe Trigonometry or Pre Calculus Senior year. Why don’t we just be honest with kids and say you have to catch up and place them in a summer bridge program for two months before entering high school. In addition, offer mandatory tutoring freshman and sophomore year until the student has performed at a B or better average in Math. Instead we see kids barely pass math and a D will suffice for most students, but we will teach them how to crack the test and give them false reality. I think we don’t spend the money to correct the problem for several reasons: 1. We claim not to have the funding and don’t press politicians to come up with creative ways to find the money. 2. We don’t care if urban America aka Black and Hispanic kids can’t compete globally or nationally in math. 3. We think that Teach For America will produce great teachers in Math & Science and it’s cheaper to hire them for three years before they use their math and science degrees for higher paying jobs and graduate school.
In closing, please know that we are robbing students of the preparation needed to be productive adults if we don’t mandate that students learn to be critical thinkers by analyzing material and challenging themselves to develop and defend their thoughts with evidence presented in all subject matters. I will leave you with this, a close friend whose been teaching for nine years and is an author, moved to a new state and was hired to teach 5th grade Language Arts in an urban school. On her first day she met with her team lead, who is praised for increasing the test scores 2-3 points from the previous year. My friend wanted to learn what texts and themes were the focus last year to get the gains in testing. The team lead told her that they didn’t read any texts the previous year. So these 5th graders had improved their scores without even reading one novel the entire year, which probably means they didn’t have to write any essays either. Now what do you think will happen when they get to a High School Literature class, or even better a College American Literature class? Will they be prepared to compete with their peers? Mmmmh something to think about.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Literacy is the pathway from slavery to freedom - Douglass
The title above has always been my class motto. Every student had to learn the motto and it was usually a question about this quote on every midterm and final exam. First, let me thank you for taking the time to read this first blog post. The purpose of this blog will be to enlighten, inform and hopefully set some free from the mystical myths about education reform in America, specifically Urban America.
My background is in the field of education, I have taught for the past five years and previously worked in student development/student affairs. I have always been passionate about working with youth and have over 10 years of experience working, volunteering and mentoring youth in schools, organizations and my church. I have always worked with Title one schools (poor schools with 70% or more of the student population at or below poverty). I have been the innovative teacher that has learned to juggle the NCLB Standards, state standards, school standards/goals for the test and real academics, giving my students what they really need to succeed in school and life. After years of questioning curriculum, testing, and ridiculous policy of the Chicago Public School system. I simply have come to believe that School Reform is no more than a title that is thrown around to support policy programs disguised as Choice for poor schools; but in reality it is a systematic approach of keep those in poverty, IN POVERTY, while educating students in outliner affluent districts to manage and employ the next entry level worker.
I am sure some may think the previous statement is far fetched. But when Urban schools continue to fight for funding, curriculum and reduce turn over, you create a sense of chaos for students and staff. Many urban schools lack stability and children internalize that stability. At the last school I taught at I was asked the second month of school if I was planning to return next year by several students. The school had been open for two years and had a 40-50% turn over of teaching staff. In the third year it was 30% (I believe this was mainly due to a newly formed union) However, this past June even with the union, there was again 50% turnover of staff including two principals. We finished the school year from March -June without a principal and the previous year the VP was fired three months into the school year. This was in one small charter school, but this story is happening all across America.
I will close by stating that it is no coincidence that charter schools are in predominantly poor Black and Hispanic communities. The business world is making millions because many urban communities are simply not literate (informed or aware) about the design and goals of the charter movement. Charter schools as a whole are just as segregated as any other public schools. Don't get me wrong there are schools that are great as charters, but the majority have done no better in comparison to all public schools, yet the money funding the charter movement marketing campaign leads you to believe that charters are the Messiah of education reform. Did you know that a charter can't exist with out the communities consent? Tell your friends to do their homework, don't let a MBA degree with no education experience come in your community and run your school. They make lots of promises and although, aesthetically, the school is gorgeous, be more concerned about the curriculum and texts used, the education of admin. credentials and the character of the administration. If we an jack up education today we won't have to worry about a middle class in 20 years, because there won't be one. Maybe I should say there will be a larger lower class.
K. J. Perkins
My background is in the field of education, I have taught for the past five years and previously worked in student development/student affairs. I have always been passionate about working with youth and have over 10 years of experience working, volunteering and mentoring youth in schools, organizations and my church. I have always worked with Title one schools (poor schools with 70% or more of the student population at or below poverty). I have been the innovative teacher that has learned to juggle the NCLB Standards, state standards, school standards/goals for the test and real academics, giving my students what they really need to succeed in school and life. After years of questioning curriculum, testing, and ridiculous policy of the Chicago Public School system. I simply have come to believe that School Reform is no more than a title that is thrown around to support policy programs disguised as Choice for poor schools; but in reality it is a systematic approach of keep those in poverty, IN POVERTY, while educating students in outliner affluent districts to manage and employ the next entry level worker.
I am sure some may think the previous statement is far fetched. But when Urban schools continue to fight for funding, curriculum and reduce turn over, you create a sense of chaos for students and staff. Many urban schools lack stability and children internalize that stability. At the last school I taught at I was asked the second month of school if I was planning to return next year by several students. The school had been open for two years and had a 40-50% turn over of teaching staff. In the third year it was 30% (I believe this was mainly due to a newly formed union) However, this past June even with the union, there was again 50% turnover of staff including two principals. We finished the school year from March -June without a principal and the previous year the VP was fired three months into the school year. This was in one small charter school, but this story is happening all across America.
I will close by stating that it is no coincidence that charter schools are in predominantly poor Black and Hispanic communities. The business world is making millions because many urban communities are simply not literate (informed or aware) about the design and goals of the charter movement. Charter schools as a whole are just as segregated as any other public schools. Don't get me wrong there are schools that are great as charters, but the majority have done no better in comparison to all public schools, yet the money funding the charter movement marketing campaign leads you to believe that charters are the Messiah of education reform. Did you know that a charter can't exist with out the communities consent? Tell your friends to do their homework, don't let a MBA degree with no education experience come in your community and run your school. They make lots of promises and although, aesthetically, the school is gorgeous, be more concerned about the curriculum and texts used, the education of admin. credentials and the character of the administration. If we an jack up education today we won't have to worry about a middle class in 20 years, because there won't be one. Maybe I should say there will be a larger lower class.
K. J. Perkins
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