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Duncan's raison d'etre for reform
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Department of Education in Washington; President Obama discusses 4.35 billion Race to the Top
Humans are fallible and have a tendency to repeat past failures. Education is no exception. The pendulum of reform has had its swing back and forth over the decades with minimal progress. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is taking the bull by the horns, purporting that the very teachers, who have entrusted him as their chief, are not to be trusted to do the proper job without close supervision, re-training, and additional monetary rewards. He calls for scrutiny, an uphauling of current educational institutions by employing a trace back system that will mark the culprit, the raison d'etre for the failure of our children.
Duncan's tough, paternal scolding sends a clear message: teachers beware.
Revolutionary or some of the same? The 4.35 billion Race to the Top reform resonates a familiar cadence, the mantra of the Bush administration and No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the gotcha mentality that fails to consider a teacher's moral intentions, or the common good. Certainly, within education, there exists a few bad apples, as in any profession. Yet, the majority of teachers choose the field of teaching for the intrinsic rewards rather than the monetary rewards.
Our failing schools reflect , more likely, a society gone amuck, an evolution of insidious issues that have seeped into the classroom, rather than inept teachers.Yet, Duncan argues that it is the teachers that are ill prepared and failing our students.
Critics who agree, suspected soft bigotry, low expectations, or inept teachers, are coming out in droves and applauding Duncan's reform as brilliant. Ruben Navarrette, in his article entitled "An Apple for the Secretary" (San Diego Union-Tribune, 10/28/09), argues that the "trace back" method is "groundbreaking stuff" and will finally flesh out the culprits. He points to Louisiana, currently using the trace back theory: students in grades 4-9 with low scores are traced back to teachers and the teachers are then traced back to the institutions that trained them. The state then provides the institution with information and "urges schools to improve."
Navarrette admonishes "until we scrutinize teachers...we'll never empower students to reach their academic potential" and continue to fall short in "global competition." He adds that "for all the complaints teachers have...there is one thing that makes it a great job for those that don't like taking responsibility or accepting blame: anonymity."
Contrary to Navarrette's claims, teaching is a high profile job. All parents have the right to know the credentials of the teacher, which include education (degrees and colleges) and experience. Parents are also invited into the classrooms, and, again, have every opportunity to see what's happening inside the classroom. To suggest that the profession is a behind the scenes type of job is ludicrous. To further imply that teachers are underachievers who take shortcuts and are in it for the paycheck and summer vacation, devalues a profession that has worked so hard to achieve status and recognition.
The Finnish School System (rated highest in the nation) places a high premium on teacher trust. Our high performing schools, here in the US, trust their teachers' ability and expertise. In the lower performing schools, however, such as Hartford, Bridgeport, and New haven, the teachers are checked, accused, mistrusted, and forced to perform in scripted ways. More scrutiny will mean less trust.
Agreeably, a century ago, one could argue, we had a broader base of knowledge: if teachers, educated in a 21st century school, were asked to take a teacher exam from the late 1800's, most would fail. In all fairness to teachers, they are merely products of their current educational system, which is not based on a 19th-century style of learning.
Teaching students in the 19th and the first half of the 20th-century was easier. Today, through no fault of the teachers, the 3 R's, reading writing and 'rithmatic, have been replaced with rigor, relevance and relationships. There has been a demand for character education, creativity, metacognition, multiple intelligences, differentiation, Bloom's Taxonomy, behavioral management; education is saturated by theoretical pedagogy spurred on by research and grants, the very institutions that are now claiming prospective teachers and students are arriving ill prepared.
Another variable is the decline in religion. It is not surprising to find that students who have a strong religious background are more advanced in reading and have a higher more complex system of language. For instance, children that attend Hebrew or Catholic schools are performing at more advanced levels in both writing and math. The kids receive a more traditional education steeped in rote learning, recitation, facts, frequent quizzing and modeling.
The push today in our public schools (especially lowering performing schools), is for fun, engaging classrooms with visuals, technology, and an assortment of hands-on activities, cooperative learning, and creative projects. The student in public schools is spoon fed and the teacher is pressured to keep things moving at a fast pace to avoid boredom, placate administrators and a society that thrives on quickness. Needless to say, no matter how smart the teacher, or how knowledgeable, the teacher is restricted by the current flavor or pedagogy of the month.
The most brilliant of teachers will struggle with lower performing students. The disabled and the poor are the modern challenges facing educators today. In the 19th century, disabled kids were not educated. Poor children stayed home and worked, or took to the streets. If they did go to school, they worked hard and wouldn't think to misbehave.
Schools today need funds to be allocated in the right places. The funds should be made available for evaluations, appropriate staff, and support to assist the struggling students and teachers. Alternative learning environments have proved to work for atypical children who require smaller environments. Theme based schools that include arts and encompass multiple learning styles are also excellent investments.
Inner city schools that need the most are hit the hardest. What is not considered in Duncan's gotcha plan is the feasibility of one teacher to serve a classroom where more than 50% of the children are performing below proficiency. In this environment, paraprofessionals are cut, special ed teachers are overwhelmed, and too many students needs are not identified properly. A lack of resources leads to undetected learning disabilities, misplaced children, and an increase in behavioral issues in the regular classroom.
Instead of filling the gaps beforehand, investing in what works, President Obama and Duncan have attached strings to the 4.5 billion being offered for reform. Schools that do get the funds will show increased scores, lower drop out rates, and administrators that connect scores to teacher evaluations. The focus has shifted to poor teacher performance. Schools will be pitted against each other increasing the risk for falsification of scores, zero tolerance to weed out problem students, and even a closing of schools. Similar to the problems associated with NCLB, the lack of funding will continue to be an impediment.
Most stunning is the undermining of teachers' competency. Duncan's argument aimed at bad teachers is a gross misfire. Educational flaws did not just drop from the sky. The system of delivery and instruction has changed, for the better and for the worst, based on a demand for more specific services and bigger issues. The classroom has become saturated with theoretical jargon and muddied with the bureaucracy of politics. Teacher institutions reflect what is happening in the 21st-century classroom, which reflects our modern day society.
If we want accountability, we need to look in the mirror. We can't go back to a simpler time, a time when we didn't include our most challenging students in the classroom. We educate all, inclusively, and this is the American way, the moral and humane way. Teachers are shaping minds, juggling an array of issues, and performing the Herculean task of meeting many different needs. They should be hailed as chiefs, not chastised.
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