The week before Spring Break, there were a series of articles in the News Journal about education reform in our state. I also attended the Thursday night panel discussion at the University of DE that was a part of that series as well.
I'd really like to hear from other parents on this one, as I felt like the articles and the panel discussion were NOTHING NEW. There was no forward-thinking, aggressive plans for change. It was just more of the same, only packaged slightly differently, but the content wasn't moving the bar for all students.
And here are a couple of points that really concerned me:
1.) IF all public schools had the type of parent engagement and support that Charter Schools have .... well, we wouldn't need charter schools because the landscape and results of public schools would be so different and the bar would be set higher for ALL --- not just a select few.
2.) Charter schools cater to the top and/or the bottom. Either financially, academically or socio-economically, they have a different playing field from public schools. They don't serve the middle and they don't service a broad spectrum of different student needs and concerns like public schools. Therefore they are very niche-oriented and thus can develop very specific and measurable results. Public schools have to serve every student that walks through their doors, regardless! Comparing charter schools and standard public schools are not apples-to-apples.
3.) Similar to students, families come in a variety of shapes, sizes and backgrounds. The examples given by the panel of the parent were specific to Title 1 funding and its requirements. Again not a clear picture of the full spectrum of what it means to successfully execute "family engagement". Parents make the difference in "moving the bar higher" as it is typically our passion and our outside perspective that demands more of our administrators, our teachers in the classrooms and the academic curriculum being set. The internal, educational jargon doesn't move us -- the dynamics of a school building, constant inviting atmosphere of a school and the classrooms along with specific results in our students' school work home, the activities in the school building and the ease of 2-way communication that shows RESULTS are what parents measure.
Many of us who attended the Thursday discussion thought there was going to be more focus on RttT results from the first year and a half. Nothing of the sort. RttT wasn't even mentioned nor was the testing assessment "fiasco" that we are currently experiencing. DCAS for now until the $25 million from RttT runs out and then they are already talking about moving to Smarter Balanced Assessment. No wonder parents are cynical when it comes to testing assessment of any kind in this state! How do I know as a parent that my children are getting a proper education?? We're not even sure what our educational leaders are even measuring with their testing and WHY?
We as parents need more direct and basic information from our school buildings and our districts as to what is going on NOW and on-going developments. Families with students in high school can't wait two to four years more for curriculum and testing assessment enhancements to be fully implemented before they "engage" families. We need to be a part of the conversation at the table NOW while it's being developed. And those of us who are able to lend more time because we are more financially stable in these rough times, need to find ways to get the parent voice heard for ALL -- loud and strong because I'm not sure if the educational system will be able to do it without us based on these recent news pieces.
So that was my take after a week or so of review....what was yours? Really like to have a strong discussion here if we can. So not holding back please.
I'd really like to hear from other parents on this one, as I felt like the articles and the panel discussion were NOTHING NEW. There was no forward-thinking, aggressive plans for change. It was just more of the same, only packaged slightly differently, but the content wasn't moving the bar for all students.
And here are a couple of points that really concerned me:
1.) IF all public schools had the type of parent engagement and support that Charter Schools have .... well, we wouldn't need charter schools because the landscape and results of public schools would be so different and the bar would be set higher for ALL --- not just a select few.
2.) Charter schools cater to the top and/or the bottom. Either financially, academically or socio-economically, they have a different playing field from public schools. They don't serve the middle and they don't service a broad spectrum of different student needs and concerns like public schools. Therefore they are very niche-oriented and thus can develop very specific and measurable results. Public schools have to serve every student that walks through their doors, regardless! Comparing charter schools and standard public schools are not apples-to-apples.
3.) Similar to students, families come in a variety of shapes, sizes and backgrounds. The examples given by the panel of the parent were specific to Title 1 funding and its requirements. Again not a clear picture of the full spectrum of what it means to successfully execute "family engagement". Parents make the difference in "moving the bar higher" as it is typically our passion and our outside perspective that demands more of our administrators, our teachers in the classrooms and the academic curriculum being set. The internal, educational jargon doesn't move us -- the dynamics of a school building, constant inviting atmosphere of a school and the classrooms along with specific results in our students' school work home, the activities in the school building and the ease of 2-way communication that shows RESULTS are what parents measure.
Many of us who attended the Thursday discussion thought there was going to be more focus on RttT results from the first year and a half. Nothing of the sort. RttT wasn't even mentioned nor was the testing assessment "fiasco" that we are currently experiencing. DCAS for now until the $25 million from RttT runs out and then they are already talking about moving to Smarter Balanced Assessment. No wonder parents are cynical when it comes to testing assessment of any kind in this state! How do I know as a parent that my children are getting a proper education?? We're not even sure what our educational leaders are even measuring with their testing and WHY?
We as parents need more direct and basic information from our school buildings and our districts as to what is going on NOW and on-going developments. Families with students in high school can't wait two to four years more for curriculum and testing assessment enhancements to be fully implemented before they "engage" families. We need to be a part of the conversation at the table NOW while it's being developed. And those of us who are able to lend more time because we are more financially stable in these rough times, need to find ways to get the parent voice heard for ALL -- loud and strong because I'm not sure if the educational system will be able to do it without us based on these recent news pieces.
So that was my take after a week or so of review....what was yours? Really like to have a strong discussion here if we can. So not holding back please.
I agree that the News Journal reports and the panel discussion were just more of the "same-old, same-old." The conversation continues to be about quick-fixes: testing, standards, teacher accountability, charter schools, parent involvement activities, etc. Lip service, if that, is briefly paid to improving teacher training in the universities and alleviating stressors of poverty--the two things that research has shown to be effective means of improving student achievement.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the biggest indicator that this state is not genuine in its quest to improve student achievement is the DCAS. I am a broken record as I always say this but I seem to be the only one saying it publicly. (Ok, anonymously because I need my job :) The DCAS is meaningless in helping students. The NWEA MAP gave us data that we could use in the schools to see which students needed intensive interventions and which students needed more time or a little more support. We ran statistic models on grade levels in a school or even in a single classroom with the MAP data. We do NOTHING with the DCAS except to look to see if the student is able to score proficient at their grade level or not. When working with a lot of underperforming students, that is not helpful.
The DCAS is a waste of money and time because those districts who are serious about measuring their students' progress have also paid to keep the MAP or use the STAR test. But this means that their students are spending even more days testing instead of learning!
Apparently, the only reason we are using DCAS is because the company threatened to sue the state for not going through the correct bidding procedures because the state was originally going to go with the MAP--which they had been piloting for years! If the state was genuine about student achievement it would not have backed down so quickly. They should have redone the bidding process, or find some other loophole, in order to get the best test for their students.
So, what does the state need to do? 1) Get the local universities to make their education departments competitive in accepting students and more rigorous in their training; 2) Provide community programs that help alleviate stressors of poverty for children (e.g. parent education, adequate housing, nutrition programs, etc.); 3) Provide excellent early childhood education to at-risk children; 4) Take away the sticks and carrots related to testing--if we have the best teachers we will get excellent instruction (also the sticks create district administration who wants to micromanage what the teachers do); and 5) Use tests like the MAP to help target those students who do need academic interventions, classrooms that need additional support, or teachers who need supplemental training.