School Improvement

What is school improvement really all about? Should it be labeled teacher improvement? Student Improvement? Or how about Parent Improvement?

For years I have been watching what school improvement does to a district. Administrators and teachers look like circus workers jumping through the hoops. The "new buzz" strategies intended to improve a school is really on a book shelf gathering more dust just like all the other papers disseminated in meetings and workshops. They might be pulled out if the teacher knows their classroom is up for a visit. It seems that new and improved ways to enhance a school and/or educate its students come out each week.

Teachers spend endless hours in Professional Development to learn how to help their students. The continuation of education for teachers is endless. Many teachers will attest to the fact of sitting in Professional Development for six hours with fifteen different subjects thrown at you will literally fry your mind.

While I believe teachers have gotten away without accountability for many years, how can you blame them? If a teacher is not "cutting the mustard" and not held accountable by their superiors for years of bad teaching why do the rest of us have to suffer? I'm not leaving myself out of this loop. I have done many times what it took to get by and sometimes skimmed right by without doing what I was supposed to in the essence of time and sanity.

Lately I've been watching a case develop in Rhode Island where 88 teachers lost their jobs. This tactic has been threatened for many years and BAM! it happens. The district was given three models to follow and ultimately chose this one because they felt it was workable for them. Now, the district can hire 50% of those teachers back. 44...How would like to have that job?

When you look at the case closer their student body is highly mobile and poor. If states use their own standards there will be a gap in the education of students. The graduation rate is what tipped the scales against them. If the student body is highly mobile would that mean the anticipated graduates moved?

Living in the Delta region of the United States I can tell you high school students come to school without education on their mind. Many come for the food because they have none at home. Many come for the pure socialization with their peers. Education is the last thing many students want. So how can students be improved? All the information is given to the teachers to use but what is given to students to motivate them? Do we include them in this "circus" and see if they will jump through hoops? Highly doubtful...

With so many people involved in the education of children one would think parents would be at the front of the line beating down the doors for a great education. NOPE! Many parents use the school system as a babysitting service. Many parents are not involved in their child's education until it is too late to help the child. There are a vast majority of great parents that are concerned and want a good education for the students. Unfortunately, those students do not fall into the improvement category. The rise well above the threshold and gain knowledge. My parents weren't the most educated of people but they stood by my brother and I to make sure we stayed in school, did our best, and got that education. Let me tell you the methodology my Mother used was right on target. A belt to my backside. All she ever asked was for us to do our best but she knew when mine wasn't the best and I felt the heat!

I was the same with my child. A single parent I knew she would need her education to go to college. I was full aware that college was needed for a job in this generation. I never blamed a teacher for my daughter's lack of capabilities. She once argued with a teacher all the way out of the classroom into the hall over her lack of understanding. She was punished by me, not the school, for the way she handled the situation. You might wonder the teacher's point of view..."Why your daughter is the best student I've got. OK - if she is the best student then why is she arguing with you over math to the point you both end up in the hallway?" (This would be case in point of teachers afraid of students and their parents - which is another blog.)

School improvement is about everyone. States hold districts accountable. Districts are starting to hold teachers accountable. But who really holds students accountable or their parents? I keep hearing that students aren't going to receive credit or fail a certain grade if they don't score proficient on the benchmark. Has it happened yet?

I have a saying that rings true here: "You can lead the student to the test but you can't make them bubble in the right answers."

I honestly believe our government needs to look hard at the way they create accountability for education. Consistent standards across the country would close some of the gap. Looking at the content of benchmark testing dependent on the area of the country a student is raised would be a great start. My students don't care if Dick saw Jane run. They don't care if Spot runs with Dick and Jane. They care about the bills being paid, the parents not being drug addicts or alcoholics, the love they don't receive from family yet long for each day. For students, it's about survival. I don't believe that my area is much different than many areas in the United States. Write benchmark prompts in a variety where students can relate to the content.

School Improvement...Teacher Improvement...Student Improvement...Parent Improvement...Schools are in distress, teachers are suffering from stress, and students only care about the way they are dressed and no one told the parents about the test. See the pattern here? School improvement will only be an improvement if everyone connected to that one student step up to the plate and see they receive the best education they can get.

Just a LOONNGGGG thought!