Philip,

Points well-taken. See my parenthetical addendum re: Greene in the post, thanks to you.

The quote, by the way, comes from an insane debate about NCLB on Newtalk.org between wonks of all stripes. It's an instructive (and tiresomly long) tour of all the ideological forces contending for the future of education.

Re: Federal mandates nullifying the agency of local and state school boards, I want to resist. Yes, the Feds restrict lassitude in a lot of ways, but in other ways they don't. And those other ways - curriculum and standards, funding, more - are important in their own right. Again, more important, to me, is the alternative: boards run by better-organized and far from public-minded interests like Discovery and their Hee-Haw pseudo-scientific gang.

Great comment. I love comments that make me laugh as I type. (In a good way, mind you.)

You're totally right, Clay. In all but the most liberal towns in the country, the right wing generally has a disproportionately large influence on local boards. In the school district in which I grew up, which is a moderate Democrat sort of area, I recently found out that two young people (in their early 20s) had been elected to the School Board. I was all ready to jump for joy, but my heart sank when I dug deeper and found out that both of them are very, very right-wing. Like, Rick Santorum right wing.

While it's true that more and more power is becoming concentrated in state and federal capitals, school boards still wield significant power to affect the daily lives of their teachers and students. While I generally encourage progressive/left activists away from electoral politics and to movement politics, local and school board elections are the exception for me.

At the very least there are structural changes you can push for -- open and transparent board proceedings is one (I'm always surprised at how many boards flagrantly ignore their states' Sunshine Acts). Another is the addition of elected (high school) students as voting members of the board - especially since most students at any given time aren't even close to voting age

Patrick, I couldn't agree with you more. The Right knows how to shape young minds far better than the Left, for sure. By crook and hook.

Bedtime. 'Til next time.

School Boards are a great way to be involved in education...... if you have them. Here in NYC there are only advisory panels with little or no input into the action of eduction.While I haven't read you earlier posts I wonder if you will address the following issues that I think you may have overlooked: funding education for children with special needs, integrating children with special needs within general education programs/ classrooms and the involvement of parents in their child's education.  The initial act of Congress, passed in 1975,  guaranteed the right of children with disabilities to a free and appropriate eduction and  called for a gradual increase of funding to states of 40%...we are at about 18% now.  Children with disabilities are still disproportionally placed in separate and segregated classrooms and denied access to the simplest of school activities: gym, lunch and trips.
Parents are rarely viewed as full partners in the education of a child. For the most part staff and leadership would keep parents at arms length and request only that parents make kids do homework, a very necessary action, or raise money.  Parents can bring much broader skills to bear if there is a more open community in the school 

I definitely got more involved in our local election this year. Unfortunately the candidates for School Board whom I thought had the best insight and foresight did not get elected. But what stunned me is that in a city of about 37,000 less than 10,000 people voted for the School Board candidates... and I can only imagine how many of those were due to associations rather than real campaigning efforts; sort of like high school president.

Look forward to exploring your blog, education being a passion of mine :-)

    Please be tolerant of another viewpoint. I agree that local people should provide education feedback. Since that is our common opinion then the Federal Government should abide the Constitution and butt out of mandatory education with its unfunded mandates.

   Let the local people determine their educational needs. In Pennsylvania we see the state and federal government mandating more and more "fringes" and the cost is out of contol like health care.

   If this is done we won't see "California" textbooks dominating our education and mandating moral values which are out of sync from the local populace, at taxpayer funding.

     The only problem we see with our local school board is a conflict of interest with it being dominated by teachers or the families of teachers.

Hmm great post and great way to go about it Clay.

If I were writing this, I would put something like "Support Intellectual Extracurriculars." The one thing that salvaged my high school experience and actually prepared me for college (and frankly, life) was United States Academic Decathlon, a ten-event academic competition involving an immense amount of study and preparation to compete at regional, state, and national levels. When I talk to students I work with now from universities like Northwestern, almost all of the great ones either a. went to private school or b. participated in something like Speech and Debate, Mock Trial, Academic Decathlon, or another serious extracurricular that involved their brain.

Yes, my husband Jim and I have started to attend school board meetings, though not as often as we'd like. It's just really helpful to see the bigger picture about how our son's education, and the education of autistic and special needs students, is talked about---and about all the other business that gets talked about!

Hi, Clay. I'm so glad that Change.org has added public education as a cause! Welcome to the post.

Regarding local school boards, I think the point should be made that the power of participatory democracy within school boards is being systematically usurped right now. Whether it's large, bellweather districts like NYC, which have replaced school boards with advisory boards, or districts that have replaced localized, district positions with at-large positions, or districts pushing for mayoral control of school boards, there is a push in America to privatize our schools and eliminate participatory democracy within education policy making, especially school boards.Additionally, Philip makes an excellent point about federal mandates. Realistically, most school boards only function as a cog in the edu-biz wheel, and that's they way big biz likes it. The local Business Roundtable members lobby state politicians for their reform agenda and standards. Their agenda fits in perfectly with No Child Left Behind, so the state puts pressure on the local districts. Local school districts live in terror of not being NCLB- complient, so functionally, school boards focus narrowly on carrying out NCLB mandates rather than addressing bigger picture issues like the purpose of public education, alternative assessments, etc.

This is not to say that citizens shouldn't be encouraged to become involved in and pressure school districts for alternative textbooks, assessments and reform,etc, but I think the takeover of school boards is an important and underreported issue that needs to be addressed as well.

Clay... I appreciate what you said about trying to make this blog more of a democratic forum than one person standing on their soapbox.  I live in Los Angeles and am looking at this institution of education from a parent point of view.  I have two kids, now 19 and 22 who chose to "unschool" rather than attend high school.  I believe that is a path that worked for them but probably would not work for all kids (or at least for all parents).

As to getting involved in your local school district governance... very good idea!  I think school decision makers should be interacting directly with the students, parents and teachers that are impacted by their actions.  That is not going to happen at the state or federal level. 

We have a special problem here in Los Angeles (like in other big cities), we have a school district with over 700,000 kids and a school district bureaucracy that would rival the old Soviet Union. Running for school board here involves reaching out to a constiuency of several 100,000 people (that's just for one of seven school board seats) and raising and spending several $100K to do so.  Best if you are either part of one or another political machine or tight with the teachers union to do so.

But from my experience with the LA Unified School District, the real decision making power is at the state level, where curriculum and school evaluation methodology is set, by some mysterious bureaucracy of advisory boards or some such which I need to figure out but have yet to do so.  I would love it if you would take a stab at figuring out the California state school "org chart" and how the real education policy decisions on curriculum and school evaluation are made.

Cooper Zale
Los Angeles
www.leftyparent.com

Whoa.

The right does NOT necessarily know how to "shape young minds" better than the left.   The right is what's on the school boards NOW..... @@

The people who WANT change in our schools many times are also the busiest (i.e. parents of special needs children, or single parents) and they don't have time to do the work that being a school board member entails.  (Or a babysitter.)   I am home working with my son almost every night until 10:00 or later, there is no help from the school and he has 4-6 hours of homework every night - and he's not even in AP classes.   Thank Gawd I am a teacher.  

There is no reason I should have to beat up the district administration, the teachers, and the school board to get my son the proper education.   But I do.  And they hate me.  My 16 yo son has Asperger's, is in regular classes.  He also has an almost 1" thick IEP, because they need it, and the district won't educate them.   So, tough crap, sucks to be them.

Let me tell you right now, that unfunded-by-Republicans bastardization called No Child's Behind Left has thwarted kids who have special needs.    When states dole out the funding based SOLELY on test scores (which is what PA does), school administrations will pull a rabbit out of their ass just to find ways NOT to spend it on the special needs kids.   After all, their scores don't pull down the testing scores as much as the bottom half of the "regular" pack.   It won't matter who is on the school board.  Nothing will change until NCLB is Toast.

The whole thing is about the $$.   School boards here are made of *taxpayers*.   That's all you need to be to run - hey, they're paying the taxes, why shouldn't they be able to run?  @@ 

Maybe you ought to come back here and teach for a while, before you start pitting left against right.  People who want real "change" shouldn't be doing that.

Testing ! ET Phone home ! That was a great debate and when the buzzer blew Hammond won ! Thank-you for your support ! Public Education rises from the ashes and makes a come back under NCLB and 10% ! See the Washington Teacher viewing identified issues with Rhee reform and that was mentioned in debate.

@All: I'm packing tonight for a two-week trip starting in 12 hours, so I'm sorry to keep it short and all rolled up like this:

@Ellen: several people are bringing up the usurpation of public school boards by private "round tables" in these threads, and that's something to think about. Re: the IDEA, I promise to give more exposure to that as well, from others more expert than me,  because many people are asking for it. Thanks for the excellent primer!

@Nathaniel: first, thanks :) Second, interesting! I coached Academic Quiz Team (Knowledge Master Open and NAQT for three years in Shanghai, and my team traveled to Chicago to place 3rd or 4th in the NAQT Nationals during they're third year. So I heartily agree :)

@Kristina: I just mentioned "others more expert than me." I might be tugging your sleeve soon....

@Jennifer: I've already talked with you, and look forward to more. Great angles in your comment. Thanks for that :)

@Cooper: I share your interest in unschooling, and your reservations about its universality. Search my blog at http://beyond-school.org for "unschooling" and you'll find a goodly number of posts :) Re: L.A. : Ouch. One size ideas obviously don't fit all.

@Moi: I'm not sure I get you (or that you got me). I _do_ consider NCLB-type pressures to focus only on basic workplace skills, and to see students as future workers, as "right" in the sense they suit corporate and business agendas. I also see movements to undercut science curricula with fundamentalist interpretations of whatever religious text (in the U.S., almost totally Christian) as "right" as well, as in "the religious right."

And if those groups are pushing to limit science and human development in education, I'm not sure I want to be too kumbaya. They _are_ doing a better job at "shaping young minds" in schools in the ways they're constraining and directing what happens there. I'm not saying the shapes they're making are better; I'm saying they're better at strategizing for their goals.

Your final remark is almost rude, but maybe I'm wrong. I'll just say that it's at least short-sighted. I can bring an international perspective on education to my domestic one. And I'm very hooked in to a huge network of educators across the States who keep me more informed than many, I'm sure.

@Kim: Darling-Hammond really is the better pick for Secretary of Education, in my view. Maybe Duncan will surprise us, now that he's out from under Daley's shadow, but I have my doubts. But I'll give Obama the benefit of the doubt until his actions forfeit it. The buck really stops with him, not Duncan.

Everyone is in agreement about everything. This scares me a bit because we just suffered through an administration in which everyone agreed about everything the President and Vice-President did. I hope your site, and by the way I consider it a remarkable and necessary means of how to communicate about this critical issue, does not evolve into a love fest. Most NSTA, NEA, and state curriculum meetings have devolved into everyone agreeing with everything. Nothing gets done in this atmosphere, everything stays the same, and everyone feels good about it.

James, the comments above quite often are not in agreement. Sometimes the "NO"s are even all-capped.

I would love to see more strategies as of how to improve our public education system locally. Sort of like the 'School Improvement Programs' of the early 1980's. These were built locally by the school and did not include national or even state mandates. I know of schools still using this philosophy and producing successful products.

For example I would love to see a discussion of what happened to life after school. Many careers started with these after school activities. I see more confusion with my senior students because they only have to base their futures on what they learned in the classroom and do not base their futures on what they are passionate about.

Supporting organizations such as Building with Books (soon to be buildOn!) is another great step. You can make a difference in America's communities with financial support or your own two hands.

Join thousands of high school students across the country who have made community service and self-reliance a way of life. We're looking for your help to take on the challenges that lie ahead.

Responding to James Fabiano...

Looking back at my high school years, it was my out of school activities, that I chose for myself and really invested myself in, that were more profound in my skill and wisdom development for adult life than anything I learned in school.

Cooper Zale
www.leftyparent.com

Clay, I think that your suggestion on getting involved with the school board is an excellent one, even if it means embarking on a very, very, VERY frustrating journey.  Take, for instance, the school district in the Long Island town where I grew up ...

1. The school board members may as well be Supreme Court justices based on the number of times they are elected and re-elected (and run unopposed).

2. Being a small district, such power often goes to these people's heads and they LOOOOVE to throw their weight around.

3. School board meetings are not very well attended and very often any complaints from the public are ignored.

4. The only time anyone ever gives a crap is when property taxes go up because of the budget.

Really makes you want to get involved, right?  If I were there now, though, I think I would only because I think someone has to vocalize what the average townsperson is saying behind everyone else's back.  Now, that's a small town and not a huge bureaucratic monster like some of the county or city school boards in the country, but I still think you're on the right track here ... as long as we all acknowlege the commitment that is involved.

Clay,

If great minds think alike, Sebastian, you must be really great. Let me tell a story.

A few years ago, as a consultant, I did a little study on "vulnerable teens" in the towns around where I live, on the northern border of Boston. I discovered my own town had an interesting anomaly: 25% more 9th graders than all other grades in the system. This merited some investigation.

I discovered that the high school routinely held back the bottom 25% of it's entering class because of poor prepartion. Most were bilingual, and, it seemed, largely due to language did not pass their 9th grade classes. This had several effects. Most notably, it meant that the "gain score," from 7th to 10th grade, made the high school one of the "most effective" using the Gates' funded Standard & Poor's listing of high schools. It also meant that a quarter of the high school took five years to graduate, if they graduated at all, and that a very large portion of the dropouts were among those longer term students.

I was outraged, as both an educator, a consultant, and as a citizen! When I challenged a school committee member, she exclaimed, "you can't blame the schools!" to which I answered, "but we elect YOU to FIX those schools, and you don't even know which elementary schools produce the most kids who don't pass 9th grade!"

Eventually, the principal of the high school, challenged for cheating the state and Gates funded test and promotion criteria, retired, along with the head of counseling, and even that school committee member. A new crew arrived and created a special study hall that "re-directs" students with problems to tutoring and support, and created "houses" where 9th graders built social networks of peers to improve attendance, help each other, and get to know the high school more aggressively. It worked, and 40% fewer kids are now held back.

When the school reported their success, they were reasonably and justifiably proud. Asked to comment, I suggested that, since it costs $13,000 a year to send a kid to the high school, they saved the system nearly half a million dollars, and reasonably "earned" a school improvement budget to be planned and spent by the teachers, kids and parents for further innovation that builds further financial and program benefits to everybody.

In other words, involvement works. Not always, and not even reliably, but works nonetheless. Take a real problem. Encourage internal resourcefulness. And congratulate the hell out of them! Sure beats bitching.   

I am the stay at home mother of 3 school-aged children. My husband retired in 2006 and we relocated our family to Tennessee to raise our children in a less congested, rural environment. We were shocked to read in our school district’s student handbook (reads like a medieval torture manual) that Physical (Corporal) Punishment (Paddling) was practiced in Public Schools. We never dreamed that this harsh and severe form of punishment at school would be necessary for any of our children as they are reasonable, intelligent and well behaved. We have received quite an education regarding the use of Physical Punishment of Children in Public Schools since receiving a phone call from our 13 year old son’s Middle School Assistant Principal on February 15, 2008. We were not even going to receive a "Courtesy Call" but at our son’s insistence, we were called. We have told each of our children from an early age that "No One Has The Right To Touch Them" to protect them from Sexual Abuse. She informed me that she was about to administer a "Paddling" to our son for going outside with his class when he was told to stay in. He claims he was not told to stay in. We received no communication prior to this phone call regarding any behavior problem with our son, even though we filled out emergency cards including our home phone and both of our cell phone numbers in triplicate at the beginning of the school year and my husband and I are both available and accessible all day everyday. I informed her that we do not hit our children and did not want them to paddle him. She insisted that he must be "Punished", and after discussion, an acceptable form of discipline was agreed upon.We believe that it is fundamentally wrong for adults in a profession paid for by our tax dollars and entrusted with the care and education of children to deliberately inflict physical, psychological and emotional pain and suffering on them as punishment at school when they make mistakes, which all children will make as part of their learning process.We immediately began writing letters to our elected officials, other related Governmental Agencies and the news media demanding that the Unacceptable Practice of Physical (Corporal) Punishment of Children in Public Schools be Abolished Immediately. The United States Department of Education responded to our request to President Bush and U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings by informing us that "Since the Federal government does not govern these types of issues, I would encourage you to contact The Center for Effective Discipline (CED), a non-profit organization which provides educational information to the public on the effects of corporal punishment of children and alternatives to its use. CED is currently the headquarters for and coordinates both the National Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in Schools (NCACPS) and the End Physical Punishment of Children (EPOCH-USA)." The Highest Federal Agency for Education in the United States referred us, tax-paying, voting, parents to a non-profit agency and offered no remedy or avenue for reform or accountability. The U.S. Department of Education did not even offer the President’s Official Position Statement, nor the Secretary of Education’s Official Position Statement on the Physical (Corporal) Punishment of Children in Schools, they basically informed us that it is a "Local Issue." Since when is school safety and student discipline a "Local Issue?" If an adult strikes another adult with any instrument, they will be arrested and face assault and battery charges. Children in 29 states are protected from abuse at the hands of educators by State Legislation. ALL Children must be ensured equal protection by law from abuse at school Immediately.We are outraged that our Federal and Sate governments are aware of this very serious civil rights inequity and injustice (legal child abuse, school and healthcare workers must report suspected child abuse, yet they are allowed by law to deliberately inflict physical, psychological and emotional pain and suffering on children with wooden paddles with holes drilled into them or other instruments as PUNISHMENT without parental consent or notification, resulting in very serious injuries and tragic consequences) that harms over 200,000 schoolchildren per year, according to U.S. Department of Education, Office For Civil Rights statistics.Our Congressman, John Tanner wrote, "As you well know, corporal punishment has not been banned nationally due to infringements it would cause in relation to an individual state’s sovereignty. If the federal government passed a ban on corporal punishment, I am almost certain the issue would eventually end up in the federal courts." Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen and Tennessee State Department of Education Officials responded to our request by citing State Laws that allow educators to deliberately inflict physical, psychological and emotional pain and suffering to PUNISH schoolchildren without parental consent or notification with legal impunity.Not one of the above mentioned Elected Officials or Governmental Agencies provided any avenue for real reform, no accountability, no remedy, no concern for America’s children’s civil rights, no Official Position Statement in favor of or opposed to Physical (Corporal) Punishment (Paddling) of Children in Schools, and they all informed us that it is a "Local Issue."We made a verbal and written presentation to our local school board’s elected representatives demanding they take action to Abolish Physical (Corporal) Punishment (Paddling) in our County’s Public Schools and we received NO RESPONSE. The following was included in our presentation, "There is no excuse for continuing to allow the practice of striking children with paddles or any instrument. To violate a child’s body causes physical, emotional and psychological harm to the child that will result in tragic consequences for all concerned. Some of the devastating negative effects on the child are fear of attending school, low self-esteem and distrust and resentment of authority figures that last a lifetime. Recent shocking news headlines in the State of Tennessee such as "E. Tenn. Principal to Plead Guilty for Student Assault," "8-Year-Old, in Trouble at School, Hospitalized after Trying to Hang Self," "Loudon Principal Investigated in alleged Paddling of 11-Year-Old," and "Marion County Sheriff’s Office Investigates Case of Excessive Discipline" are evidence of the tragic consequences and negative effects of corporal punishment.Glaring Testament to the efforts of concerned citizens is evidenced by the names of the following non-profit organizations, some which have been working to Abolish the Unacceptable Practice of Physical (Corporal) Punishment (Paddling) in Schools for OVER 20 YEARS: Tennesseans For Non Violent School Discipline, Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education, National Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in Schools, The Hitting Stops Here!, People Opposed to Paddling Students, Instead of Medicating and Punishing. Every one of these outstanding non-profit organizations was established by concerned citizens who were outraged by witnessing first-hand the unacceptable practice of educators deliberately inflicting physical, emotional and psychological pain and suffering on schoolchildren to punish them for minor infractions, sometimes with several adults restraining the child. They are dedicated to their efforts to bring AWARENESS and ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE UNEQUAL CIVIL/HUMAN RIGHTS TREATMENT OF SCHOOLCHILDREN THAT EXISTS TODAY AND THEIR GOAL IS TO ABOLISH PHYSICAL (CORPORAL) PUNISHMENT OF SCHOOLCHILDREN IN OUR NATION.What a sad testament to American society that after all this time and effort, little progress has been made. In 29 states, the Legislatures have taken action to Abolish Corporal Punishment of Children in Schools. Today, in 21 states the practice is legal and very much in use because it is EASY AND ALLOWED, perpetuating the cycle of America’s Shameful "Culture of Violence." This Powerful Model of Behavior by educators to our children reinforces Physical Violence and Bullying as the acceptable way to solve problems.Our children and their friends have told us of incidents at school where Teachers obtain obedience by inducing fear of physical harm by showing the class wooden paddles with holes drilled into them that are kept in their desk drawers and threatening physical violence against them for such infractions as forgetting their homework. They have told of kids receiving paddlings in the hall within earshot of students in class. Teachers also yell at and bully the kids. They withhold bathroom privileges and punish whole classes by demanding excessive physical exercise. Our children are afraid to raise their hands to ask questions and would rather receive a zero grade than ask about a missed assignment. This type of "Teaching" in not conducive to academic or social achievement and is unacceptable. If you want to know what is taking place in the schools, talk to the children or install cameras.As members of Tennesseans For Non Violent School Discipline, we were involved in a letter writing campaign to Newspaper Editors to raise awareness of this very important issue in Middle Tennessee. The letter thanked educators in individual paddling districts who refrain from paddling students and referenced the decline of Corporal Punishment in the state. Approximately one-third of Tennessee’s students are in non-paddling schools. These schools have implemented more effective disciplinary programs that encourage positive behavior. It is agreed by many, including such professional organizations as the American Academy of Pediatrics, National Teachers Association, National Parent-Teacher Association, National Association of School Counselors, the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Association of Family Physicians that the use of Corporal Punishment IS NOT NECESSARY AND IS HARMFUL TO CHILDREN AND THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.The letters to the editors cited the latest data collection of the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights – 2006 where public schools voluntarily (not mandated) reported the number of children paddled in individual schools within paddling school districts. For example, in Middle Tennessee, following are some of the statistics: Cocke Co., Northwest Elementary School paddled 17% of enrolled children; Fentress Co., South Fentress Elementary School paddled 12% of enrolled children; Haywood Co., Sunny Hill Elementary School paddled 27% of enrolled children; East Side Elementary School paddled 22% of enrolled children; Humboldt City, Stigall Middle School paddled 38% of enrolled children; Jackson-Madison Consolidated School Dist., Rose Hill Middle School paddled 15% of enrolled children; Jefferson Co., Talbott Elementary School paddled 11% of enrolled children; Lauderdale Co., Halls Junior High School paddled 38% of enrolled children; Halls High School paddled 32% of enrolled children; McMinn Co., Niota Elementary School paddled 10% of enrolled children; Meigs Co., Meigs Middle School paddled 19% of enrolled children; Monroe Co., Rural Vale Elementary School paddled 22% of enrolled children; Sequoyah High School paddled 20% of enrolled children; Tipton Co., Munford High School paddled 27% of enrolled children, Brighton High School paddled 26% of enrolled children; Warren Co., Irving College Elementary paddled 14% of enrolled children. The letters to the editors were concluded "Although the Tennessee Legislature gives teachers and administrators the right to paddle children without parental consent, we encourage parents to send letters at the beginning of each school year to your child’s teacher prohibiting corporal punishment of your child.In a report titled "A Violent Education" issued on August 20, 2008 Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) cite U.S. Education Department statistics that find school personnel in the 2006-07 school year reported disciplining 223,190 students by hitting, spanking or similar means. Alice Farmer, the report’s author, found that children are routinely paddled for "minor infractions" such as chewing gum or violating school dress codes. "It’s just fundamentally ineffective in terms of improving school discipline," she says. "It doesn’t teach kids why what they did was wrong; it doesn’t show them better behavior. What it does is teach them to be violent."
We were incredulous to learn from the above mentioned report about such Public School incidents as the use of shaved baseball bats, with handles taped for better grip (photos included), to administer Corporal Punishment, students making paddles in woodshop to be used to administer Corporal Punishment; classroom doors being locked when the bell rings with the Principal patrolling hallways, armed with a paddle, to administer Corporal Punishment to tardy students before they are allowed to enter class; a 16-year-old girls, 5 months pregnant, receiving a paddling; and teachers paddling students in class in the presence of other students.Recent shocking news articles may be accessed via the internet by typing the following headlines into any internet search engine: Texas Governor Backs Guns for Teachers; Texas Truants to be Tracked by GPS Anklets; U.S. Supreme Court Declines Appeals on Corporal Punishment; Texas Students to Wear Prison Jumpsuits for Violating School Dress Codes.TODAY, in the Harrold Independent School District in Texas, undisclosed school employees are carrying loaded, concealed weapons/guns with the approval and support of Texas Governor Rick Perry.The ONLY WAY to BRING ABOUT POSITIVE CHANGE, EQUALITY and ACCOUNTABILITY FOR OUR CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS IS THROUGH AWARENESS! Please take action to make children’s lives safer and more peaceful. YES WE CAN!

We at Earth Treasury and our partners in creating Free digital textbooks think we have the key to removing the stranglehold of Texas and California over textbook publishing in the US. When textbooks don't cost money, the bureaucracy surrounding their purchase will become irrelevant. When teachers and students can correct and improve textbooks without incurring costs for reprinting, no special interests can intervene. (Creationists will be free to write their own, but without the hope of imposing them on the rest of us, I doubt they will bother.)

See http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Creating_textbooks for the outline of the program, and those who have expressed interest in joining our efforts.

Concerned about the closing of Public School buildings under Pl 107-110,a law unfunded. It's causing citizen protest in NY and DC under educational reform approaches. The closed Public School buildings are then sold to subcontractors for profit and or developers.NCLB a law currently in reauthorization and enter reform viewing their financial improprieties,educational tax credits and philanthropy tax credits.If you get a chance to review the the Washington Teacher blog site, it's concerning and an eye opener identifing issues and concerns with Rhee reform for perspective. Equality for the advantaged and disadvantaged ! Where is the public transparancy on the standardized testing corporations? Where is the DC system school audit published for tax payer review ? Not sure Americans are ready to start closing Public School buildings and selling them for subcontracted for profit. We need to support with resources and fund our Public School buildings. Could you imagine ? We're closing your child's school under the restructure penalities and sanctions of NCLB. A few months later the Public School building is sold to a developer. Opposed under Pl 107-110 a law unfunded in reauthorization ! CNN announced Obama is supporting crumbling Public School buildings.What's going on with the Constitution Article 1 Section 6 in all this educational reform under NCLB with  reformers ? Read Manufactured Crisis !

RE: Earth Treasury's plan for mass distribution of "corrected" textbooks

 Wow! What a great way to propagate Revisionist History!

 Perhaps Josef Stalin is alive and well.

   Should we teach education without a bias?  This proposal to create liberal and conservative textbooks flies in the face of public education, IMHO.
  

After having worked in journalism for years, I know that not only is voter turnout low during non-election years, but that board meetings are poorly attended unless something is amiss. After years of covering the public school system in and around Southeast Michigan, I determined that my children would not be part of it. Eight years ago, we enrolled them in a school that did not treat them like chattel, or prepare them to be consumers. As far as I can tell public education is lost until we realize that democracy does not equal capitalism. I would encourage anyone who gives a shrug about children to learn more about Waldorf education. It is a notion whose time has come...and I would give up cable television, ipods, new cars and all the McMansions in the world (and I have) to give my children the opportunities that this program affords their students.

All the commentary about the importance of the governance of school districts is very interesting - and sad.  Knowing that local school districts in my state - California - get 90% of their funding from state and Federal sources, and that local school bonds (until recently) neede to gain a 66% majority to pass means that "Local Control" is only a buzz word to gain votes!  After 37 years of teaching I DID run for school board along with two other activists and what we've accomplished over the past six years is amazing.  Two school bonds passed - the first in our district in 55 years.  Principal selected on the basis of an interview system that includes parents - not based on who their friends in the district are.  Two gyms at local schools - our first ever.  An after school program at every school site that operates 'till six pm - working parernts love it.  Partnerships with local cities and industries, facilities jopintly shared with them, cabling the entire dsitrict for high speed internet ... the list goes on and on.

I say this only to point out that our district was a sleepy, backwater organization of good old boys (and girls) that lazed along the road at best or was entirely disfunctional at worst.  Three committed individuals ran for board and won and the district was transformed in just a few years.  Not everything is cool and breezy, but those dreaded scores are up, parernts are happy and teachers feel secure and appreciated.

Please take heed:  everyone likes to verbalize "Educational Reform", but, unless you take action and become directly involved, all those words will be just that - words.

Julie,
Why not challenge the liability insurance the schools pay for teacher or administrator damage to children? As a public expense, it's got to be in the school budget. Your elected local officials ought to justify it. And, for that matter, why in the world did you move to Tennessee and expect good schools? There's plenty of data to suggest that was a very silly idea.
Kim,
School systems grow and shrink all the time. Excess buildings will probably increase dramatically when or if schools use technology more efficiently, in any case, thus opening all sorts of opportunities for housing and other development. Where we live, there are strong requirements to set aside "affordable units" that meet income guidelines, and minimize the excesses of gentrification. This kind of issue is pretty far from "Dick and Jane" or "early Algebra," but housing advocacy is a whole 'nother Obama initiative that needs insights and creative solutions.
And Paul,
Increasingly younger teachers are using the internet rather than standard texts, in spite of state or city standards. Whenever I teach a required course, I distribute the state standards on the first day, explaining, "you're expected to know this by the end of the course, so ask me any question and we can see what the answers are together." Thereafter, we talk about history in any way that makes sense and ignore the texts. But I am a very jaded and experienced teacher. Younger ones, with less white hair, prepare more specific plans. They also use the next extensively, and their kids chase facts like gophers. Texts are fine when you don't have anything to say, but that's not common in most of the classes I've seen in the past few years.
Bias, incidentally, is a matter of perspective. The more different those biases are, the finer the fabric of truth they produce. 

Maryann and Bob may have reciprocal messages. When there's low turnout, it doesn't take many voters to overturn a status quo. It does, however, take some vision. Waldorf is a fine model for both private AND public schools, as is Montessori and a host of others. There is absolutely no reason why every kid has to do the same thing at any given time.
The ONLY reason there are eight grades in elementary school is that the contractor who built the first graded school in America, the Quincy School in Boston in 1849, build eight rooms. Our "system" of education is full of these jewels of "common knowledge," and there are very, very, very few real facts about cognitive development that are represented in the k-12 (or k-16) curriculum.
The issue is to think about it before you mandate it, or revise it, or sustain it. Just, as they used to say at IBM, THINK.

I was one of the lucky ones for two reasons. First, I easily fit into the standard norm of "student sits still while teacher teaches." Secondly, I was completely immersed in my extra-curricular love, which was singing (choir, glee, madrigals). Translation: I loved school and did well.

However, parents today are not necessarily encouraging their children to fit into a mold (for many reasons, but thankfully sometimes intentionally), but schools in general have not caught up with the idea that different students learn in different ways, and moreover, that they SHOULD. The idea of presenting material differently to different students should be as basic as WHAT we are teaching our children.

Cost too much, you might think? Require more teachers? I say MONEY WELL SPENT.

A note on school boards. Whenever anyone is selected to oversee others, one must balance expertise with innovation. Here we can take a note from nature: when two biosystems overlap, that place becomes the most fertile and productive. Thus, school boards would do well to REQUIRE a diverse cross-section of members. There is a place for the wisdom of time, and a place for the enthusiasm of innovation and change. There is even a place for student representation, as long as those students are encouraged to, as Joe B. so aptly stated, THINK.

Off the subject, but related, Pres-elect O has been given a mandate for change and is facing the challenge of choosing cabinet members who can in one person represent both expertise and innovation, all in a very short period of time. Better him than me!

Over the past few months of my ‘blog’ on education I’ve been complaining about many issues that have weakened our public education system. I’ve talked about NCLB, potential of vouchers, collection of data, and even complained about the alphabet acts of education. It is easy to complain and so much more difficult to propose new programs or even solutions. There is one change I do notice since I started teaching almost a quarter of a century ago.

Remember what schools used to be like? Sure, there were the traditional classes of mathematics, English, and science. The competition in class and in the hallways is the same as in the past. But, there is something missing. Something that was a basic part of the school society only a generation ago. I am talking about after school activities.

No, I'm not talking about after school detention. I am talking about the science club, math club, debate club, the Shakespearean Society, the computer club, the save the whale foundations, the various young democrat clubs, the young republican brotherhoods, and the many different future citizens of future career clubs whose pictures used to fill the pages of yearbooks gone by. We don’t have to re-instate clubs of old. We could create new concept clubs. These could include Internet clubs, i-pod clubs, animation clubs, and even shopping clubs.

Even after school intramural sports, which used to saturate the various sport fields in late afternoons, have dried up to a few games of pic-up sports with no adults or supervision in sight. I realize that organized competitive sports still exist. If you consider the fact that only a small number of students participate in these activities, programs for the majority of our students are sadly lacking.

I am not writing to tear into the schools for their failure to keep our youth involved in creative forms of expression. I am writing about the failure by our society to realize we have to stop our ever-present attempt to show how public education is failing our children and put more resources educating our students in ways that motivate them to yearn to become part of our and soon to be their society.

A basic high school physics principle states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you take a means of, "belonging", away from our youth, you damn well better have something to replace it with. We can no longer have our children be responsible for their own well-being after the school day ends. Sure, many of my students have to work jobs so they can help out their families or prepare for post secondary education. This is another problem we should discuss at another time.

Instead of spending millions on trying to equate how poor our students are doing in school why couldn't our society put some tax dollars into rebuilding a structure to keep our youth occupied with something more constructive than destroying their own lives. The money could be used to finance after-school activities. An organized system of funding for after school activities could lead our youth into a greater sense of belonging and more control over their own futures. I am not talking of money spent for standardized tests or classes teaching the tests to our students and I am definitely not talking about metal detectors, video cameras, or policemen in our schools. I am speaking of money to be used by our children for our children. This expense would not near the money our government spends attempting to beaurocratize our children.

The Federal Department and State Departments of Education state the only way to improve public education is to make all teachers accountable by testing their students. Why couldn't they realize that if the powers would open the door to more recreational opportunities in our schools, our students would probably do better in their academic endeavors.

But, why listen to me, for after all, I am only a teacher.
Jim Fabiano, a teacher and writer who lives in York, is a past recipient of the Maine Press Association’s award for Best Weekly Column, and writes an education blog called 'Dinosaur of Education”. You can E-mail Jim at: jfabino@maine.rr.com, or comment on his blog at: http://fabiano.magic-city-news.com/

Ahhhh, Mr. Fabiano,
After school is not completely ignored by federal, state or local funders. In fact, one of the older and most common sources is 21st Century Schools money (http://www.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/index.html), which has loads of after school programs in many, many, many cities. It's not enough. There are not enough "best practices" examples. And there is surely need for more, but it's not that nobody cares or cared. And, for that matter, they care about things very close to what you suggest they care about - a sense of belonging, more control of their future, and use by our children for our children. For that matter, much of this effort is community-based, and builds after school activities out of school altogether, to encourage "community learning."

I am interested in Joe's comment above about the Internet transforming education.  In a homeschooling situation it can substitue for instructors and libraries (though maybe not completely, since you still need to get at books) and in a classroom it can substitute for text books. 

Eliminating many text books would be a great step forward in my opinion in returning more power to the teachers and lessening the hugh "education industrial complex" built up around schools and pressuring educational bureaucracies towards greater and greater standardization in the effort to sell more and more textbooks and other instructional materials and programs.

Cooper Zale
Los Angeles
http://www.leftyparent.com

@Joe... I think afterschool programs are particularly good if they are not compulsory and therefore are more likely to be populated by kids who actually want (or at least their family wants them) to be there.

I know a middle school kid in my UU congregation who did poorly on the CA state standardized math test and is now being required to take a multi-week Saturday math class.  He is viewing it as punishment and incarceration.  Imagine teaching a classroom full of such kids in that Saturday class!

Cooper Zale
Los Angeles
http://www.leftyparent.com

Cooper,
You might look at Chegg regarding textbooks - they're trying to be a Netflix of textbooks, and, although they target college texts, the real market is grades 7-12. Bet they're seducable to just that goal: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10134246-2.html?tag=nl.e776

Joe... with Chegg, do you access electronic "soft" copies of text books or do they mail you rented DVDs with that "soft" copy or in fact a "hard" (book) copy?

Parents have been screaming to the rooftops to schools and education officials FOR YEARS now about how bad the schools are and they have been ignored so I'm sure today's illiteracy report will both make them furious but also offer relief over FINALLY having their opinion validated.
 
Kids drop out because schools (to use the vernacular) SUCK and they are bored. Special Ed kids do NOT fall through the cracks...they are virtually shuttled aside by schools and administrators in favor of focusing on the kids who will improve the school's test scores and ultimately the amount of federal and state dollars they get as a result. Throwing more $ at Early Childhood Ed isn't the solution. Sp Ed kids are being horribly ill-served (is that a word?) by our current educational system. I should know; I have  a Sp Ed kid and we have had to fight and bite and scratch and claw and scream for his rights to an education. We've tried homeschool, public, private, tutors and more and it doesn't help either that most insurance companies won't cover any services they need to address their specific issues so parents are left to let the children flounder and fail or go bankrupt trying to pay themselves. Among these special needs students are the millions of non-native English (ESOL) speakers (non English speaking) who are choking schools and classrooms. There are too many of them for the budgets allotted to the schools they attend. The staff are mostly not trained to deal with them (or are burnt out). They aren't being served well and they are dragging down scores nationally and internationally as a result.
 
Our teachers rank among the bottom of their graduating classes (and are often not even as smart as the kids they teach); their wages are abysmally low so that the teaching profession is populated by these non-qualified people, most too burnt out to care anymore. You can become a teacher with a D-average in the subject matter you intend to teach! States won't hire qualified people who aren't trained to be teachers and have no certification but are smarter than the idiots in the classroom who ARE teaching! We need a system to give people certification for their expertise or work experience rather than excluding qualified folks simply because they didn't sit through "teacher school classes" (most of which are useless anyway or not in-depth enough to really give the person a firm grasp of the subject. 8 hours of pop psychology is not enough to understand child development and yet parents with lifetimes of raising kids don't qualify to teach because they didn't sit through the 8 hour pop psych class. It's ludicrous!). We need to expect the highest of standards and knowledge from our teachers and then PAY THEM what that kind of expertise deserves.
 
Teacher unions virtually assure that bad teachers stay in the classroom and do no more than minimally required by law. I was on a School Board once and we were forced through legal arm-wrestling to re-hire, with back pay, a teacher who had been physically and verbally abusing students. I had a union official tell me that he would "start caring about children when children started paying taxes." Salaries, insurance and pensions take precedence over kids and teaching to these Unions.
 
My parents dedicated their lives and income in service to children. My father in law is a lifetime school administrator. My sister and sister in law are teachers (one of them a Sp Ed Administrator), My family has several members who are or were Sp needs students. I have a Bachelors and Masters. I know a thing or two about what I'm saying and what's wrong but government can't fix it because government CREATED this mess or at best, allowed it to grow and fester and all they  do is throw money at it and hope it goes away. Sadly, Obama plans to do pretty much the same so we can't expect any real changes there. We are still operating our schools as if this is the Industrial and Agrarian age when it's not. We should have year round school and kids need to be educated to be more than just tax-paying worker bees. Bullying by BOTH students and teachers MUST be addressed in a REAL, tangible way for learning can not take place in an atmosphere charged with fear, stress, and violence. Contrary to what schools claim, it is NOT being addressed (other than superficially as required by mandates and laws...meaning they hand out pamphlets and do posters about bullying. Big Deal! Tell me, why is it that the upper crust and those lucky enough to get grants or scholarships send their kids to PRIVATE school? Why is homeschooling now growing by huge numbers among parents teaching for NON-religious reasons? Even the Obama kids are going to Sidwell. They wouldn't DARE put them in public school after the Chicago Univ Lab School! Talk about a major step DOWN!
 
If you want to truly change our educational system and make it better, you MUST totally overhaul EVERYTHING...from the teachers and Unions, to the physical plant, to the curriculum which has been so dumbed down as to become virtually useless now, to the assessments, the teacher colleges, the accreditation process, graduation requirements, everything. And most important, you need to return to a classical curriculum and get rid of these federal and state mandated "feel good" classes and social services, and underwater basket weaving type classes to keep the "failures" busy until graduation. You need better Administrators. You need to stop categorizing kids as "smart and college bound" or "dumb and regular or voc-ed" (and YES WE DO STILL DO THIS!) because not only do the kids clearly understand what all the coding and classifications mean no matter how you disguise them (and labels sometimes cause the outcome) but the schools also them concentrate on the "upper echelon" of students and everyone else is on their own. What we have done to generations of children since about the 1960's is no less than educational fraud and personal abuse in my opinion. It's a shame they can't sue, class-action, for the damage done and the losses accrued to them as a result in lifetime opportunities and wages.

first, to Cooper,One of my milder "rants" is that most standardized tests ask questions answered by two clicks of a google. You did just that. The second click from the one in my post is http://www.chegg.com/

That click answers your question lots better than I could, since I don't use textbooks at all, and, instead, click and clack with kids in classes. Certification and expertise that is not behaviorally based, does not come from direct experience with students who share the profiles of those a teacher intends to engage, is as meaningless as that "D" required for an algebra teacher to mangle yet another subject.


Second, Caroline,


It all depends on where you are and how or who or what you've done. The deepest inequity in American education is precisely that which is most celebrated and protected - local diversity. Let me give you a horrendous example, directly addressing one of your most critical problems: Special Education.

While you're right that most traditional insurance won't cover many, many of the presenting problems in SpED, the Children's Insurance fund does, and that's available to any kid in any state that has signed on to the federal program (not all). As a result, SpED kids in those states are eligible for a DOUBLE reimbursement, from special education and from Medicaid. Smart school systems have capitalized on this, since a certified teacher is frequently reimbursed at the same rate as a certified social worker, or $25 to $45/hour per student. That is a tidy sum for a teacher who is already fully paid by special education, and is a remarkable resource for that resourceful school system. When the system involves social workers for parents, they are also reimbursed at that rate, and a parents' group, of a dozen or so, represents a gross of $550/hour on a social worker's salary of about $40. And those support services really do pay off for the kid, which is why there's some real justice to this fiscal goofeyness.


Of course the contrast between a resourceful system and your run-of-the-mill just gets worse. But it pays to know the good cases and give holy hell to the idiots who run most school systems!


For another example, you seem blisteringly (!) (and rightly) frustrated at low quality teacher education, but miss a remarkable resource in the course of your rage. You don't even need a D-average to teach many of the subjects that most elementary and many middle school teachers teach, you merely need to have lived through the hazing that much of teacher education has become. Yet you need not even have a high school diploma to teach many vocational classes.


Yet the diploma and the degree, the coursework and the formal experience often - as you also note so trenchently - don't mean diddley when it comes to working with kids. Many, many, many extraordinary vocational teachers teach students, not subjects, and build skills with kids rather than around them.

What this implies is precisely that you should go to school with your kid; you should get to know teachers and how they work; and should engage them as partners. You cannot rely on a "good school" to do anything more than deliver a warm place, unless you are their partner. In fact, there IS NO SUCH PLACE as a good school unless they actively engage you, as a parent and as a member of the larger community.


The magic of the Chicago Lab School (Dewey's school!) was/is that level of involvement. If school was important enough for the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO MOVE EARLY, it ought to be important enough for a suburban parent to spend a week or two finding out what their kids' are really doing. And if the school does not VALUE that observation, the best advice is to move to another school. Most cities and most suburbs offer options, if you shake the roof a little.


Finally, I want to really disagree with one core argument you make. It ain't government which is the problem, it is the governed. Government didn't create anything. The governed opted out. Schools are well meaning bureaucracies full of well meaning and often very, very frustrated people. They burn out more because of inept parenting that because of nasty kids. Bullying kids - and parents and teachers - into a year round calendar solves nothing other than more effective use of capital equipment. Ironically, it's now how long it takes, but what takes place that is at issue. An industrial solution is to lengthen days and hours and months and years. An educator's solution (as parent, teacher, or merely activist) is to fix the problem, and let the time take care of itself. Unfortunately, most educators have very little to do with most parents, largely because parents work too hard or too long to make time to schmooze. THAT is much more easily fixed than the calendar, the certification, or the large and bureaucratic systems.


That's what Dewey called "progressive education," and, if it's good enough for the President's kids, it ought to be good enough for you. My advice is not to tear it down, but build it up. Start, not with the top, which is often pretty distant from the problem anyway, but, rather, from the place where your kid asks any interesting question, to where your kid can become a parent who looks for those questions with the next batch of kids. The kid with the question is the heart of the process, and anything built around that interaction is bound to build toward improved education.

As a parallel insight, the school system with which I work - where I live, incidentally - has a vocational ed program that places 63% of its graduates in college, often with higher rates of financial aid than the academic program. Suing ain't the problem, nor rants and rages. The problem is that question the kid has, and nobody who pays attention. And it's a problem that's remarkably easy to fix. Listen. Don't talk. Listen. They'll give you the tools to do a very good job. If you just catch your breath, don't get caught in the politics and bureaucracy, and ... listen.

One more thing for Cooper, incidentally. That last sentence about certification was meant for Caroline, but works just as well anywhere, I guess.
What I really want to advise is not a textbook, but, rather, "stuff" with which to teach math. Ages ago, in the '60's, I was a social science consultant to a bunch of historically black colleges. Visiting a class in Dallas with one of our math consultants, I heard a sepulchral voice in the back of the class exclaim to everyone, "Here comes Mr. Whitey with his bag of tricks." Ever since then I've hoarded "stuff" with which to teach. Math teachers have ever so much more stuff - from cookbooks that need multiplication to home repairs that use geometry to wiring formulas that use algebra. If you've got a kid trapped in a Saturday purgatory, go looking for "stuff" to make good math questions, and encourage the kid to find questions worth asking. Now, THAT is real math, and will shoot scores up faster than a computer game - which actually works quite well itself. 

Joe... Being an "unschooler" myself, I'm not a textbook person either.  I was just curious.

Joe... As to the middle school kid forced to take Saturady math class, I think he is math-phobic enough as it is and smart enough to know that any attempt to make it interesting is just an effort to get him to learn what other people want him to learn and not what he is interested in.

@Caroline - I pretty much agree with you, but for a couple of points.   My husband taught 37 years at the local state university, and he used to beat his head against the wall, because the candidates who came through kept getting.... dumber and dumber....

Anyway, my disagreements -

1)They don't throw money at Special Ed.  Exactly the opposite, they are starving it, in the hopes it (we) will go away.  It's cheaper for them if we homeschool or do cyber school. 

2) Here in PA, people with a degree that isn't in education can get "emergency" certification, and get their permanent certification after (I believe) a year of teaching.  If it's not that way in your state, you can lobby your representatives to MAKE it that way.  

@Joe - In PA, even though we have very good insurance for kids, it does NOT cover autism services, including educational services.  Since autistics make up a great deal of the special ed population these days, if the need is there, the school is stuck with the providing.

BTW, many people in this country don't live in the suburbs.  Many of us are rural, and HAVE no options.  

The governed ARE the problem - the school administrators.   They don't HAVE to hire the D students.   But they do, ostensibly to "save money."  As such, teachers who are "seasoned" (who would make more money) end up sitting on the sidelines.   You don't know how many interviews I have been on since I quit teaching to raise my son, where I knew 5 minutes after I entered the room that I was there ONLY so they could interview an Old Person, and hence say they weren't discriminating against the middle-aged. 

When was the last time you saw a district hire someone in their 50s?   Well, in Philadelphia, maybe - they actually GIVE points for experienced teachers in their hiring process.   But I live two hours driving time from there during rush hour, so I'm SOL there.

I hate administrators.   They are not the be-all and end-all of educators.  I really am tired of being talked down to, their patronizing use of Delphi....i.e.,"I hear/understand what you are saying"...it makes me want to throw up.    Bitch, you'd Better hear me...because I DO know more about my son (16, with AS) than YOU, who have never seen him for more than 2 seconds in a hallway.

@Joe,

Interesting observations and insights, thank you. A few points:
1. The whole money finagling is an issue I could get into ad nauseam but won't at this juncture.

2. I don't know about where you are but in my area, parents aren't welcome at school "per se" no matter how much the schools pretend to be inviting. They only want you in so far as THEY deem proper and for the help and money they need...beyond that, they treat you like a terrorist or criminal and want no input from you about your own (my) child, the school, their teaching methods, curriculum or anything else. You will fast find yourself "frozen out" if you dare broach those subjects with your child's teacher or as one teacher told me to my face when I tried to work with her, "Oh I see; you're one of THOSE parents (meaning involved). If you're going to be crawling up my A-- all year I'll do to your child what I've done to others with parents like you....he will be invisible to me." This was in response to my being annoyed with her at not even bothering to read the file we gave the school about our son when we moved him to this school, ignoring the ed psych's recommendations, his past records, reports from other teachers and medical personnel. She said she didn't NEED to read it. She of course denied having said any of this at all when I reported her to the proper authorities in the school and district and they all were shocked and told me she couldn't have said such a thing because she was such a popular teacher. We have been involved in our son's education ( he would tell you "too much so"), as much as we were permitted to be, since he entered school. Sometimes it seemed I spent more time dealing with the school and his teachers than my own life and schedule...and one of my points is that parents really shouldn't NEED to do that in order for their child to get a quality education. In fact, parents like this are now labeled "helicopter parents." I got a quality education and my parents were only present for parent teacher conferences.  Needless to say, we gave up on the public system and mortgaged the house to get him a better environment in a private school.

3. Our son had state insurance and they would NOT pay for services he needs. We paid.

4.Most of the better/best "teachers" I've known never trained to be teachers. They were people for whom teaching was a natural born skill and passion. They loved kids, realized the different learning styles in all people and taught to how the child learned best, sought help when they needed it (and weren't too proud to admit they needed help), and spent lots of time engaging the parents in a TWO-WAY communication street. Of course they also were not in a public system where there is very little freedom to be that kind of teacher. I don't know where you are but here in FL, our teachers spend the better part of the day and year teaching to the FCAT....PERIOD. Our schools are designed to feed children into the public state university system and to "keep the bodies here" (but they won't tell you that however college admissions staff WILL. College admissions staff will also tell you that an A student here is comparable to a C student in the top 25% of school systems by rank elsewhere). The state (here) also lies about the education quality but that's a whole 'nother can of worms.

5. As for the year round schooling; other countries who outscore us on academic testing have it. I was also referring to the system where school may be open year round but that doesn't mean YOUR kid is there five days a week/52 weeks a year. They spread the coursework out in units or some other word I forget they use but basically, the kids do intense coursework in only 2  or 3 subjects at a time for shorter segments, and with more breaks (and longer breaks), usually including some kind of practicum or independent study as well. There also is a whole host of electronic delivery systems where Johnny need not be "present" at school at all. I do believe our system now, such as it is, is antiquated and there indeed IS too much government interference. And NCLB is an unqualified disaster IMHO.

I can sum up my feelings on education in this nutshell: A child is born with an innate curiosity and love of learning....and schools kill their creativity, their curiosity, their spirit (and for some their self-esteem and even their intellect) little by little overtime until most see school as drudgery, teachers as enemies, parents as nuisances and the world as a drag...or at best a distraction to what they would rather be doing. At best...they are high priced Nannies.

@Joe

One more thing I forgot (in response to your comment about wanting "stuff" to teach math). Have you seen the "Math-U-See" program? Our son has a specific math disability and this program was a Godsend for him. Lots of "stuff" to make it comprehensible.

@Caroline - You are SO right about not being allowed into school.  I showed up once because I had to bring my son in early for something.  So I stopped by his room, was going to talk to the LST about something minor.   Another LST saw me, warned the office, and they all came in loaded for bear -- two LSTs, my son's aide (who I am very good friends with; I used to teach her daughter), and two PRINCIPALS.

All I was going to do was ask about a retest.   Parents who want to help their kids, or observe classes, are entirely discouraged.  If we see them in their incompetence, that is ammo for the lawsuits. 

What they are too STUPID to know: Parents with special needs kids don't have time for lawsuits.  Losing precious learning months/years can set a special needs student WAAAY back.

@Cooper

I was a real fan of John Holt and other "unschooling" authors during the years I was forced to homeschool (or unschool) our son as a result of damages done by traditional schooling. Or as we liked to refer to it...."delight driven learning." I would have preferred to have him finish his education that way but had issues arise in the high school years that necessarily caused us to place him back in a private school. My favorite memory of those years was the Ancient and European History studies we did (he's a real history buff) while traveling abroad and working with an archaeologist. It made me so happy just to see my son so relaxed and happy and engaged. He learned more in those years than any time spent in a classroom. One of the sad realities of "school" is the restriction it places on the calendar and allowing families to travel except at peak and expensive travel times.

Caroline,
I'm 65 and was hired by a public school system a few months ago. It happens. I'm only consulting, but have more leverage and more independence within than I ever had outside. So, it does happen. Principals and Superintendents do know the rule that it's a lot dryer when the Indians are inside pissing outside the tent than outside, pissing in.
The paranoia of schools about parents is legendary, and only overcome when there are bunches of parents, at irregular intervals, like any other kind of "community organizing."

One feature of NCLB not much mentioned is that schools have to come up with School Improvement Plans, usually (depending on the state as well as the town and principal) approved/authorized by some kind of school council. Massachusetts anticipated this with a school reorganization system in the 1990's, and gave those councils specific authority to approve each school's budget.
Of course, that is not what they tell those parents and outsiders, but that authority is enough to bring the entire city to a dead halt if an individual school budget doesn't get forwarded to the overall city school committee, mayor, city council for approval. THAT is a kind of leverage better never used, but even better kept in a glass box in some visible place and occasionally revered. And it is, here.
Ironically, there are many loose ends like that. Parents DO have to approve an Individual Education Plan for special ed, for example, and can raise holy hell until the plan meets personal goals. I know, I know that that is not always the nice thing to do, but it's much better NOT done, but with stories exchanged about how OTHER people do it, and "can't we all work together."
I live in what used to be Tip O'Niell's district, where "all politics is local." Here, at least, it's really visible that the Obama tactic of gentle walks and nice big sticks never threatened but frequently reminded, is as local as it can be. It is much, much too easy to get mad. Another rule of Tip: "Don't get mad, get even." And, like local, it really, really works.

@Joe - You were not hired as a contracted teacher on tenure track.  You are a consultant, and my guess is you are not eligible for many benefits that regular teachers get.   Are you full time???

Dear Moi,
I'm as full time as I want to be, and I would vote against any school board who'd give tenure to somebody my age: it's frankly inappropriate for anyone over 40, since they'll stay or leave depending on their own career. At 65, incidentally, health insurance is moot, and retirement is even more moot.
In fact, there really ought to be a "Teach for America" for seniors, but...that's a problem of nonprofits: vision.

I am currently a high school senior in New Haven, CT. I was a bit disappointed by this topic not because it's not a good idea-- it is a very good one-- but because our school board is appointed. 
In some ways this circumvents the issue of extreme points of view coming into power, but it does not entirely prevent it. The whole political and social service system in New Haven is rife with cronyism. If anyone else from the Elm City is reading this, vote John Destefano out of office if your are displeased with education. He controls it all. 
School boards and superintendents need to be working closely with all who are effected by their policies, students in particular. 
Also, I know some people mentioned unschooling, and in  a similar vein I'd like to encourage people to check out Sudbury schools (just google it). It would be great to see a charter school following this model, and maybe some day public schools. 

Kids are all smart. It’s the system that’s stupid This is not going to be a popular essay. In fact, I will probably get in a bit of hot water by writing it. But, I have a problem with people degrading the public education system while wondering why our students can’t compete with students from other nations even though we spend more on education then any other nation on our planet.

‘Time’ magazine has a photo of a student who the article states is one of three that will not graduate. The article blames the system because they imply the organization is pushing underachievers out. As a teacher over the past quarter of a century it is obvious it is not the teachers or the students fault. It is the system’s fault for making public education more of a social program than one involved in education.

It seems as though this is all I read about, watch on television, and even hear on the streets. Everyone states we have a problem with our education system but no one gives any kind of a rationale solution.

I do not pretend to have the answers. I do not have the background or the certifications to be considered an expert. I have been teaching since 1980, and in this time have experienced degradation in the product of students we graduate. In other words, I do not have a PhD in education or have written any books on the topic. I am only a teacher who loves his profession and am worried about the future of my students and my nation.

I found a speech by Pascal D. Forgione who was the Commissioner of Education Statistics. The following information concerned the academic failure of American schools. He used math and science as the common basis for comparing American schools to the rest of the world. I found the results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study that involved a half-million students in 41 countries. The results of this study are not good.

In Mathematics the score of our 4th graders were strong. This group scored a 545 with the average being 529. In fact, the United States placed 12th out of the 26 countries taking part in the study. The 8th grade students lost quite a bit of ground. They scored 500 with the mean score being 513. These students ranked 19th out of 41 nations involved in the study. By 12th grade our student scored 461 with the mean score being 500. These students placed 19th out of 21 nations. This shows an obvious drop in the competence of our students from 4th to 12th grade. The question here has to be why?

In Science the trend continued. The score of our 4th graders was good. They scored 565 with the mean score being 524. The United States was 3rd out of 26 nations involved in the study. By 8th grade the students scored 534 with a mean score of 516. This group of students placed 17 out of 41 nations in the study. Then the 12th grade test results dropped to the point they scored 480 with a mean score of 500. This group of students ranked 16 out of 21.

The study goes on to rank some nations of the world according to Advanced Mathematics and Science. This was the most terrifying statistic that will probably change the future of our nation. We will not be the most technological nation of the world. We will become subservient to other nations. I find this distressing.

In Advanced Mathematics our nation’s students placed 15 out of 16 nations taking part in the study. Their score was 442 with a mean score of 501. In Advanced Science our nation’s students placed 16 out of 16 nations with a score of 423. The average score of the 16 nations taking part in the study was 501. Too many of our students concentrate on how to use math rather than how to do math.

Now let’s discuss some possible reasons for these results. Before I attempt this let me make something perfectly clear. Our young men and women are as talented as any other peoples of the world. They all dream of a wonderful future and they all hope to become part of something that will make a difference in our world. I am proud and have been proud of every one of them who passed through my classrooms. I don’t think they are the problem. The system is what keeps our students down.

Jean McLaughlin, president of Barry University stated it best. “The public schools lack focus; instead of concentrating on education, they dabble in social re-engineering.” The superintendent of our nation’s fourth largest school district in Miami-Dade, Florida reiterated Ms. McLaughlin concept by stating, “Half our job is education, and the other half is social work”.

Anyone involved in education knows the amount of social programs being shoved down the throats of our teachers belittles the primary purpose of what the teacher is supposed to do. A science teacher should not have to worry if one of his students doesn’t understand a concept because they are more of a visual learner instead of a student who can understand abstract ideas. I am not saying the teacher shouldn’t attempt to help all of his or her students but the powers have to understand that everyone is not going to end up to be a brain surgeon. To place all students in all classes, no matter of their level of understanding, does not work. All it does is eliminate the possibility of bringing the students to a higher understanding of concept because the class has to slow down in order to have all the students remain at the same level.

President Bush’s program of No Child Left Behind and education programs such as Brain-Based Learning and Differentiated Learning place the teachings of science and math on the back burner. It seems we are more interested in entertaining our students or training them in social skills then we are in preparing them to compete with the rest of the world.

Mandated programs such as IDEA, which stands for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was originally passed in 1975 and was reauthorized in 2004, has students referred to Special Education teachers if they might have a disability that is interfering with his or her learning. If the ‘team’ determines the student might have a disability, an Individual Education Plan is developed that spells out the educational goals for each child.

This program is a good one. But, if the program starts to overwhelm the capacity of a teacher to teach his or her subject because the number of ‘IEP’s’ increase throughout the school then we begin to teach to the disability instead of to the subject. The numbers of IEP’s are also being complimented by students who have 504’s. This program is a tangent program of special education in order to have the curriculum and methods of teaching changed in order to accommodate the child. The concept that the student is responsible for his or her own learning has been eliminated. It is now the responsibility of the teacher to prove how he or she can educate all levels of students regardless of their ability. The disabled student is not hurt in the process. The talented students are left to fend for themselves.

The largest deficits are found in the area of curricula. In most countries, the middle school student is shifted from basic arithmetic and elementary science to chemistry, physics, algebra, and geometry. The United States students are relegated to review arithmetic, Earth, and life science. This is because some students do not have the capacity to understand the more abstract math and science disciplines. Our present system states that all students have to be given the same opportunity even though all students do not have the same ability. Again, the not-so-talented students are protected while our most talented students are left behind.

There are many other reasons why our students are being overcome by foreign students. In many ways teachers are a problem. Among the teachers of biology and life science 31 % do not have a minor in biology. Among high school physical science teachers 55 % do not have a minor in their subject area. Too much attention by our teachers on social re-engineering instead of subject areas is adding to our student’s deficits.

In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education, in their report, “A Nation at Risk” stated the present education system continues to imperil our economy by failing miserably at preparing the workforce. If this trend continues industry will look for their talent overseas. One of its more ironic passages state,” The world’s greatest concentration of PhD’s is in Seoul, Korea and half of Americans can’t even find Seoul on a map.”

This report goes on to state that unless we re-tool education, there is a strong likelihood that America will get overtaken in education the way we did in automobiles. Hell, this has already happened. One of the simplest ways to strengthen our public education system is to adopt teaching methods from countries at the top of the list. The Japanese did this after World War I by copying the German Army and the British Navy. Maybe it is our turn to do some copying.

Principal Lois Lindahl in Miami, Florida said it best. “Children will perform to the level of your expectations”. I, and many like me, believe it is time to raise those expectations with the concept we can’t make all of our students succeed in the same way.

@Caroline... I am also a fan of John Holt and enjoyed hearing a bit of your son's story. 

See my blog post "Unschooling Instead of High Schooling" @http://www.leftyparent.com/blog/2009/01/03/unschooling-instead-of-high-schooling/ about our son Eric's experience transitioning from eighth grade in a conventional public school to homeschooling and unschooling.  BTW... he also loved history... in his case 20th Century history which they never seemed to get to in his school history classes.  So we would rent movies based on 20th Century events and talk about the real-world context for the movie's premise.

Eric found his most effective way to learn about current events and history was to read the online edition of the New York Times every day and then look up anything that interested him or he did not know on Wikipedia.  After years of that, what an education he has had!

@James FabianoThe study information you posted is interesting though frightening, certainly and I agree with most of your thoughts however I take issue with a few points:
Using Miami-Dade as a representative sample may not be best because of the high concentration of Hispanic students there.

I'm assuming you teach in FL. I live in FL and in our county, the so called "smart kids" are not being held back by the slower ones. They are favored not only by the schools but with classes. They are separated from the rest of the student population in Honors, Advanced, Gifted, AP classes and Magnet schools. Lord help you and your child if they DON'T manage to get into these classes and because they use the FCAT (cumulative) to decide who can and can't, a lot of really smart kids can't get in those classes (without their parents signing a waiver that is) and even some who DO qualify can't because of space/staff/resource constraints. If you transfer in to public from somewhere else without an FCAT history, you lose a whole year diddling in wherever they deem to place you class-wise and they virtually ignore any other testing or school records you might provide as an alternative. Our son attends private school largely because of this but also because he gets a better individualized program in a small private school where the teachers know his name, his strengths and weaknesses, care how he does, and involve the parents beyond sending notes home to tell us how to do his/her job for her at home on our own dime.

IEP's in our system are a joke. Ask any parent of a child who has one. It's an exercise in pushing paper and holding meetings upon meetings that get no where and accomplish nothing and they rarely follow the IEP and most parents don't have the time, money or resources to pursue action when they don't.

I don't believe the kids aren't being held responsible for their own learning as you stated. In fact in our area I would dare say they expect and ask too much from the elementary kids in the way of being responsible for their own education while at the same time, not offering a curriculum that is competitive internationally. As an example, they place a lot of reliance and spend a lot of time focused on these Planners they give the kids (as if the kids know how to use a day planner which incidentally is full of non-essential , busy fluff added by publishers that is distracting) but then they don't follow through with their own instructions for using it as intended (i.e. they require daily signatures but then don't check it or sign it themselves and miss communications from home) and along the way, academics took a back seat to the proper use of a day planner. I also disagree with your premise that all kids can't be placed in all classes (those without serious disabilities) not only because they in fact AREN'T when it comes to high school (Honors, AP etc) but because my own schooling experience was one where we all took the same classes (there were no codings, or smart versus regular ed classes) and you either sunk or swam. There was after school help, tutoring available but the teacher did not teach a variety of ways depending on the abilities in the class. The individual students performed up to the teachers and parents expectations and if they couldn't, they either availed themselves of the extra help or they left the school and went elsewhere. It worked for us. I believe children perform up to the levels they are encouraged to perform and I also DO believe that anyone (save the disabled) does better when challenged. It's the old tale of playing tennis better when you have a formidable opponent versus playing someone whose skills are less than your skills. The education I got from K-12th was much more challenging than what we have seen served up to our child as "education." Beyond the dumbing down of the curriculum that has occurred over time, the publishers of textbooks are responsible for their own share of non-learning with their overly busy, frenetic, "hyperactive-looking" sis-boom-bah textbooks that look more like magazines than texts. All that added "stuff" is really unnecessary.

The public schools would do well to study other public system in other countries that work and/or some of the private schools here that work and try to mimic them. They also would do well to join the 21st century in technology and the use of it (as well as the teaching staff's knowledge of it. Most kids I know run circles around the teachers when it comes to technical skill and knowledge)

@Cooper

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

Believe me, if I could have I would have homeschooled/unschooled throughout our son's school years. Not only was there opposition and even interference from friends and family but I see this option as a privilege and not a right...and my son took that for granted and put me in the position where I had to put him back in a classroom for high school.

This poor kid has run the gamut of trial and error schools and education delivery looking for the right match for him. We tried Montessori, public, homeschool, back to public, to a military academy for a year, back to private. Choosing a school these days is as hard as comparing insurance products or investments. Now I realize many parents don't have the luxury of choice (or fear making it so go with the easiest flow) so I'm grateful I did but all the same, I'm not impressed overall with the choices and we will all pay the price down the road for shortchanging these kids in educational quality.

@Caroline... Sounds like a rough road for you and your son.  How does he feel about the whole experience of so many different schools.  A journey worth taking does not always need to be a happy one if there is a story worth telling at the end.

@Caroline... Can you say more about what you mean when you say that you see the homeschooling/unschooling option "as aprivilege and not a right"?

@Cooper

I say homeschool is a privilege and not a right because it is commonly accepted that an education is a right yet a homeschool education is more of a privilege since it requires sacrifice and dedication from the parents and a commitment from both parents and children. If children cannot appreciate the sacrifice nor honor the commitment, they lose the right to a homeschool education (which as you might be able to tell I find far superior to what currently is offered as "public education.")

@Caroline... okay... thanks for clarifying

US Chamber of Commerce: State-By-State Report Card on Education:
http://www.uschamber.com/icw/reportcard/default

Interested to see how your statre measures up?

Also be sure to check the OECD site for their analysis of how American education stacks up against our international counterparts.
http://www.oecd.org/topic/0,3373,en_2649_37455_1_1_1_1_37455,00.html

Warning: It's not a pretty picture for America