<p>In this Washington Post article Boosting</a> Schools' Value Without Spending a Dime - washingtonpost.com, writer Jay Matthews suggests some cost-free ways to beef up school value, and there's a link after the article to Jay's blog, where several readers have added their own thoughts.</p>
<p>I do like Jay's idea of more frequent teacher/parent communication, especially now that my son is in middle school. When he was in elementary school, I knew all his teachers well. Now he's got a couple I couldn't pick out in a line-up. I certainly don't need to hear from them daily or even weekly. (In fact, I always have a heart attack when I recognize the school number on my Caller ID.) But I think that most parents would welcome more communication than the pre-fab comments that turn up on report cards ("Works well with others;" "A pleasure to have in class"). </p>
<p>My son's middle school did something this fall that I liked. The entire school--teachers and kids, from grades 6 though 8--read the same novel, and then everyone was assigned to a discussion group, made up of teachers and students from mixed grades. I think that schools should offer more opportunities for the younger students to interact in a constructive way with the older ones. It's a good learning experience for both.</p>
<p>Anyway, I'd like to hear other suggestions for cheap ways to make schools better.</p>
<p>School districts and parents must hold administrators accountable for doing their jobs and when they do, support them. My friends and DH are school administrators. It takes an act of G to discipline bad teachers. When the admin goes down that road, it is the most tedious procedure imaginable. In a business, ineffective employees are given tools to improve when they aren't producing. They are also let go when they are not. In schools, where the students' learning is the end product, ineffective teachers often get away w/minimal effort. My S's Engl. teacher was also a coach. He spent more time talking about his team and sport than English. Extra credit was given for attending games. But hey, he had tenure -</p>
<p>Make it easier to remove teachers who are not doing their job. If they are ineffective, they shouldn't be teaching and it should not take a file the width of Black's Law Dictionary to get rid of a bad teacher.</p>
<p>And parents need to be involved in the educational process. They need to make sure homework is done, reading is encouraged, supplies are obtained. There are parents in our school district who won't even pick up the free backpacks stuffed with free school supplies. And they only call the (middle) school to complain that detention for no homework is inconvenient---not to talk about how they will stay on top of the homework in the future.</p>
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Make it easier to remove teachers who are not doing their job.
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<p>I agree with this, but what's the best way to assess teacher performance? Granted, in most schools, the grapevine probably does a pretty decent job of reporting which teachers aren't up to snuff, but what is the best way to formally evaluate this?</p>
<p>Back when I was a teacher, I got a yearly performance evaluation that was based largely on the 20 minutes or so that my principal spent observing me. I always had advance notice that he was coming so that I could plan a lesson that would make a good impression. I'm sure that he was also influenced by the campus "buzz," and he saw me all the time outside of class, in staff meetings, etc. But I never felt that he really had much of a clue about what was going on inside my classroom.</p>
<p>My Ds school district is brutal in evaluating who gets tenure. Frankly I have trouble beleiving if someone does a good job for the first 3 years, they wont continue to do so. </p>
<p>My Ds school has "echalk" -- with each with each teacher putting up weekly schedule. Its great, I can check at work, call D at 3 from work and chat with her (yes, yes, she gave me her password). </p>
<p>But I agree, it is easier to get rid of poor performing teachers than poor performing parents.</p>
<p>With so much high stakes testing, it is pretty easy to compare results amongst teachers. Parents do give good and bad input. Our school is very small. The superindent goes to every play, every musical, walks around constantly. As does teh prinicpal. They hear the sound of learning.</p>
<p>I do get a bit nervous when teacher evaluations are based heavily on test results. Some good teachers have a classroom full of kids who have little chance of test success. I also hate the thought of teachers putting too much emphasis on test prep in their classes, though I'm not as rampantly anti-test as many of my friends and colleagues are. But I agree that test scores can be one component of a broad holistic review and that slacker teachers should be let go.</p>
<p>I have many friends and relatives who are teachers and administrators at both private and public schools. I have a unique experience in that we have had our children at Public, Parochial and Private. I would have to agree that teaching is crucial. I also think class size is crucial <-- but achieving this costs money. But of all things that improve learning and children's success has nothing to do with the teacher and everything to do with the parents. </p>
<p>A friend of mine has taught 3rd grade for 20+ years. She has been up for teacher of the year (yes at Disney World) no less than three times. She writes grants for things like rain gardens and field trips for her classes that are clearly outside the school budget. But in the last two or three years she has seen a real shift in the behavior problems in her classroom making it unsafe and too much of a hassle to take her class places. Parents do not support the rules and the school is now in a position that if you try to discipline the children, the parents fight the school tooth and nail to say the expectations are unreasonable. Every learning deficit is in need of special consideration and again, lowered expectations. </p>
<p>My sister taught for over 20 years in a private school. Here too there are a ton of legal ramifications possible for suspending or expelling kids. There is a very blurred line between youthful exuberance and a truly punishable offense.</p>
<p>Personally, I think Obama insisting families step up to the plate is the best thing we can do for our schools. And the truth is, everyone ends up having a boss they don't like but they still have to learn to work with them. I pretty much have taken that tact with all my kids' teachers and even in strenuous disagreement with a teacher, I never waver in supporting the teacher setting a high bar and having the child problem solve how to deal with it -- and yes, this started in 3rd grade. I then will talk to the teacher separately and work up the food chain. Let's just say that I rarely make complaint and so when i do, my opinion is certainly more effective than the parents who thinks her kid is perfect or doesn't need to be held accountable or be held to high expectations.</p>
<p>The sooner this country gets behind some discipline and some serious character building in our own children, we cannot expect our teachers to do it for us. Parents have to stop handing off their responsibility of raising the children to caregivers, teachers etc. OR if they are going to pass them off, then actually do it. Small kids, small problems. Big kids, Big problems. If you can't hold your ground when a kid is 6, you'll have no authority when they're 16.</p>
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in most schools, the grapevine probably does a pretty decent job of reporting which teachers aren't up to snuff
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<p>Not always. When my daughter was entering one grade in elementary school (we were new in town), she was assigned a teacher who routinely was criticized and ridiculed at the town pool all summer long. Parents were actually calling me to tell me I HAD to call the principal and get my daughter changed to a different class. Instead, I called ONE friend whose child had had this teacher and got a completely different point of view than at the pool. I didn't request a change. This teacher was one of the BEST teachers my daughter had, and my daughter adored her and learned a LOT that year. In fact, they still correspond.</p>
<p>One of the teachers with the highest accolades at the pool was a teacher both of my kids had. She was...well...not the right teacher for either of my kids (who are polar opposites). Everyone loved her...though I have no idea why. It was a "fun" year, but my kids didn't really learn all that much.</p>
<p>The grapevine is gossip...and it usually is based on the bad or good experiences of a very vocal few who fuel the fire.</p>
<p>Now...back to the topic. The best way to improve schools is to have an ACTIVE and valuable home/school partnership...meaningful and ongoing ways for families and schools to work together. I'm not talking about one family night...I'm talking about something that is ongoing.</p>
<p>Our experience with school was pretty limited. My son went to K and 1st, and then we pulled him out. My daughter (2 years younger) never went. In our two year stint, however, I was very active in the PTA and volunteered in his classroom 3 mornings a week. I tried, but I could plainly see I wasn't going to be able to make things any better. Not in ways that really mattered. I had no complaint about his teachers, both terrific women, dedicated and professional. But the learning environment was terrible. Private school was not an option for us, so we stumbled into homeschooling and figured it out as we went along.</p>
<p>In retrospect, now that they're both in college, it was a tremendous gift... immeasurable really.</p>
<p>I still went to school board meetings, and even now I am a volunteer advisor at the high school... but I can't see how to fix what's wrong with it. It seems overwhelmingly dysfunctional to me. I just try to help individual kids make their way through it, I take as many as I can manage.</p>
<p>I understand that different students can have different experiences with the same teacher. But there are clear cases:
In DD's former middle school there was a drama teacher who was no longer able to teach. She had no control over her classroom, her students were frequently sent out to the common quad area to work on lipsink skits, her classroom was literally filthy. Students who had a sincere interest in drama had no where to turn (band teacher had retired--he had directed all prior music theatre productions, they were great). Really the situation was out of control. And the principal had multiple files filled beyond capacity of information, letters, classroom observations, etc. When the drama teacher was injured (garage door fell on her head--ouch!) she came to school with blood dripping from her ear. Principal would not let her teach, insisted on school nurse evaluating--drama teacher ended up in hospital with blood clot on her brain. It was horrible. And the teacher tried to insist on returning immediately, when it was clear to all (including her doctors) that she could not teach. It turned into a big, ugly mess. Everyone was sorry the teacher was hurt, (PTA provided meals, etc--no family near by). But the reality was that the sub taught more in the remaining few weeks of school than the teacher had in years. And the classroom went from Animal House to drama. </p>
<p>There has to be a better way to remove ineffective teachers....</p>
<p>I dont think test results should be the sole criterian, but they have to be part of the equation. And if students are assigned to classes with equal performance levels, as they are in our district, it should be a reasonable measurement.</p>
<p>The problem with schools in US is in a class programs mostly in math and sciences. They have to be completely redone, they do not work especially in comparison to other countries that spend fraction of what is spend here per student. Math and science clasees have to be made much more challenging with higher expectations. Serious studies need to start much earlier, in 6th grade, not in 9th. All testing, conferences and so forth will not work if the programs are not up to par with the rest of the world that test less, conference less and spend much less money for schools.</p>
<p>I sometimes agree with you. I think as a society we have many ills that we expect schools to "treat." Some are found primarily in the inner city among clusters of schools that serve only low income children often from broken or dysfunctional homes. We see, in these types of communities, that schools like KIPP are working wonders. KIPP works, in large part, because the kids spend so much time there they are removed from much of the negative influences in their communities. Additionally, because KIPP is a choice, students and families find mutual support for valuing academics something not so easy to find in their neighborhood schools.</p>
<p>However, I think American parents (my generation) are responsible for much of what is wrong in education today. We (speaking globally of course) want our students to not have to work so hard that it impacts us, grades are important and they must be As whether they are earned or not and we have used "screen time" as a babysitter far to often. (Of course, many parents aren't like this, but as the parent of children ranging in age from 5 to 17, this is my experience.)</p>
<p>We have become a country where self-esteem is given not earned. This is a big problem.</p>
<p>I have taught full-time and currently work as a substitute.</p>
<p>I do agree with those who feel there should be a way to weed out underperforming teachers from schools. Tenure may make some sense with respect to colleges, but I do not see what it does for elementary schools. Administrators can use strategies such as re-assigning a teacher to a less attractive grade or position in hope of forcing a teacher out, but it is true that some underperforming teachers may just hang in. However, in my experience (walking in their shoes), the great majority of the teachers I encounter are doing a high quality job. Teaching is not a job for those who do not relish it. Even as a sub, I am occasionally observed by a principal, which I do appreciate. Some principals make a point of dropping by each classroom for some time each day, at least when their schedule permits.</p>
<p>Re standardized testing, I do not see it as necessarily bad, especially when it can be used for diagnosing weaknesses (of particular students or the educational program) that can then be addressed. Increasingly, districts are looking at test scores of particular students over a continuum. In other words, in addition to getting data on the grade level a student currently tests at, the report follows student growth over a time period. An under-performing student may still test below grade level, but may have advanced two grade levels in one year, showing good progress despite not *yet *being where he "should" be. </p>
<p>One low-cost (free other than the staff training on how to implement it) development I have noticed is a "Core Extension" period in elementary school classrooms. This is a period of each day during which no formal instruction takes place. Students work on assignments or projects individually. For some students, this may mean finishing up some classwork that they could not complete during a particular class period (perhaps a map they were working on during Social Studies). For other students, it can be used for research for an independent project, story writing, etc. This dedicated time period can, to some extent, address the issue of students working at different paces -- those who need extra time to complete classwork can do so, while others can extend their learning to cover additional material.</p>
<p>To me, the Core Extension concept is like bringing some of the advantages of "home schooling" into the classroom. The students are self-directed and the teacher is there to assist them (as "the guide on the side rather than the sage on the stage") in working at their own pace. </p>
<p>Sally, I think your son's school's "One Book" program is a wonderful idea.</p>
<p>I definitely have reservations of judging teachers by test scores. My H, who is not yet tenured, has already gotten a reputation at his HS for being able to work with the most "challenging" students--and so the guidance counselors assign more of them to him. there's a good chance many of them will not pass any standardized tests no matter if he stands on his head (which is close to what he does)--seventeen year old freshmen have already checked out, even if they are still nominally there.</p>
<p>Despite the fact that they may never pass a standardized test, H is teaching them to observe and to think--I am totally certain they leave his class more ready to be citizens in our community and our nation, even if they never get the formulas right.</p>
<p>Now--one suggestion we were talking about last night. H has been extremely frequently observed this year, since his tenure decision is imminent. He doesn't mind this at all; he does, though, prefer an observer to stay a while, not do a "drive-by" which can't really show what he's doing. Next year, he when gets (fingers crossed) tenure, that will end. Last night, he was watching online videos of teachers talking about taped lessons, and I asked him what he thought about all his classes being taped. He said he wouldn't mind at all. so that's my suggestion--maybe cameras in classrooms would keep the borderline teachers on their toes--it'd be like being observed all the time. This shouldn't bother a good teacher at all. And for those who decry the lack of privacy--how many jobs are performed in private in the outside world?</p>
<p>My Ds elementary school had a great for bringing more science into classrooms, they developed a program using parent volunteers, so they could break 3rd and 4th graders into very small groups and work on lab work. It depended on parents, but at that age there were a large number of moms who didnt work full time.</p>
<p>It's driving my H nuts when KIPP and other charter schools are held up as models for everyone else. KIPP kids are there by choice (as was mentioned above) and they can get rid of them, either overtly or by self-weeding out by those who don't want that level of effort. Then, they go back to the "regular" public schools, where folks like my H have to deal with everyone, whether or not they or their parents care. Between Arne Duncan's fondness for charter schools and for standardized testing, his name has already become anathema to H.</p>
<p>Garland, my Ds schools district is considering electronic taping or actually live classrooms to cut down on the cost of instruction we provide for kids too sick to go to school, etc. , Everyone is nervous, including parents.</p>