April 23, 2005
Whither Education? Part II
Whither education? Or should that be wither education? There has to be something deeply wrong when the National Education Association (AKA the LTO - Leftist Teachers Organization) is suing to prevent No Child Left Behind Act (popularly called NCLB) from being enforced. Now, this appears to be quite a conundrum, teachers not wanting to have teaching enforced.
Oh, I know the typical leftist cant -- "you got it wrong Roper, we want to teach, but this law is flawed, unconstitutional, terrible, and most of all wanted by Bush." In reality, as Eduwonk has noted:
"the core of the lawsuit boils down to the contention that No Child Left Behind is forcing school districts (and by extension states) to spend too much on education. This is, to put it mildly, a novel argument from the NEA."This may require a bit of rethinking. My daughter belongs to one of the Teachers Unions, ATPE (Association of Texas Professional Educators) but is decidedly conservative in her politics.(Additional Bragging Rights = She was just elected "Teacher of the Year" for her school) The district she teaches in is something around the neighborhood of 90% at risk students. Minorities in a poor area, the very children NCLB is meant to aide.
Jenny D, has a good MARVELOUS posting up calling the NEA on their tactics:
"The one thing Robert F. Kennedy wanted from ESEA and Title I was testing and accountability. He wanted to use test scores a lever to force educators and schools to do a better job educating poor and minority kids.If he were alive today, he'd probably be blasting the National Education Association--the national teachers' union--which yesterday joined in a lawsuit with school districts to fight No Child Left Behind. (See articles and posts here, here, here, here.) In effect, the teachers' union has decided the best use of its resources is not to work to improve teacher knowledge, or teacher practice--but instead to hire lawyers to fight in court. Instead of taking a long look at the racial achievement gap, or the struggles of poor kids, or anything that might improve the professional knowledge (and ultimately the reputation) of teachers and teaching, they're going to wage a public relations war in federal district court."
If the NEA is successful and the amount of funding is cut for educational purposes (but not, one would think, for administration, football, other sports, and of course organizing) these are the types of students that would be hurt the most. Has the NEA really thought this through?
Now, Eduwonk isn't letting Bush off the hook either:
"Overplaying the funding hand by pushing it in this high profile/high stakes way may be still yet another way to make President Bush appear better on an issue than he really is. In addition to the aggregate funding levels, because it's his secretary of education getting sued, he'll be perceived as standing up for the kids in the public debate. This tact also further obscures the areas where the Bush Administration may be meeting the legal definition of a "funded" mandate but is still not promoting good public policy. For instance, in the case of assessments where more funding can help stave off a race to the bottom on quality."None the less, by going after the funding aspects, the NEA is in essence saying we don't want school districts and states to spend money on minority and at risk children - those very children that NCLB is meant to help. As Eduwonk noted
"NCLB, though not without its flaws, is a law aimed at forcing states and school districts to do right by poor and minority kids. In the long run, does the NEA really want to be remembered for having gone to court to stop that?"
Just as the International Buggy Whip Makers of the AFofL finally bit the dust, so too does the NEA need to bite the dust. Then maybe Johnny will learn to read.
Posted by GM Roper at April 23, 2005 08:49 PM | TrackBackThe NEA lawsuit is at best a smoke screen, at worst a tactic joined by several school districts who do not want to implement any NCLB program that the federal government is not willing to pay for en to-tal. I have taught at two separate high schools in the past fourteen years; neither had remedial pro-grams in core-content areas because they did not want to pay for the teachers, materials, or the space to conduct such classes.
When states opt out of National Standards in Education to adopt their own, ostensibly because demographic data varies from one state to another (gag), the states are in effect ensuring the demise of NCLB because the standards they adopt (in many cases) are less demanding than those at the national level. Nevertheless, whatever educational standards adopted by the various states, they must assess those standards as a measure of the state’s overall improvement pursuant to NCLB.
As I attempted to point out in “Speaking plainly . . .†when students are required to provide correct responses to less than half of the questions posed on high-stakes examinations [TAKS, 2004] then what is really happening is a conspiracy to defeat the spirit and intent of NCLB. If NEA can get the court to agree that states (10th Amendment issue) decide for themselves how and what to implement of NCLB, then the states can essentially walk away from the program no matter what the impact is on kids who really need a better system.
It is this lethargy among educators (nation-wide) that causes “fairness in education†to be decided in the courtsâ€â€Âthe worst possible scenario. Personally, I think the solution is easy: The Department of Education, working through the congress, should force all states to implement NSE, and then give all states ten years to implement them. In time, the system (on paper) would improve. I have no confi-dence that American children will benefit, however. Experienced administrators can produce what-ever statistical data as will place them in the best light possible, and they will continue funding football programs as a priority over basic reading, writing, and math skills.
Posted by HB at April 23, 2005 11:20 PM
Currently, Texas is raising the passing percentage on each test in small increments, yearly. For example, the 5th grade TAKS science test has a requirement of 75% or better to pass.
The state of our educational system did not get this way in a day, nor will it get better in a day.
And as crappy as it sounds...administrators find funding for football because football brings money into the district.
We need better teachers. If the children are not performing then GET RID OF THE TEACHER. It's that simple. Find someone else who WILL teach the class.
++++++++++++++++++++
Please Note, this comment is from a TEACHER!!!!
GM
Posted by Jeni at April 24, 2005 08:39 AM
GM's column and the accompanying comment by HB are worthy of Pulitzer Prizes. They, doubtless, won't get them as they seem to given to people that write bogus articles for the NYT. Well, I hope many read what these folks (GM and HB) have to say...seriously consider their message....and then mail them to all their elected representatives at the state and federal level. Meanwhile, take copies to your local schools and lay them on the desks of administrators...please do not forget the six-figure superintendants in this. BTW, can anyone explain just why superintendants make more than very senior generals and admirals do in our armed forces? Just asking.
Posted by tad at April 24, 2005 09:39 AM
My son attends a public high school and has one teacher who rarely returns tests or projects, I believe because she never gets around to grading them. She is nice, but doesn't know her subject. Well, much to my surprise she recently won a teaching award. The teachers' organization just gives awards willy-nilly so that everyone appears superior without any substance to the prize. That's like another example for students.
My daughter graduated from this same school. She had great grades, was National Honor Society, Beta Club, won scholarships, etc. In front of her school is a big sign acknowledging the "Student of the Week." I saw that sign every day that I took her school, so right before she graduated I asked her how could she have so many awards and never have been student of the week. She said, "Dad, they draw those names out of a hat." That was not a joke. It really is how they pick the student of the week. Now, we all have a chance of feeling good about ourselves. Forget the hard work and accomplishments--just win the lottery.
Oh yes, this school is one of the highest ranked schools in the state. I can't imagine what the rest must be like.
Posted by Woody at April 24, 2005 09:33 PM
Woody...have you ever asked the teacher for your son's work? And if so, what did she say? What if you insisted that she return them with some sort of grade?
Hold her accountable...that is the only way to make things change.
Posted by Jeni at April 24, 2005 10:33 PM
Now this is interesting. Thanks, I'll have to read up on this. Without national standards I'm afraid a lot of students will be left with very little in the way of education. It's very rewarding and rewarded to do fun projects, but old-fashioned teaching is not rewarded and not popular.
Posted by MaxedOutMama at April 25, 2005 11:26 AM
Standards without measurement and accountability are just words on a piece of paper. And as they say in the movie "The Incredibles" (finally saw it last night): if everyone is special then no one is.
The NEA, through their public pronouncements and their legal(istic) tactics, reminds me of what I read many years ago about the oldtime guilds and other professional organizations. They control the membership (thus limiting the professional resource and inflating wages and fees), they control who may and may not be disciplined and fired, and they control how their work is measured and evaluated. The difference now is that the work of controlling is done through legislatures and courts.
I'm sure there are some fine people with some fine ideas about how to fix what is broken (witness the educators who contribute here) but the system has become an institution wherein too many can't see what is wrong with it, or it appears so large and complex that they conclude making the effort to change it is a fool's errand.
In MA there has been some good work done via the creation of Charter Schools. The local Teacher's Union, with the NEA's backing, has fought the establishment of many of these schools but the law, and so far the Courts, are on the side of the Charter schools.
So there are some good, new, and innovative schools that have come into being. What we need now is for the traditional schools to react by elevating their standards and performance rather than simply filing lawsuits.
Posted by too many steves at April 25, 2005 03:19 PM
