Alfie Kohn: The real cheating in APS and other schools is little meaningful learning
Education author and lecturer Alfie Kohn believes that we have yet to address the real cheating scandal going on in Atlanta schools and many others around the country.
“The real cheating scandal that has been going on for years is that kids are being cheated out of meaningful learning by focusing on test scores,” said Kohn, author of 12 books on education and parenting, including “The Homework Myth” and “Unconditional Parenting.”
“Standardized tests like the CRCT measure what matters least. The more you know about education, the less likely you would ever be to measure teachers, schools or kids based on test scores,” said Kohn.
“Focusing on the CRCT as a matter of policy writes off low-income kids of color by turning their classrooms into sterile test-prep centers.”
An influential voice in what is known as “progressive education,” Kohn expounds on these themes with equal amounts indignation and passion in his new book “Feel-Bad Education.”
In a telephone interview this week, Kohn said accountability and testing are crushing the spirit of teachers and students. Rather than nourishing children’s excitement about learning and helping them to be good people, school now acclimates them to years of mind-numbing chores and drills.
With “vinegary moralism,” Kohn said we stamp out children’s natural inquisitiveness and degrade school from an adventure in learning to a daily grind of prefabricated lessons, worksheets, letter grades and bubble tests. The aim is not to promote thinking or the joy of discovery, but to raise test scores.
Yet, the research shows that students learn more, that “richer thinking is more likely to occur in an atmosphere of exuberant discovery, in the kind of place where kids plunge into their projects and can’t wait to pick up where they left off yesterday,” said Kohn.
Kohn spares no schools in his critique, saying that publics, charters and privates have fallen under the spell of a corporate culture that wants to reduce children to test scores and that prizes efficiency over exploration.
Now, we even measure reading by assigning books and turning on timers to ensure that children put in their 20 minutes a night.
The widespread embrace of off-the-shelf reading programs that award students points based on how well they perform on computer quizzes “are the most efficient way to teach kids that reading isn’t pleasurable in its own right,” he says.
Kohn has special disdain for schools that place children in uniforms and straight lines and hold pep rallies where kids shout, “Yes, we can!” In many schools, poor urban kids are being told, “Their job is to shut up and listen. They are bribed or threatened into mindless obedience.”
“That so few children seem to take pleasure from what they’re doing on a given weekday morning, that the default emotional state in classrooms seems to alternate between anxiety and boredom, doesn’t even alarm us,’’ he said.
Complaints from teachers about the ever-tightening straitjacket on what they can teach and how they can teach are being marginalized, Kohn said.
So, the talented teachers are fleeing the classroom. “It’s the mediocre teachers who are happy reading from a script. This drives out the creative teachers,” Kohn said.
“We don’t say anything as obvious as ‘Don’t listen to the people teaching our children,’’’ he said. “We’re told it’s their unions that we shouldn’t listen to. That’s become the most expedient way to discredit their profession.”
Kohn blames former President George Bush and President Barack Obama, along with Bill Gates and corporate America, for creating a compliance-driven, test-fixated education system under a mantra of global competitiveness and accountability.
“Competitiveness and excellence are not the same thing,” he said.
Kohn opposes the national standards movement, which will only lead to national testing and more wreckage, he says. He contends that teachers ought to decide which curriculum is best for their schools rather than a remote committee of strangers.
Kohn maintains that schools communicate whether they are centers of learning or factories of compliance in big and small ways.
He finds a troubling subscript in all the chirpy hallway posters that proclaim “I know I’m smart,” or “Achievement is within your grasp,” noting that such affirmations are seldom found in suburban schools where no one needs to be reminded of the potential of students.
Kohn would prefer to see posters that dare students to “Question authority,” or “Think for yourself; The teacher might be wrong.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled
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138 comments Add your comment
Teacher Reader
April 8th, 2011
11:18 pm
@ Not Buying It My husband and I actually went to a school district much like DeKalb outside of Philadelphia-only much smaller. It was dysfunctional. Many of our teachers-especially in math and science were worthless. The teachers had 2 long strikes (unions) during my 8-12 grade years, including that in my 12th grade year, when teachers refused to write us letters of recommendation and do anything extra as they were forced back to work. I did not get a great education. In fact, I went to college not knowing how to really study, and had to learn how. My husband was our valedictorian and has always worked his tail off. He went to an Ivy League school and earned his PhD, and is a college professor and well known for his the research he does in his field. I was a school teacher, and am now a stay at home mom. We have accomplished what we have accomplished not because we had a good education, but because we had expectations for ourselves and from our families.
I also did not grow up rich or wealthy. My father made $25,00-30,000 a year depending on how much over time he worked and in the early to mid-80s he rarley worked a full year being laid off from his job as an electrician at the steel mill. My mom was a stay at home mom.
You see, my parents valued you an education. My father grew up on a farm and his school work was an after thought to his work on the farm. He was not able to go to school until his chores were done or do his homework until they were finished. My dad is very intelligent and continues to be an avid reader, about history, animals, hunting, fixing things, and the like. My mom is an undiagnosed dyslexic, something that I am also. She hates to read, because she is not good at it and became a hair dresser, something that she is very good at-while we were growing up, but mostly she stayed at home with us (my brother and sister and I).
You see, I was poor, I just didn’t know it. I never had cable tv, new clothes, my own bedroom, AC, or a big house. My parents spent time with me. My father read to me and sat and helped me to do my homework even when he got home late from working a double at the mill. When he didn’t understand the way that I was shown how to do algebra, he and my mom found me a tutor who could. We went fishing, on bike rides, and walks in state parks. Our vacations were always to the historical sites in Philadelphia, as they were free or very cheap and taught us something. Going to the Franklin Institute was a splurge.
I was raised to value an education and taught that despite my dyslexia and being poor, that I could do whatever I wanted. I did not get any college scholarships or grants. There were no trust funds paying for my education and even being out of school for 15 years, I still owe $15,000. I wish that more kids were taught the values that I was. You see our society values stuff-i phones, i=pads, fancy cars, big homes, and it doesn’t matter if we can afford it or not-kind of like how our government is run.
I have always chosen to work with poor kids, because I can relate to them. I understand them and have always tried to help them over come their obstacles. I wanted to be a roll model for them, so that they could see that they could make it and do something. As a teacher, I have refused to teach to the test, but to impart the skills that my kids need. I do not like the standards, because so much of history is left out and if we only teach what is in our standards, our children are being gypped. I was taught in Pennsylvania, that the standards were the bare minimum that we taught our children. It seems in Georgia, that the standards are all that we teach our children-at least that was my experience in DCSS. Instead, I chose to close the door and do what I felt was best for the kids, speak up in faculty meetings, and leave when I knew that I could not send my child to the system that I lived and worked in.
I firmly believe that Mr. Kohn is well meaning, but does not understand that until the society and their expectations of themselves and their children change, the outcomes are going to be the same. We could give many of the people that Kohn writes about everything under the sun, but they will not respect what they have been given, and will be asking how can they be given more. Our society as a whole does not truly value education, we value stuff. We do not value one who is knowledgeable, we value someone with the nicest stuff. As others have pointed out, this is not just poor people these days, even middle and upper income families value stuff, more than they value education. I am not sure what it will take for society to value education, but as a white girl working in mostly black schools, it needs to start with administration being able to speak and write proper English and expecting the same from all employees and students. It begins with not allowing excuses for missed work or work not done to one’s best ability. It begins with having high expectations for behavior and throwing those that do not want to conform out of school and making their parents deal with the consequences. It begins with providing our children with a solid foundation of learning, so that the tests are not a big and threatening deal, because the children truly know the material that they have been taught. It begins with our school districts putting our children first, and realizing that if they can’t read, write, or add, that they aren’t going to be able to do a good job of taking care of us when we are in the nursing home.
d
April 8th, 2011
11:37 pm
@Teacher Reader – you don’t know how many times I have told parents that I am trying to prepare my seniors for a college-like studying experience…. it doesn’t seem to influence the student behavior too much (although the parents seem to understand my line of thinking with my classroom expectations). Study skills aren’t tested and therefore not part of the current curriculum.
As far as SACS is concerned, I too have wondered why they seem to want to yank accreditation over issues that aren’t academic in nature. Management is one thing, but whether or not the teachers are providing a high quality educational experience should be the factor in whether or not a system or school is accredited. If a majority of members of a legislative body (in this case the Atlanta School Board) votes on an action, majority rules. That’s simple parliamentary procedure. Looking at Clayton County (and I assume Warren County as well), are the teachers teaching the curriculum as required by the state and local Boards of Education? Are they doing it in a manner that can lead to student success (if the students choose to do their part)? Then that should be all that goes into an accreditation decision. DeKalb shouldn’t be in trouble because it needs to close schools or any of the other non-academic concerns SACS has.
2 cents
April 9th, 2011
12:07 am
for years Alan Greenspan used a certain “model” for running the ecomony and looked what happened; Greenspan’s excuse, “I guess the model was wrong”. Those same politicans and business leaders that crashed the American ecomony want to do the same with education.
banks and credit card companies took TARP funds; then raised everyone interest rates by 5 to 15% to pay back the Tarp; wait isnt that the same as a tax increase??? you have been hoodwinked and dont even know it.
Now they will milk the education system and dont even get me started on energy policy. there is an end game going on here and here it is in a nut shell; they want to do away with the middle class. Ross Paroe(sp) said what was going to happen 20 years ago.
Do the research on Ross and look at tapes of Ron Paul over the last 30 years
get a clue…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8801lDriKo&feature=related
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Augusta
April 9th, 2011
7:56 am
Teacher Reader, d, and Dr. Trotter:
Great points!
How can we teach our kids to value learning over stuff? When can we get started?
How many people still think that a SACS-accreditation means that a school or a school system is graduating kids who are ready for the next phases of their lives? Unfortunately, many, too many! What do we do about that?
A Conservative Voice
April 9th, 2011
8:43 am
@Maureen Downey
April 8th, 2011
1:39 pm
@Dr. Trotter, If you are picketing any schools in my area, I can lend you my copy.
Maureen
Maureen, I certainly hope you and the good Dr. are not referring to City of Decatur Schools
teacher&mom
April 9th, 2011
9:03 am
This quote by Kohn sits on my desk:
“Good teaching, effective teaching is not just about using whatever science says ‘usually’ works best. It is all about finding out what works best for the individual child and the group of children in front of you.”
Does Kohn have all the answers? No. Do I buy everything he has to say…hook, line, and sinker? No. However, he does offer a different perspective that has merit. He provides balance to the test-crazed world, grade achievement world. He reminds me to not throw in the towel and give up.
I’ve taught students who had a perfect score on the SAT and their pick of Ivy League schools. I’ve taught future doctors, lawyers, and engineers. They were a pleasure to work with.
I have students who do not value education. They can be so frustrating. I spend a lot of time trying to convince them they can learn and that they matter. However, to play a role in helping a student see the importance of education, to help them realize they are capable of learning, that’s just as rewarding as the future Ivy League student.
catlady
April 9th, 2011
9:52 am
Dr. T: Agree with you (again!) re the mess SACS has become. It’s the ultimate good ole boys club, with paid “approval.” It uses its power to mandate uniformity of thought among board members–no disagreement allowed!
Dedicatedandtired
April 9th, 2011
10:17 am
Here is the good news: The CRCTs are easy and truly a base measure of ability. The bad news–too many children are failing these easy tests. So….something is not working. Test prep should consist of a five minute refresher on how to bubble neatly and erase completely, a discussion on how to relax during testing, sleep the night before and eat a good breakfast. The rest of the school year should consist of measuring student ability at the beginning of the year, filling in gaps, and pushing the curriculum envelope beyond that which is measured on the test. One more thing…maybe the people who administer the tests should be able to inspect the test for bad information or poor test questions. For example, lit teacher you will love this. How many types of irony are there? 3 right? Well according to one test given in our state there are 4.You better teach your kids the “new” type of irony on the test. If you don’t, your kids will miss that one for sure! Well it’s irony of fate. Guess what…you won’t find that term written in the standards, nor will you find it in any lit book. How many tests given to our kids have ridiculous flaws like that?
mark
April 9th, 2011
10:22 am
This is the most ridiculous thing I have read in a long time about the challenges in education. Let’s assume for a minute that what is being pushed here is true…that standardized testing, Bill Gates, etc. are all the problem that she claims they are…..those are all things that have come into existence in the last 10 years.
Education was a disaster 10 years ago…..so what was the problem then? I agree that teaching to the test is a problem that needs to be addressed but these things have just become a convenient scapegoat for teachers to blame.
William Casey
April 9th, 2011
11:19 am
Like it or not, great teaching/learning is largely a function of personality. While I learned from the “best practices” movement that sought to standardize/rationalize the learning of children, I refused to become a slave to it. Great teachers rebell against being forced to “dish out” pre-packaged learning in the manner of cafeteria workers dishing out pre-ordained portions of food. Schools now seem to be going through the process that industry went through in the late 19th century: applying scientific time/motion study (Taylor, et al) in order to produce standardized, reliable products (the “Model T,” etc.) Given the great variety of needs our complex society has, Lord help us if we ever succeed in standardizing students.
I’ve been retired for five years and have the luxury of saying exactly what is on my mind using my own name. So, here goes… ANARCHY!? I dare anyone to look at my course notebooks of plans, materials and tests and see anything resembling anarchy. No, what you will see is my best efforts to organize meaningful learning given the parameters of my personality, my students’ needs & learning styles and the time/resources limitations of schools. Did I succeed with every student? No way. Nevertheless, this is the way it really works. In fact, I often taught more than one section of the same class and had to vary how I taught because the classes were different.
Bottom line: meaningful learning is a highly complex human activity. No pre-packaged system can approach success. Nor can I impose my methods on others. The “industrial model” won’t work. As Dr. Hugh McTeer taught me long ago at the University of West Georgia, teaching is an art as well as a science.
William Casey
April 9th, 2011
11:20 am
@Mark: my classes weren’t a disaster ten years ago.
Dr. John Trotter
April 9th, 2011
11:23 am
@ Catlady: You and I often agree on educational matters. SACS, in opinion too, is a good ole boys club to keep school boards in line, and it is a scam. Mr. Norreese Haynes hit it “spot on” (as you say) when he called SACS’s report in Clayton County “a sham and a farce.”
Dr. John Trotter
April 9th, 2011
11:32 am
@ B. White of Fulton High: No, I did not coach the Red Birds in the 1960s. That must have been another “Coach Trotter.” I was indeed “Coach Trotter” at Southwest DeKalb High School and at Jonesboro Jr. High Schools in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But, I am familiar with the old Fulton High…alma mater of Evander Holyfield and the Rocker brothers who played for Auburn. Tracey was the Outland Trophy winner. Two great linemen. Of course, we know that Evander is a four time World Champion.
I hope that you guys have a great reunion. I spend a lot of time in Peachtree City too. By the way, I know an old Fulton High grad (in the 1960s) who lives in Rio. It’s a small world, heh? Take care.
Dr. John Trotter
April 9th, 2011
12:18 pm
Many times you see me rail against what has happened to the teaching profession. Sometimes I may seem like a broken record (ala “You can’t have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions”). I am passionate about what has happened to the teaching profession…educrats treating teachers like they are hired hands and expecting them to mindlessly teach a prescriptive curriculum like they are robots. It is a tragedy. When I taught in the old days, we could be zany and creative in the classroom. We could have our own style, a style that the students knew and to which they adjusted…and usually with a degree of delight. That’s the great part of growing up…learning to adjust to different people (teachers, in this case) with different styles.
I have often told my colleagues and teachers that I would be fired every day under the current culture of teachers being placed in straightjackets. I even bowed up to the odious structure that was in place in the old days (especially those horrid TPAIs and the accompanying written lesson plans and behavioral objectives in the old DeKalb County — when DeKalb was King of the Rock and thought that their mess didn’t stink). I turned down my second contract (didn’t even sign it — which was stupid of me) and left. Moved back to Athens and the next year car-pooled each day to Greene County High School. I had a great principal, Dr. Donald Garrett. He was so supportive of me and just let me do my thing. When MACE picketed the superintendent in Greene County on three occasions about three years ago (yes, this superintendent moved on not too long after these downtown pickets which were joined in by local towns people!), I had one of my former students, Vincent, to happily meet me on the picket line. We laughed, talked about where my old students were today, and just reminisced. I had a blast teaching at Greene County High School, but I was offered a good assistantship in the Department of Administration at the University of Georgia for the next year, and Dr. Garrett (who was finishing up his doctorate there at the time) encouraged me to take it. He said, “You can always come back here anytime you want.” But, after my assistantship, I took a job as Assistant Principal at Washington County High School down the road…at 27 years of age.
This morning I looked at my Blackberry to see my emails and my Facebook comments. I saw the nicest comment from one of my former Jonesboro Jr. High School students. It was from Eric, the First Team All State football player whom I alluded to yesterday. Forgive me for my vanity but he wrote the following: “Well I hope my boys have a teacher as dedicated and passionate about education. A legend is a person whose fame or notoriety makes him a source of romanticized tales and exploits. That’s you coach.” This is why teachers teach. We teachers (and I am still a teacher at heart) teach to have an influence (not to artificially raise the standardized test scores to fatten up the superintendent’s wallet or pocketbook). We love interacting with the children and watching them grow — even to adulthood. I have witnessed hundreds of people through the years come up to my father at restaurants or elsewhere and be delighted to see “Coach Trotter” or “Mr. Trotter” (my father was a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and principal). They love to regale in the old stories. The men love to recount the times that my father had to paddle them. I remember some over 70 year old retiree recalling at the Burger King Breakfast confab (a morning ritual at Airport Thruway in Columbus) this to my father (who will be 86, Lord willing, on April 21): “Mr. Trotter, do you remember paddling me when I showed up for school with no socks?” This man was laughing big time about this disciplinary incident. I bet he didn’t show up anymore to Jordan Vocational High School with no socks! My father didn’t put up with any foolishness, and the students loved him and respected him for this. This is what is missing in our public schools today. Today’s students hold the teachers in contempt because there is NO discipline (especially in the large school systems). Kids really crave discipline. That how they know that they are loved. Pampering and coddling won’t do the trick. It’s like what is said in the Bible: “The Lord disciplines whom he loves.”
Why to teachers teach? Teachers love the interaction with children. Teachers love watching the light turn on when a kid finally understands a concept or skill. They love watching them grown and mature. They love the “relational learning” (I will coin this phrase) that takes place. That’s why teachers are so frustrated today…because all of this has been hijacked for the sake of infinitesimal gains on a standardized test which does not amount to a hill of beans, with the exception to the gypsy superintendent receiving financial bonuses and maintaining his or her job for another year or two. (c) MACE, April 9, 2011.
Dr. John Trotter
April 9th, 2011
2:06 pm
Note: I had a few typos in the early version. This is the edited and updated version. I hope that it provide food for thought for the legislators and educators who don’t seem to have a clue as to why teachers teach. Have a good weekend!
Why Do Teachers Teach?
By John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD
Many times you see me rail against what has happened to the teaching profession. Sometimes I may seem like a broken record (ala “You can’t have good learning conditions until you first have good teaching conditions”). I am passionate about what has happened to the teaching profession…educrats treating teachers like they are hired hands and expecting them to mindlessly teach a prescriptive curriculum like they are robots. It is a tragedy. When I taught in the old days, we could be zany and creative in the classroom. We could have our own style, a style that the students knew and to which they adjusted…and usually with a degree of delight. That’s the great part of growing up…learning to adjust to different people (teachers, in this case) with different styles.
I have often told my colleagues and teachers that I would be fired every day under the current culture of teachers being placed in straightjackets. I even bowed up to the odious structure that was in place in the old days (especially those horrid TPAIs and the accompanying written lesson plans and behavioral objectives in the old DeKalb County — when DeKalb was King of the Rock and thought that their mess didn’t stink). I turned down my second contract (didn’t even sign it — which was stupid of me) and left. Moved back to Athens and the next year car-pooled each day to Greene County High School. I had a great principal, Dr. Donald Garrett. He was so supportive of me and just let me do my thing. When MACE picketed the superintendent in Greene County on three occasions about three years ago (yes, this superintendent moved on not too long after these downtown pickets which were joined in by local towns people!), I had one of my former students, Vincent, to happily meet me on the picket line. We laughed, talked about where my old students were today, and just reminisced. I had a blast teaching at Greene County High School, but I was offered a good assistantship in the Department of Administration at the University of Georgia for the next year, and Dr. Garrett (who was finishing up his doctorate there at the time) encouraged me to take it. He said, “You can always come back here anytime you want.” But, after my assistantship, I took a job as Assistant Principal at Washington County High School down the road…at 27 years of age.
This morning I looked at my Blackberry to see my emails and my Facebook comments. I saw the nicest comment from one of my former Jonesboro Jr. High School students. It was from Eric Jensen, a First Team All State football player from Jonesboro High School and a student and player whom I taught and coached at Jonesboro Jr. High School in the early 1980s. Forgive me for my vanity but he wrote the following: “Well I hope my boys have a teacher as dedicated and passionate about education. A legend is a person whose fame or notoriety makes him a source of romanticized tales and exploits. That’s you coach.” This is why teachers teach. We teachers (and I am still a teacher at heart) teach to have an influence (not to artificially raise the standardized test scores to fatten up the superintendent’s wallet or pocketbook). We love interacting with the children and watching them grow — even to adulthood. I get a kick out of watching Norreese Haynes run the day-to-day operations at MACE…especially since he was the classroom “bishop” in my 7th Grade History class.
I have witnessed hundreds of people through the years come up to my father at restaurants or elsewhere and be delighted to see “Coach Trotter” or “Mr. Trotter” (my father was a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and principal). They love to regale in the old stories. The men love to recount the times that my father had to paddle them. I remember some over 70 year old retiree recalling at the Burger King Breakfast confab (a morning ritual at Airport Thruway in Columbus) this to my father (who will be 86, Lord willing, on April 21): “Mr. Trotter, do you remember paddling me when I showed up for school with no socks?” This man was laughing big time about this disciplinary incident. I bet he didn’t show up anymore to Jordan Vocational High School with no socks! My father didn’t put up with any foolishness, and the students loved him and respected him for this. This is what is missing in our public schools today. Today’s students hold the teachers in contempt because there is NO discipline (especially in the large school systems). Kids really crave discipline. That’s how they know that they are loved. Pampering and coddling won’t do the trick. It’s like what is said in the Bible: “The Lord disciplines whom he loves.”
Why do teachers teach? Teachers love the interaction with children. Teachers love watching the light turn on when a kid finally understands a concept or skill. They love watching them grown and mature. They love the “relational learning” (I will coin this phrase) that takes place. That’s why teachers are so frustrated today…because all of this has been hijacked for the sake of infinitesimal gains on a standardized test which does not amount to a hill of beans, with the exception to the gypsy superintendent receiving financial bonuses and maintaining his or her job for another year or two. (c) MACE, April 9, 2011.
East Cobb Parent
April 9th, 2011
4:28 pm
@ DJT thanks for the link to the story. I missed the news yesterday as I had a house full of kids from the neighborhood enjoying the last day of the break (they didn’t count the weekend). I really see no need for SACS, HOPE will have dwindled to almost nothing when my oldest graduates. While Tech would be a great option, the oldest doesn’t want to be that close to home.
On another note, Cobb is looking for a new super, preferably one that is not a buddy of SACS such as our current Super. Perhaps Dr. Trotter would apply, then I might return my children to public school.
Danny Teacher
April 9th, 2011
4:30 pm
6 more weeks to go and 10 weeks off. I am doing nothing school related this summer. Tired of the abuse. Have not had a raise in 3 years and I work damn hard. I do not care anymore.
.
concerned educator
April 9th, 2011
5:22 pm
It seems to be a case of the Emporer with no clothes…..when will we wake up to what has happened to education…..the focus is on the test not the learnring. Thousands of teachers and administratiors are spending sooooo much time playing the numbers game to make the grade for AYP…if thye spent 1/2 the time improving the learning environment in classrooms what a great thing that would be for our children. And all those educators that are caught cheating…..did anyone ever stop to question why adults would go to such lengths to raise test scores??/ Our focus is not on learning…..it is on test scores. Bless you Mr Kohn….keep preaching!
APS Parent #2
April 9th, 2011
5:27 pm
Ms. Downey, I hope you will link your next Get Schooled blog topic on SACS and the AJC article on SACS.
If SACS cared about educational quality in APS, then where were their probing eyes when APS reported shady graduation rates and dropout rates?
Has SACS bothered to see how the APS’ High School transformation is working now that APS has implemented in into all of their high schools? (Based upon postings to this blog, SACS should start their scrutiny with North Atlanta and Grady since those are the two high schools with obvious racial (black/white) issues. I understand a quick walk down the halls will raise eyebrows.)
Has SACS taken a look into why APS high schools haven’t made AYP? I understand that CRCT cheating is not a high school issue, but what about the high school’s lackluster performance on the high school benchmarks?
Has SACS been asking questions to find out if the Title I funds which schools receive to help close the achievement gap are being used for the designated purposes? Or, is APS and/or the various high schools using them for improperly designated purposes?
SACS, if you care about “quality education” for high school students, then please get out of bed with the Atlanta business community and Dr. Hall, and EVALUATE THE EDUCATION being offered to ALL of the APS high school students. While the board issues are interesting, they are petty; the real focus should be on the work of Dr. Hall and her staff. Or…..are you only concerned with a quality of education being offered only to a certain group of students?
Please Ms. Downey, let’s have this discussion while it is still relevant and while the educational futures of many of Atlanta’s youth might still have a chance to be salvaged.
Maureen Downey
April 9th, 2011
6:59 pm
@APS parent, The article is not online so I can’t link to it for non print readers. As soon as the story appears in AJC.com, I will post. There are an increasing range of stories that appear first in print.
Maureen
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Augusta
April 9th, 2011
7:22 pm
concerned educator,
The focus of the educracy is not the test but is the salaries and positions which its members fear are contingent upon their releasing test “results” which meet “standards.”
Dr. John Trotter
April 9th, 2011
7:58 pm
Mr. Haynes and I read the SACS article in the early edition to the Sunday paper. It’s a good, well-written article. It is obvious that SACS is just a big business now. It’s all about money. On SACS’s tax report for last year, Mark Elgart’s salary was $350,000.00. Almost as much as the President of the United States. This does not include the benefits package which I am sure puts it well over $400,000.00.
I began saying in writing a couple of years ago that the three biggest educational hypocrites in Georgia were Crawford Lewis, Beverly Hall, and Mark Elgart. My thoughts are prescient, heh? Ha! SACS is phony as a three dollar bill. States should jettison SACS like a hot potato! Mark Elgart is like the ole fellow in the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard of Accreditation…for sale.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Augusta
April 9th, 2011
9:56 pm
SACS : school evaluation :: The Harlem Globetrotters : basketball competition
Private School Guy
April 10th, 2011
7:15 am
The CRCT and testing as it exist in the schools is useless and a roadblock to true quality education. There is no evidence of long range improvement in the schools. In the last thirty years there have been vast changes in media and technology that should have boosted learning and achievement in public schools schools. Instead we have a focus on students passing a standardized test and a plethora of commercially produced educational programs that will aid in this quest. Teaching should be easier and students should need to spend less time and school. Instead they are learning less.
Ed Johnson
April 10th, 2011
10:13 am
17 September 2002
Atlanta School Board Charter Review Commission
c/o Dr. Thomas Cole, Chair
Clark Atlanta University
223 James P. Brawley Drive, Southwest
Atlanta, Georgia 30314
Dear Dr. Cole and Commission Members:
It is fitting you chose Crim High School as the venue for your final public forum to solicit additional and final comments on your Preliminary Report of 4 September 2002. Accordingly, I take this opportunity to present my comments via this open letter.
But first, a question, please: Who among you is knowledgeable of the works of Dr. Alfie Kohn, to any extent?
To the extent you are, you are poised to honor the late Dr. Alonzo Crim. To the extent you are not, you are poised likely to dishonor Dr. Crim.
Why? Well, you see, the paths of Dr. Kohn and Dr. Crim crossed on 23 March 2000 at Georgia State University School of Music, where Dr. Crim heard Dr. Kohn lecture.
Dr. Crim heard Dr. Kohn make the case that people who concentrate on standards, goals, performance, achievement, and such get school reform wrong. Such people opt for a demand model of learning rather than a support model of learning.
Dr. Crim heard Dr. Kohn make the case that people who concentrate on standards, goals, performance, achievement, and such get improvement wrong. Such people opt for maximum difficulty rather than optimum difficulty. Harder is better, they believe.
Dr. Crim heard Dr. Kohn make the case that people who concentrate on standards, goals, performance, achievement, and such get teaching and learning wrong. Such people opt to focus on uniform and specific skills rather than understanding.
Dr. Crim heard Dr. Kohn make the case that people who concentrate on standards, goals, performance, achievement, and such get evaluation wrong. Such people opt for critical reliance on standardized test results rather than helping kids become better thinkers and learners.
And Dr. Crim heard Dr. Kohn make the case that people who concentrate on standards, goals, performance, achievement, and such utterly misunderstand motivation. Such people opt to force kids to overly focus on how well they are doing rather than on what they are doing. Winning and top-rank is better than excellence, they believe.
At the end of Dr. Kohn’s lecture, I approached Dr. Crim, introduced myself as president of Atlanta Area Deming Study Group, and asked his opinion of the cases Dr. Kohn made. To my delight, Dr. Crim replied: “Alfie is right on. He gets it.”
With those words, Dr. Crim renewed my hope for the future of public education, in general, and Atlanta Public Schools, in particular. Still, I had one concern: has Dr. Crim the moral and ethical courage to lend his voice to the matter?
To put my concern to rest, I contacted the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter who covered Dr. Kohn’s lecture with the idea to interview Dr. Crim.
The AJC reporter did indeed interview Dr. Crim, and subsequently reported: “‘I think [Kohn is] right on the money,’ said one member of the audience, former Atlanta school Superintendent Alonzo Crim, now a GSU education professor. ‘Just as Kohn said, we’re trying to go back to the ’20s and make our schools factories.’” (Uphill battle: Many teachers think using standardized tests to measure specific objectives will change education for the worse, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 16 April 2000.)
By your Preliminary Report of 4 September 2002 that shows the changed Atlanta Public Schools Charter you apparently aim to push through to the state legislature, my heart and prayers go out for you, for you obviously do not get it. Perhaps only the delusional dare to believe the charter, as changed, will serve to “improve the governance of the Atlanta school system in order to support delivery of the best education possible for the children of Atlanta.”
My comments enclosed are incomplete. Time did not allow me to write comments on all that I read. Still, my comments note glib exactness, numeral illiteracy, and nonsensical contention created where none existed before the changes.
Moreover, in your new Section 2-114, Roles of Board and [S]uperintendent, I noted therein this horrific responsibility among the others: “… the Board is responsible for … Adopting district-wide policies that provide incentives for progress and consequences for failure for all decision-makers in the district, as well as for students.” (Emphasis mine.)
This is behaviorism at its worst. If institutionalized, such responsibility will help to move Atlanta Public Schools “back to the 20s and make our schools factories,” just as Dr. Crim understood.
You of course have until 30 September 2002 to honor Dr. Crim, and prove his wisdom and your work worthy. It would be wrong of anyone to suggest otherwise. All it takes is the recommendation to leave the charter nearly unchanged and to seek avenues to improve learning and other matters unfettered by political expedience and the agendas of certain private and non-profit organizations. Do you have Dr. Crim’s courage to do so?
Frankly, I fail to see why you and the organizations you represent would choose to participate in this insidious affair. Why have you allowed yourselves to be appointed foremen of harm and destruction of Atlanta’s children? Why have you chosen servitude over freedom and innovation? What have you to gain?
Whatever your answers, know that your gain will in no way offset the damage effected through you. Dr. Crim knew this. May your God help you to know it, too.
Thank you,
[Ed Johnson]
Enclosures:
1. Comments on Preliminary Report of 4 September 2002
2. Preliminary Report of 4 September 2002, reference lines and shading added
cc: The Honorable Roy Barnes, Governor, State of Georgia
The Honorable David Scott, Senator, State of Georgia
Members of Atlanta Board of Education
Mr. Sam Williams, President, MACOC
David Sims
April 10th, 2011
5:53 pm
I suggest that you should disagree with Alfie Kohn. The idea that testing is a bad thing to do is stupid. Testing is the most effective and efficient method of measuring students’ academic progress that has ever been devised, and Kohn is trying to discredit it. If you don’t test, then how will anyone know where the instruction needs to be intensified? How will anyone be able to distinguish the students who have mastered much from those who have mastered little? Kohn’s suggestion is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
Continue the testing. Prevent the cheating. Consider “teaching the test” to be a form of cheating, and punish it suitably. Suitably means “severely enough that it stops occurring.”
Top School
April 10th, 2011
7:50 pm
The rhetoric to keep you distracted while ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS and the Buckhead business community goes underground to cover up the corruption they created.
When they are finished chewing this bone…all of Atlanta will beg for the PAST CORRUPTION to disappear. All signs of corruption will be Buckhead candy coated for another 10 years of new leadership and the underhanded corruption will start all over again.
BUCKHEAD…POLITICS as usual.
All smoke and mirrors to keep your head spinning while they stuff their pockets full.
http://www.TopPublicSchoolCorruptionAtlanta.com
subbing teacher
April 11th, 2011
9:45 am
The best line: “The more you know about education, the less likely you would ever be to measure teachers, schools or kids based on test scores,” said Alfie Kohn.
However, would high schools and colleges be willing to throw out the SATs/ACTs?
Measurement is important; knowledge is power. So, If not test scores, then what?
If we agree the US is falling behind other nations in content areas, how are we measuring this?
If I had a chance to be Prinicpal: this would be rule number one: Teachers teach; kids learn; parents support. Period.
Caring person
April 11th, 2011
10:14 am
Good for you, Maureen, for bringing this to our attention. We could solve much of this if everyone would spend time in a school during the CRCT prep and testing. They would see how much time is spent on it, and what the results actually are. In my opinion, it has done much harm to the schools
cbcon
April 11th, 2011
10:50 am
Kohn is on target! The public school curriculum in Georgia is a mile wide and an inch deep. Children have few opportunities to become engaged and pursue what interests them. I saw middle school students — kids with poor reading skills who never read for fun — become fascinated with the group reading of a teen novel and BEG to read another, only to be told that the class schedule required that we “move on” to a completely different subject. This was a teaching/learning moment sacrificed on the altar of test preparation.
Maureen Downey
April 11th, 2011
1:50 pm
@Georgia coach: Did not block any post by you. It may have gone automatically into our filter, which is often tripped by length.
Maureen
Ed Johnson
April 11th, 2011
3:38 pm
@David Sims, by not discriminating among even general forms, uses, and effects of tests, you intimate that your simplistic knowledge of tests is all there is to know about tests. Can and will you explain why you hold such a limited and, yes, stupid view? I really am curious to know.
Kohn Rules
April 11th, 2011
3:48 pm
The whole system is designed against “people of color” designed by the white man trying to keep them down. No test scores should be used—everyone should pass with flying colors!
subbing teacher
April 11th, 2011
6:21 pm
Enter your comments here
CharterStarter
April 11th, 2011
6:21 pm
There is good and bad in what Kohn says and proposes. I personally have a problem leaving teaching just to teachers. How will teachers (especially teachers who have done nothing else but teach) know that the educations they provide are truly relevant? However, I totally agree with his objections to an over dependence on testing, deferring to unions, and resisting national standards/national control. His voice is needed in this debate.
And APS should be ashamed!
GRAY GHOST OR WHITE KNIGHT
April 12th, 2011
8:16 am
@ DR. “COACH” TROTTER.
GOT YOUR NOTE. THE SEARCH CONTINUES FOR THE “OTHER” COACH TROTTER.
THANKS FOR THE SCHOOL ATHLETIC INFO. I WILL PASS IT ALONG.
BTW, IF YOU FIND TIME IN SEP, 2014, COME ANYWAY. MOST EVERYONE WILL BE A LITTLE BUZZED. SATURDAY NIGHT, EVERGREEN RETREAT IN PEACHTREE CITY NEAR THE CREEK.
TELL’EM EVERETT CHAPMAN (GRAY GHOST…) INVITED YOU.
HAVE A GREAT CAREER. ENJOY READING YOUR POSTS.
David Sims
April 12th, 2011
12:16 pm
Ed Johnson wrote (at me), “…By not discriminating among even general forms, uses, and effects of tests, you intimate that your simplistic knowledge of tests is all there is to know about tests. Can and will you explain why you hold such a limited and, yes, stupid view? I really am curious to know.”
I assumed that I would not have to specify the “right” tests, given at the “right” times. I thought it would go without saying. But testing, properly done, is the best way to know where instruction is failing, and it is the best way in which to distinguish the poor students from the good students, and the good students from the very best. I suspect that it is the very effectiveness of testing in revealing the latter information which some people don’t like. (How dare anyone suggest that some are “better” than others? Sniff.)
A Kohn-head
April 12th, 2011
1:04 pm
I loved elementary school. And so did my classmates. Why? We never received grades. We came to school curious and we learned together. We certainly took plenty of tests and wanted everyone to do their best. Any of the few problem kids were given some extra help or held back. Discipline was clear and poor behaviour not tolerated. This was 50 years ago. I shudder when I see how we tend to discourage the inherent drive and energy of youth. No, I’m not a POS liberal. Please read some of Kohn’s work and also see how poorly we manage employees as well (they are often still treated like children). The most valued employees I see are the self-starters with child-like enthusiasm — not afraid to step outside the box and don’t need a grade or score “to see where they stand”.