AJC series on teacher quality: Blame for low student achievement misplaced.
Is there too much focus on the role of teachers in student achievement? (AJC file/John Overmyer)
I have been running summaries here of the first two parts of a comprehensive AJC series on teacher quality, the most recent appearing this morning. (You can see the first summary here.)
There’s been a lot of reaction to the AJC series, which examines the state’s efforts to bolster teacher quality.
Retired educator and school head Dennis Brown of Villa Rica sent me a short response this morning that I asked him to expand. He felt that the blame for low student achievement should not fall on teachers and schools, but on the home and the culture.
Here is Brown’s expanded retort to the AJC series:
Once again in the Sunday, Sept. 18, issue of the AJC, a front-page inflammatory headline (”Georgia fails at improving teachers”) lays blame on the system for the purported failure of our public schools. And once again, falling and/or non-improving standardized test scores are at the root of all the rhetoric and opinions leading to that conclusion.
First, let me say from the onset that I’m not one willing to say test scores determine, nor should determine the success of our educational system. But notwithstanding that assertion, when will we wake up?
If our next generation is to be well served by graduates prepared to contribute to a constantly improving society (rather than simply producing increased test scores), when will we stop looking at the vehicle to solve the problem, rather than the root of the cause — the changing needs of our young people coming into the system today.
More than 30 years in pre-k-12th grade education and now retired, thank goodness, has shown me one thing — home environment and involved, supportive parents do more to determine outcomes of students than all the teachers, text materials, changing curricula, technology, and other in-school factors added together.
We hear all the time of the ineffective outcomes that have been observed from the 10 years of fluctuating and knee-jerk reactions resulting from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Likewise, the tons of money squandered as a result of the prominent 1983 report on American education titled “A Nation at Risk,” published by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. But again, both conclusions based on a statistical analysis of test scores.
Hey, if I had all the answers, I’d be a wealthy man. But I don’t. One thing I do know for sure. We need to attack the root of the problem, not the symptoms. Until parents and society stop laying the blame at our school systems and assume responsibility for the mores and daily activity of our young people, all the teachers, teachers of teachers, politicians, and money in the world will not help improve test scores.
And if test scores are the only measure we have to evaluate our school systems of today, then we have our priorities screwed up and perhaps should be the first step of true reform addressed.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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166 comments Add your comment
Beverly Fraud
September 20th, 2011
12:39 pm
Let’s just put a quick and effective end to the games, and expose the agenda for what it really is.
Let’s give Maureen 20 interns; they have to “pass muster” as a group, in order for Maureen to keep her job.
3 of them are defiant, disruptive, and totally NOT interested in learning. Maureen is given two choices:
A) UNLIMITED training in “effective teaching” from an educational “expert” or…
B) The AUTHORITY to remove those who continually disrupt the learning of 85% of the interns in her classroom.
Despite her blather, when HER job depends on it what does she choose, A or B?
Seriously.
mountain man
September 20th, 2011
12:40 pm
Some kids aren’t that bright? That may be true but unless they are special education, they are a very, very small minority. Plenty of the failing kids and kids who can’t do simple arithmetic are very smart, but the eduation has not gotten across to them. Most likely because they don’t want the education. Or because they aren’t at school to get the education. Teachers can’t teach students who aren’t there. Why would a kid who expects either to be dead or in prison by age eighteen care about having a good education? Making money means learning how best to rip someone off, that is a lot easier than getting an education and a job. And even if they get an education, that is no guarantee that they will get a job, since if they are a person of color, they will have to be a lot better than their white counterpart to get the job, and maybe not even then. It isn’t a question of intelligence, it is socio-economic standing. And for the government to expect “No Child to be Left Behind” without adressing SES is what is ludicrous (or is that Ludicris”?)
Unschooled
September 20th, 2011
12:52 pm
@Good Mother….the problem is when you go to work, you drop you child off to a government baby sitter. You say teaching is the teaching job. You are correct if your child is only taught and never learns anything. Children learn…they learn how to talk and walk with very little teaching. Your philosophy behind the education of a child and/or yourself is a product of the governmental education you received. It don’t come back and say how do I know you received a government education. Trust me…I just know.
I am confident that many teachers are doing a horrible job…many are just caught in a system of policies, poverty, unsufficient resources, and terrible families. The child goes out with the hope of making Mommy and Daddy proud. Start taking responsibility for the child you made. If they show up to class and sit in the desk and are receptive….they should meet the MINIMUM STANDARDS set before them. Not that difficult.
To Unschooled from Good Mother
September 20th, 2011
1:25 pm
“If they show up to class and sit in the desk and are receptive….they should meet the MINIMUM STANDARDS set before them. Not that difficult.”
I agree but I expect my children to go to college and succeed, not just get by with a high school diploma and a dead end job.
I am very concerned about the lack of qualified teachers in APS. If I could, I would take them out of APS immediately and send them to a private school or home school but neither are feasible or in any way possible.
Another Math Teacher
September 20th, 2011
1:46 pm
Colonel Jack:
“I suppose it would be just plain silly to suggest that administrators actually allow teachers to enforce discipline in their classrooms and grant teachers the right to remove unruly students.”
AHAHAH. Oh wait, you were serious. Let me laugh even harder. HAHAAAHHAAHAHA!!!!
That will never happen with the current batch of administrators.
As for the ’some kids aren’t that bright’ argument from other posters, let me make this clear – in all my years of teaching I have had exactly two students (both SPED,) who did not have the intellectual ability to learn high school level Math up to the technology prep level (Algebra 2.)
Beverly Fraud
September 20th, 2011
1:49 pm
I am also very concerned about the lack of qualified teachers in APS. They are making good, honest, competent professionals like Beverly Hall, Kathy Augustine and the former Executive Directors all look bad.
Unschooled
September 20th, 2011
1:49 pm
@To Unschooled from Good Mother….if you paid to have someone baby sit them when they were a toddler, then you it was and should be feasible today. People view public school as an opportunity to free up cash when many church schools and small private schools cost just about the same amount. Also, people who tend to send their children to private schools may not drive big cars or live in large homes. Not saying you do, however, we adults make decisions that impact our children in ways we may not think.
Good Luck!!!!
jarvis
September 20th, 2011
1:50 pm
@nope, what fact didn’t I have? The fact that I was thinking standardized tests and typed the name of our state’s test?
You are nitpicking because you can’t argue the point I made which is that blaming something on society is invalid when the problem doesn’t apply to all of society.
Dr. Phil
September 20th, 2011
2:00 pm
Good Mother, you have some real issues it seems with any mention of personal responsibility. Just from your comments and attitude on this blog, I am going to guess you are a single parent.
When people demonstrate a combative, argumentative attitude, like yours, they are generally trudging through life alone. God save your children from growing into what you appear to be. Good luck, you are going to need it.
Really amazed
September 20th, 2011
2:05 pm
If so many students aren’t truly learning…why and how soooo many straight A’s???????
nope
September 20th, 2011
2:06 pm
@jarvis
what facts did you have?
The Bald Eagle
September 20th, 2011
3:16 pm
Amen, Mr. Brown! I only spent two years in the classroom before throwing in the towel and going to law school. Not because I didn’t want to teach, mind you. Rather, because no matter how hard I tried, it made little difference when my students didn’t have the requisite home environment. The students with active supportive parents did well, period. Unfortunately, teaching in SWAT most of my students didn’t. It was heartbreaking. The kids had all the potential in the world. However, without parental investment and a supportive home environment (at a minimum), the best efforts of educators can only do so much.
Ole Guy
September 20th, 2011
3:36 pm
As with many of lifes’ failures and let-downs, there is much blame (I prefer “responsibility”) to go around the wheel of mankind. We can blame parents, schools, the Easter Bunny, and just about anyone/anything remotely associated with life, HOWEVER, all this does not negate the kids’ responsibility to simply do what the hell’s expected of them…go to class, listen to teacher;do what teacher says to do…IT’S THAT FREQUIN’ SIMPLE! Why’n hell do we insist on complicating the issue, shotgunning responsibility in every direction except where it counts most…THE GENERATION THAT’S SUPPOSED TO, SOMEDAY IN THE NOT-TOO-DISTANT FUTURE, TAKE OVER THE REINS OF THIS CRAZY WORLD!
Up to a certain age, probably the single-digit realm, kids are (supposedly) reliant on the home dynamics. However, at a certain point in life….most-certainly the mid-to-high school ages…should we not be expecting just a wee bit more from these kids? Like maybe, oh, I don’t know, ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ONE’S ACTIONS. If test scores are not what they should be, maybe, just maybe, kids have not, over the short period of their lifetimes, gotten with the program, reached through the fires of uncertainty and travail and grabbed onto the opportunities which are theirs. What are we going to do? Allow these kids…these generations…to grow up thinking that someone else is forever responsible for their lives? We already are faced with social issues arising from population pockets which seem to feel that the problems of today are NOT of their doing, but of the ancestrial difficulties of long long ago. We are faced today with such roadblocks to social progress as “pulling of the race card”, etc, etc, etc. Where’s it gonna stop? Are future gens, in their early/mid/late adult lives going to blame the schools, their parents, and a few dozen other issues which will have been long gone, over their sad lives? Are we simply too damn unsure/too damn afraid of ourselves to do that which has to be done…START TREATING KIDS LIKE THE FUTURE RESPONSIBILITY-BEARING FOLKS THEY WILL SOON BE, NOT LIKE KIDS WHO WILL, FOREVER, BE KIDS.
Mary Elizabeth
September 20th, 2011
3:49 pm
The below entry is part of a post I placed last evening at 5:33 p.m. on Jay Bookman’s blog. The topic there related to voucher use for private schools. I believe readers will see the connection to this blog’s subject. I was an English teacher, an Instructional Lead Teacher, and a high school Reading Department Chair before I retired. I will post, after this post, research that demonstrates that poverty is the most significant factor which effects educational outcome. Poverty from 2000 to 2010 in America increased from 31 million people to 46 million. This fact has, no doubt, hurt the quality of educational outcome in our nation.
(BTW, I am hoping that the reporters who are writing the series on education in the AJC will be digging deeper into the root causes of poor educational performance in their coming articles.)
——————————————————————————-
Part of my post from Jay Bookman’s Blog, 9/19/11, 5:33 p.m.:
“I worked as a Reading Department Chair in a major suburban, essentially black high school where the economic background of students was from high to very low. The results of testing (all) incoming 9th grade students each year, for over a decade, consistently showed that 1/2 of the students (300 out of 600 each year) were reading on 6th grade level and below, in 9th grade, but that the range of scores was from 4th grade level to grade level 16+, in 9th grade. With that massive variation, how does a given teacher teach to all of those levels effectively? How could a private school teacher teach effectively if he or she had to contend with that kind of variance among his or her school’s population? If ALL the students are shifted to private schools, then that type of variance would also exist among students in private schools. Having an overall government plan to move ALL students to private schools would essentially be “passing the buck;” it would not be solving the essential problem.
The answer is not to dismantle public schools. You are correct that new approaches need to be tried, and where success is found, those successes should be emulated, but just to say – as you have said – that all students should now be educated through private schools is too gross an analysis to be helpful in solving this massive problem. New approaches can be tried within public schools.
Each child’s instructional level needs to be addressed, and each child needs to be taught content at a different rate because children learn at different rates. That can be done in public schools. Poverty, as JW’s data showed, is the main factor that needs to be addressed. Children are behind other children academically before they even enter kindergarten, by having impoverished backgrounds for 5 years before even entering kindergarten, and they often remain behind, as a result.”
Mary Elizabeth
September 20th, 2011
3:52 pm
“Two of the three major international tests—the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and the Trends in International Math and Science Study—break down student scores according to the poverty rate in each school. The tests are given every five years.
The most recent results (2006) showed the following: students in U.S. schools where the poverty rate was less than 10 percent ranked first in reading, first in science, and third in math. When the poverty rate was 10 percent to 25 percent, U.S. students still ranked first in reading and science. But as the poverty rate rose still higher, students ranked lower and lower. Twenty percent of all U.S. schools have poverty rates over 75 percent. The average ranking of American students reflects this.
The problem is not public schools; it is poverty.”
(Source: JW on Kyle Wingfield’s blog, March 4, 2011, at 7:41 a.m.)
————————————————————————
Ms. Middle School
September 20th, 2011
4:30 pm
I am a teacher in Forsyth County at a wealthy school. The majority of my students come from nice homes, with 2 parents, and have everything they could want materially. I also have to say with confidence that over 95% of the teachers at my school are truthfully what I would call good teachers. I would have no problem putting my own children in their classrooms. My school also has access to cutting edge technology and a supportive administration. What we don’t have is a parent population that supports their child’s education…notice I said education, not sporting events or school dances…they all show up for those. On a daily basis I have students show up unprepared, without homework, lunch money, report cards unsigned, make up work not completed, parents who don’t respond to emails, parents who can’t bring their kids in early for help because they have a tennis match, parents who don’t show up for conferences…the list goes on and on. Commentors on this blog are absolutely correct, it is my responsibility to teach these students regardless of whether they’re unprepared, but this unfortunately stops when they leave school. I see very little if any follow through from parents at home. Learning does not stop when your child leaves my room. They are to complete homework, study for tests, and discuss what they did at school. This is the responsibility of the parent to monitor at home. There are MANY students I know I could make a difference with if I could only take them home with me, but I can’t. Many people feel that school success is related to socieconomic status, and many times it does, but not at my school. Parents are too caught up in their own social lives, putting their children in sports etc. to place priority and value on their child’s education.
TEACHER IN WAITING
September 20th, 2011
4:46 pm
This afternoon I watched a video tape of a town hall meeting discussing the achievement gap. The panel consisted of Diane Ravitch, Michelle Rhee, and a few other distinguished guests. It was extremely enlightening and well worth the hour of my time it took to watch it. I am not a Rhee fan; she often seemed out of her depth and backtracked on her stance on a few occasions but she still contributed some worth while points that are worthy of further dialogue. Bear in mind the topic was to discuss the achievement gap only in the black community. Louis B. Gates opened up the debate with some jaw-dropping statistics:
In 1968, when MLK was assassinated, 35% of black children were living in poverty. Today that figure still sits at 35%.
Only 1 out of every 2 black men between the ages 18 and 24 and who actually graduated high school will find work; the others are either unemployed, incarcerated, or dead.
I know there will be those who spout that poverty is a myth (big screen tv, video games etc…) but the statistics look at the amount a person earns per year. I was suddenly divorced after 18yrs of marriage to a very successful businessman. I was left to raise 2 children by myself after he left to pursue his soul mate, who also happened to be a millionaire. He quit his job and quit paying CS while I was trying to put myself through school and provide a stable life for my children.. By all intents and purposes, I was living in poverty even though I was stuck in the trappings (big screen tv, minivan, etc.) that my marriage had provided me. So…. just take a moment and think that what you seen outwardly does not always tell the full story.
http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/video/separate-unequal-closing-education-gap-moderated-charlayne-hunter-gault
To Ms. Middle School and Others from Good Mother
September 20th, 2011
4:58 pm
You said “Learning does not stop when your child leaves my room. They are to complete homework, study for tests, and discuss what they did at school. This is the responsibility of the parent to monitor at home.”
I completely agree with you. I am trying to find a subject by subject “curriculum map” or somethign similar for k-5 for Atlanta Public Schools so that I can be as prepared as possible to help my child. I’ve found one helpful site I’ve posted here but I cannot find any sites for the other subjects. Does anyone know where I can find the curriculum map or similar site for k-5 at APS? Something like the link below, which describe at a high level what each unit will teach. My goal is to simply be able to understand the goals for each subject being taught now and to anticipate what will be taught in the future. I want to incorporate learning into as much as possible into our daily lives and not just “complete homework as assigned.”
Thanks, GM
http://www.atlanta.k12.ga.us/cms/lib/GA01000924/Centricity/Domain/262/1st_curriculum_map_10.pdf
@Beverly Fraud & @Really Amazed
September 20th, 2011
4:59 pm
@Beverly Fraud & @Really Amazed
If APS would just bring back Fat Beverly & Kathy “the man” Augustine, the district would lead all others in academic gains. Forget parental influence and culture, brute intimidation works!
Good Mother
September 20th, 2011
5:03 pm
I found the following link very helpful in understanding what my child is expected to learn and how it is being taught. I would love to have something like this for every subject but can only find math and science. Does anyone know where I can find similar information for social studies, reading, Spanish, art, music and physical education?
http://www.atlanta.k12.ga.us/cms/lib/GA01000924/Centricity/Domain/262/Grades_K-2_Mathematics_Standards_REVISED_September_11_2008a.pdf
Paulo977
September 20th, 2011
5:44 pm
Lisa
“have never once stepped into a classroom and attempted to teach a lesson, brought snack for kids who don’t have one, or told them you love them when a relative passes away. I bet you could not last a month or a week in my shoes. I bet you get an hour for lunch not 30 mins”
Telling it like it is ….
“What is she doing till 6 when she is supposed to have finished at 3:10? ” asked a friend about my daughter the other day.I could only stare at her as I am a retired teacher and couldn’t possibly explain in 5 minutes what my daughter was still doing at 6:00 pm!!!!
Don't Feed the Good Mother Troll
September 20th, 2011
6:06 pm
Good Mother is an idiot. This is a warning to those new to the blog. She spews her ignorance and hopes it upsets you (especially teachers) enough to take her bait. She is in need of attention and it is apparent that she is not getting attention at home because she is constantly on this blog. Please do not feed the Good Mother troll.
Good Teacher
September 20th, 2011
7:18 pm
I agree that a parent’s job is to send a well-rested, well-fed, appropriately dressed child to school on time with homework complete. I wish it were just that simple. Those are just a few of the things that affect a child’s ability to learn. I’d add so much more to that list. Spend quality time with your child. Make sure you are providing a safe and secure environment. Teach your child responsibility. Provide routine, which improves a child’s sense of security. Those who do these things naturally may not realize that there are so many children who are not so lucky to have parents who parent. The problem is more pervasive than I had imagined before entering the teaching profession. Parents are their child’s first teacher. Send me a child ready to learn, not just well dressed and fed, but really ready to learn, I will teach him and we will both be successful. Yes, some teachers are ineffective and should not be in the field. The vast majority, however, are teachers because we are passionate about helping children and thrive on the reward of seeing a successful, and very proud child reach his potential.
Another Teacher....
September 20th, 2011
7:45 pm
@ Do Not Feed the Good Mother Troll. Maybe this is a “teachable moment”………..?
Parent and Former Teacher
September 20th, 2011
8:08 pm
In the US, most of our teachers come from the bottom third of their graduating classes. In other countries that outperform us, they often recruit teachers from the top ten percent. Home life and subcultures absolutely DO matter, but come on already! To improve overall student achievement, we need to find a way to attract top-knotch candidates to the field.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
September 20th, 2011
8:15 pm
Anyone interested in finding out more information about Georiga’s standards and what is being taught in the classrooms should consult https://www.georgiastandards.org
gamom
September 20th, 2011
8:40 pm
I really really really bristle when any educator places blame on the parents. This causes an us VS them atmosphere and it happens time and time again on many articles, many media reports…ad nauseum. I will have to say this….I have raised my children to the best of my ability, I have supplemented my children’s education with educational extracurriculars. However, I am not a teacher, and quite frankly math was not ever my strong suit. I struggle to help my kids in this area, because quite simply….I DON”T get it. It’s beyond me. Henceforth, it is the teachers job to do what they do best – teach the material and inspire the kids to want to learn it. It is NOT the parents’ job to teach material THEY don’t understand themselves.. it is the teachers job. End of story. Quit with the blame game everyone! It’s tiresome. Instead, create a partnership with your parents and respect them as well. Most of us are doing the best we can with what we know too.
In addition… any educator, administrator, principal, superintendent that continues to allow corporal punishment in their school and/or system is a RED FLAG that they may be incompetent and not able to deal with children in a 21st century classroom. This archaic practice, similar to 19th century British practices is a massive failure and it smacks of poor educator and system quality.
devil's advocate
September 20th, 2011
9:35 pm
@ gamom – you said, “I really really really bristle when any educator places blame on the parents. This causes an us VS them atmosphere and it happens time and time again on many articles, many media reports…ad nauseum.”
Don;t you think you could swap ‘educator’ and ‘parents’ and still have a valid statement? Lost in this discussion is the question, “Why aren’t children being held responsible for their learning?” Parents and teachers are fighting each other instead of putting the onus of learning on the child where it belongs…the kids are getting off scott-free and loving it!
Playing devil’s advocate:
As a parent, can one admit that there are parents who do a poor job of parenting? It’s their kids who are yelling in the restaurant, grocery store, and on the airplane. It’s their kids with whom one may not want his or her kids playing.
As a teacher, can one admit that there are people in the building in whose class one might not want his or her children? That there are teachers that make one wonder from what matchcover school they ordered their diploma?
As adults, can one admit that children will often stretch the truth, place blame, and otherwise develop excuses to get themselves out of trouble and off the hook for work they don’t want to do??
Now that we’ve all learned none are perfect, can we move on? Can we work together? Can we all just get along??
Anonmom
September 20th, 2011
10:35 pm
I think some of the biggest issues we have is a refusal to acknowledge that it’s a “triangle” — in order to work, all players have to be good “participants” — we need excellent “educators” — this means teachers and their bosses (administrators and higher) who treat the teachers as professional and allow them to to do their job — it also means firing the ones who are not doing their job and who are not suited for the task (and they do exist as they do in all professions– doctors and lawyers are regularly sued for malpractice)) — it requires parents doing the job of raising children and not being their friends and not “messing them up for life” with completely dysfunctional childhoods (laugh now since the vast majority of children have dysfunctional childhoods — from the weathliest of the wealthy to the poorest of the poor — the kids need some “skin in the game” and a willingness to want to learn with parents willing to support that learning at home — certain cultures are more apt to do that (Asian and Jewish come to mind) and others less apt to do that. Nigerian blacks seem to be more apt to push education in America than native born blacks (this is from my very informal survey conducted via very close friends whose chilren are going to be incredibly successful). It requires a family structure — siblings with the same parents could be a great start — 2 parents in the househould who respect each other would also help but this, too, may be unrealistic and for many of these kids, school is an escape… Accept this and stick them in classrooms of only 15-20 homogenously grouped kids (and I’m not talking race or culture here — I’m talking ability — track them but let the tracking be flexible so they can be moved up and down) — a level 1 kid in with level 3 kids will be lost and the teacher will go stir crazy. The level 3 kid will be bored to tears and will start to create problems. If that level 1 kid is in with other leevel 1 kids, gee, they might actually start to learn something…. even if ithey are 2 and 3 grade levels behind. The last “prong” if you will, is a willingness to accept that the “bell curve” exists for a reason — everyone is born with their own strengths and weaknesses — just because a kid doesn’t read at a first grade level in kindergarten, doesn’t mean he or she can’t be reading at a first grade leval by the end of first grade … (probably a bad example). My middle son left kindergarten reading & comprehending at a 5th grade level and nothing changed by the end of 1st grade — his first grade teacher completely failed him but he still would have looked great on tests… because he was performing way above grade leval but that was where he began the year. My oldest started with the same teacher, not reading at all but by the end of the year was at a 3rd grade level — she did a good job for him — but, also, just something clicked for him… both are gifted but at different levels (93rd & 99th%) — a kid in the 50th % will have a different expeinece becuase that’s the way bell curvers work… I think that if we had vouchers, unlike the comments above (that were very well put forth), I think many schools (private and public) would become available — as there are in Europe (have you watched the Stocill report?) adn it would force the schools to “streamline” and focus on different “strenghts” and children — I think that all chilren would have a place to go that would be an “excellent fit” for them and parents would be forced to “have some skin in the game” — the way it is currently done– no one takes responsiblity for anything, each metro county spends a billion dollars a year in taxpayer money for a really )&$)&( result that will come back to bite us in the backsides 15-20 years from now as all of the kids are adults and can’t do squat or, worse, are tomorrow’s criminals because we have failed them today…. this is a crisis and we are spending plenty of money to do something about it. The current system is not working and we can not blame the teachers entirely or the parents entirely — it’s the way the system is set up and desiged — Europe and Asia have working systems and they spend much less money (yes, their populatins are homogeneous and that makes a bit of a difference but we aren’t seeking to learn from what they are doing right … we just keep dumping good money after bad to get a weaker and weaker result and worry more and more about egos and political correctness.
Lisa
September 21st, 2011
12:03 am
Come into my class and ask my students, “Who is responsible for your learning?” They will say,”I am.” Who else? “You are” Who else? “Our parents” I hold myself, parents, and students accountable and I have no problem reminding parents if they want their child to be successful, we all have to be on the same page. I understand many parents choose to not be accessible to their child’s education.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
September 21st, 2011
12:47 am
Lisa,
Hang in there.
And THANKS for an invitation to your classroom. An “open classroom door” is, im my experience, an early indicator of teacher effectiveness and student learning.
Atlanta retired principal, yeh i am black
September 21st, 2011
1:22 am
Silly rabbits, it’s about parents and nothing else. The problem with so many of our children is the fact that many of them lack parental involvement, they lack guidance so they fail. As a former principal in the Atlanta Public schools it was amazing how much energy we put into blaming teachers for failure and how little attention we placed on parents and community. Many of the children that I have encountered are lazy; hell shiftless if you ask me, and they do not see the connection between schooling and success.
Many African American parents do not see the connection between their involvement and their children success. Freedom has giving many of them a voice that is displaced by blaming institutions instead of their responsibility as the primary teacher. They come to the school angry and almost always ready to blame everyone but themselves for the basic lack of training they have afforded to their child. Additionally, the former superintendent insists in her every word that if children failed it was because of the teacher. I wish I could have disagreed with her in public and still have a job. I knew for years that the reason why so many of our children failed was because of the lack of connection between home and school.
Also, since so many African Americans have been afforded a poor education themselves they are unable to communicate effectively with the school and become blamers instead of helpers. Many of them, African American females come to the school angry and ready to fight because they are angry at the fathers that left them at home with these children. I believe that African American females are the biggest distraction to student receiving a quality education. I said it – black females are to blame for the reason why black males are out of control. They let these males become the man of the house and guard them like Parana’s to a point where they are never wrong in the home and they come to the school with the same attitude.
If we want our children to become educated we need to remove them from these uncivilized homes and place them in boarding schools away from their mothers and teach them discipline. Here is another statement, too many black females are in charge of public schools and they come with their excessive baggages and compound the problems even more. I am writing a book about my experience in Atlanta Public Schools, schedule to go into print soon. “I know why Black boys won’t learn – Black females”
Also look out for “The African American Female Mob, the Atlanta Public Schools Experience” also scheduled to be in print. It’s time for the truth and many won’t like it.
D. A. Ward
September 21st, 2011
2:19 am
Being the mother of four children, I have appreciation for the frustrations and complaints expressed by parents concerning the state of the educational process; however, being a 9th grade English teacher for the past 11 years, I also have appreciation for how difficult it is to be on the other side.
Reading the varied comments on these pages, it is evident that the issue of ‘blame’ is a passionate topic. My question for the readers is…is there really only one cause for failure or dysfunction?
And really, why blame any one person/institution at all? Will fixing the blame solve the problem? Not likely.
Besides, logical arguments can be made for all sides:
some children have dysfunctional home lives that have negative consequences on the their behavior
some parents do not take the time to care for or read to their children, make sure homework is done
some teachers are poor instructors and do not make positive connections with their students
some principals make bad decisions without regard to the consequences
some lawmakers make bad policy decisions
Some…but not all.
As a teacher I have a variety of stories in my room, some tragic, some well-adjusted, some searching, but I can only do so much in a 45 minute class period. But I have faith that if I call home with a concern, the parent I speak to will partner with me in determing a course of action to guide that student toward academic success and a lifetime of achievement.
There is more than enough blame to go around, but in the end it serves no good purpose.
We are all products of our life expereinces: what we have seen, where we have been, and who we have known all combine to form our core values, strengths, and weaknesses. We have a responsibility to one another to be the best we can be and bring about the best in others.
Like the saying goes – It takes a village to raise a child.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
September 21st, 2011
4:41 am
Atlanta retired principal-yeh I am black,
What systematic efforts have we educators persistently- no intractably-undertaken to encourage parent involvement?
Dr NO / Mr Sunshine
September 21st, 2011
7:24 am
Wow! Lots of excuses, blaming and denial here. Bottomline. Mom/Dad if your child is flunking out its your issue to address and if you refuse to take responsibility it just proves you really dont love your children and perhaps you should get spade or neutered so no more of your offspring will be sentenced to a living hell.
dcb
September 21st, 2011
7:39 am
Not so surprising, but certainly quite revealing how the greater majority of the comments in this blog again attempt to “lay blame” rather than look at the major point of Brown’s op-ed piece – before true evaluation can begin, let’s look at the source of the issue rather than the vehicle of measure. A few of the responses hit the nail right on the head – the student(s) who come to the school place unmotivated, without direction, and with little or no expectations or involvement/oversight from the adults in charge at home are growing in number and minimize any impact the school and/or teacher may have on their “learning” as measured by any evaluative tool – including test scores. No one is suggesting throwing out the test scores but the only thing they will do is verify book-learning progress or lack thereof. The suggestion here was to put your money and efforts first to programs that will give teachers and schools the ammunition they need to truly allow their students a chance to show increased test scores – programs for parents and prospective parents that lead to the acceptance of parenting responsibilities that only experience in the classroom can verify are the key ingredient to student progress.
Anonmom
September 21st, 2011
8:13 am
Retried Principal: Thank you for your thoughts — more of you need to speak out — I really think there are vast cultural differences and they need to be brought to the forefront. Current cultural “norms” are keeping your culture “in chains” and the culture needs to fix itself… I’ve heard folks that grew up pre-LBJ and during the Brown v. Bd of Ed speak (e.g Gene Walker and Judge Hatchett & this would also apply to the First Lady) — and they speak quite eloquently about their families being together and caring about their educations. All of them are very well educated. Their families insisted upon them being well educated and they received their educations (as did Mayor Campbell… the list could go on, but there is a real age component to it). I’m afraid that Brown v Bd. of Ed and LBJ did much damage to this sense of “I’ve got to get an education” and “Let’s be a Family” within the community (I’m not in the community — I”m looking in and the community needs to address this from within — Bill Cosby has been trying to). I see vast differences in the Jewish and Asian communities (yes, I’m painting with broad strokes and these are generalities but the prison populations would seem to support what I”m saying (yes, there are some Asian gangs… but the percentages are somewhat small and Madoff is currently in jail so exceptions exist). It is important to stop blaming and to tackle — the political parties love to use the races for political purposes but it’s not been helpful and it is working to play into their hands — the question is: What are the long-term consequences? Is that what they want? Who is they? What, exactly, do they want? Is anyone really thinking these things through or are they just looking to get at whatever money they can get at because there are vast sums at money in the game? (This isn’t just happening in Atlanta).
Reality
September 21st, 2011
8:22 am
@Dr. Spinks –
Please be very careful. Do you really want our tax dollars targeted toward educating our children used to fund the effort to get parents to ‘do their job?’
I just see this as another expectation that politicans and society expects of schools which are already over burdened and under funded.
MHO
September 21st, 2011
9:35 am
I find myself wondering how ‘offer a basic eduction to all’ became ‘ensure a stellar and life-changing education to all’
Seems both sides – Democrat and Republican, rich and poor — have become these massive entitlement beasts when it comes to education.
Maybe if we dropped the entitlement/customer service message and focused on offering a basic education it would help?
MHO
September 21st, 2011
9:37 am
Or is it all just about using schools to sell real estate and attract business now?
maybe that is the problem
Good father
September 21st, 2011
10:05 am
I don’t think it’s “parent-bashing.”
It’s a question of cultural values, and in the South we just don’t put the value on education found in other parts of the US or abroad. Look at our flagship university–best known for football and basketball. Look at our “best” college (Emory)–in many parts of the US it would be strictly middle of the pack (Emory boosters notwithstanding). Look at the comments on this thread–one example “It is NOT the parents’ job to teach material THEY don’t understand themselves..”–maybe if education were a higher value a./you would have been pushed to understand by your parents and teachers when you were young and b./you’d value your own child’s education enough to make the effort to understand the topic at hand well enough to help him or her.
There’s a reason some subgroups (Asians, some immigrants) do better than the group as a whole here–the value (OK, maybe overweening emphasis in some cases) placed on education as the key to success. It’s not racial, it’s not the teachers’ fault (other than teachers being part of the overall culture here) it’s just a matter of what our culture identifies as important.
Go DAWGS!
Truth Be Told
September 21st, 2011
10:13 am
For capitalism to thrive there must be a source of cheap labor, hence the under educated are instrumental to our economic survival –as perverted as it sounds, it’s true. First we tried to enslave Native Americans, then Africans and now the quest for cheap labor continues through outsourcing in underdeveloped nations.
Structurally, we cannot afford an educated society. It is anathema to free market capitalism.
Fact: Highly educated people want higher pay
To DA Ward from Good Mother
September 21st, 2011
10:47 am
I enjoyed reading your sage comments. Very well said.
To Good Teacher from Good Mother
September 21st, 2011
11:00 am
You wrote: “Spend quality time with your child. Make sure you are providing a safe and secure environment. Teach your child responsibility. Provide routine, which improves a child’s sense of security.”
Yes, of course. I consider those things “instinctive.”
To Unschooled from Good Mother
September 21st, 2011
11:06 am
RE: “if you paid to have someone baby sit them when they were a toddler, then you it was and should be feasible today.”
Not in my case, my income was sliced in half and I now have zero benefits. Do you know the price of COBRA for a family each month? It’s amazingly expensive.
I am now also financially supporting my aged and fragile parents.
They call us the “sandwich generation.” We are taking care of our own children while simultaneously providing for our parents all within the worst economy since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Life it difficult but I do not complain. I thank the Lord every day that I have a job and I have always lived frugally and efficiently without garish, conspicuous consumption.
Claudia
September 21st, 2011
3:59 pm
At a faculty meeting several years ago, we (the faculty and staff of a large metropolitan high school) listened as a speaker from “High Schools that Work,” one of the organizations consulted to help improve student achievement, explained how we could teach more effectively. At a pause, one of my colleagues asked the question that screamed in my own brain: “What about students who read on a fifth-grade level?” The speaker seemed thrown off, but only momentarily; he quickly recovered and stated, “Well, then, they shouldn’t be in ninth grade.” My colleague replied, “Try eleventh.”
I loved my job, my students, my colleagues, my school’s administrative staff–I loved being a teacher. It has been the lowest-paying (per hour), most time-consuming, emotionally draining, and thoroughly difficult job I have ever had (apart from parenting–no surprise there). I lasted only seven years. I didn’t leave because of the salary, the students, the parents, or the local or county administrators. I had simply burned out.
Most parents and other taxpayers do not realize the range of student ability or motivation in one classroom. For instance, in nearly every eleventh-grade class I taught (whether “advanced” or not), students’ reading levels typically ranged from elementary school (sometimes first or second grade) to post-high school. In my own experience, for instance, included in one class of forty students were at least a dozen students for whom English was their second or third language; proficiency manifested itself according to a student’s motivation and the length of time the student had lived in the United States (or another English-speaking country). Several students had disabilities (e.g., blindness and autism), about a dozen had individual education plans (IEPs), and no fewer than ten more actually needed IEPs but didn’t have them (often because a parent didn’t want a child “labeled” as having special needs). This was one of only three classes where I have had the luxury of a legally mandated paraprofessional to help implement IEPs; but IEPs often require that students “break out into small groups” for group work–where?? Even the computer lab down the hall had been appropriated for classroom use due to lack of space.
Say space is not an issue. Say we have only twenty-five students in a required American literature/composition eleventh-grade class. Ten are likely to read somewhere around grade level; five may be well above (college level), and the rest fall slightly to significantly below grade level. Good teachers know all about scaffolding, graphic organizers, audio aids, etc., and incorporate them into our lessons. We may even be able to help a student to rise a couple of grade levels in the course of one semester–with individual assistance on our part and genuine effort on the part of the student. But how did a seventeen-year-old get to eleventh or twelfth grade when he or she can read only at an elementary-school level? How can the student read the requisite texts (Hawthorne, Poe, Emerson, et al.), which many adults would find daunting–not to mention the scientific language in biology and physics textbooks? (And yes, we may need to update the literature canon–but that requires an additional investment in class sets of novels. One year alone I spent almost $1000 of my own money to furnish classes with paperbacks our school couldn’t afford to buy us.)
I miss teaching. I miss my kids and my colleagues. I still go back and volunteer at the school where I taught, but I have turned down several teaching jobs because I cannot get sucked back into the vortex. It hurts too much to give all my time and energy to something–to sacrifice time with family and friends– and know all the while that I cannot reach some . . . maybe most? . . . of my students. Even spending every waking moment at school, working on lesson plans, or writing suggestions and notes on their essays, I cannot give them or help them achieve what they need.
Ole Guy
September 21st, 2011
4:00 pm
Let’s keep one reality in focus…those of us who were fortunate to grow up in the “Leave It to Beaver” era; who had a stay-at-home Mom whose seeming only function was to have cookies and milk standing by after the Nuns released us from their death grips of fear; who had a Dad who provided for all and still found the time to “get involved”…that era is, through socio/economic forces far beyond our immediate control, is far far gone; probably never to return. While women have found their rightful seats in what was one a mans’ domain…the professions and executive ranks…economic realities have brought about the dual working couples. All this, whether by choice or chance of life, have left the younger gens, more or less, out in the cold. The reality, therefore, lies upon the “vilage”, more so now than ever before, to take up the slack in guiding that younger generation; that means ALLOWING THE EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY, THE TEACHERS, GREATER CONTROL ON THEIR PROFESSION.
We’re not going to simply write off a generation or two simply because no one had the guts to take command of their professional responsibilities. I know it’s getting to be a broken record, teachers…TAKE COMMAND, DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO FOR THIS GENERATION, AND, WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, TAKE A LITTLE ACTIVE PRIDE IN WHAT YOU DO. That means, among other things, organize your profession into a collective bargaining environment. As it now stands, you are all but moot in your professional careers, while administrators and politicians, whose only goals are political grandstanding, virtually run the educational circus. DO WHAT’S RIGHT.
Ole Gal
September 21st, 2011
9:41 pm
@ Ole Guy. How exactly do you propose the K-12 teachers in this state create Teachers Unions and make them legal? If you can’t suggest a way, then stop volunteering others to risk their careers.
Anonmom
September 21st, 2011
10:13 pm
Claudia — private schools are different — smaller class sizes make a huge difference and when the classes are homogenous — it’s a huge difference. Some school foucs on really bright kids and others focus on “specialties” (e.g. the Speech School or the Cottage School) — there’s a place that could really use you…..
Teacher
September 22nd, 2011
11:07 am
I can’t agree with the writer more. i teach in a system where there is first of all an overwhelming disparity between the schools themselves. Schools on the northside have all the best equipment, supplies, technology and resources. Thats partly because the parents are very aggressive in their demands for better and their willingness to make up the difference between what the school can do and what is needed. Can’t blame them for that. On the otherhand, many of the schools on the southside lack in every area. PTSA meetings are poorly attended, parental involvement is extremely low and discipline is a constant problem all day long. That is a cultural problem. No test in the worl can help a teacher overcome that sort of things.
In my community teachers have to deal with kids that are woefully disrespectful, frequently late or tardy,come to school undernourished, poorly cared for and to top it off unsupportive parents who only show up when the child lies about being mistreated.We spend on the average 20 minutes per subject dealing with discipline which includes playing the dozens, fighting, namecalling, excessive talking and not following directions. Our PTA meetings are poorly attended by fewer than 10 parents unless we feed them and them we may have 25 parents.
The teachers work hard and are often asked to go far beyond the call of duty on a daily basis. Come in early, stay late and meet all day. When we express a need for more parents to take responsibility we are always told you can’t blame the children and it is what it is. Never once do the administration ever want to consider that the problem lies at home. Parents do your job so we can do our.