Things educators know about schooling that the public needs to know
It has been 32 years since "A Nation at Risk" was published. The report, issued in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan's National Commission on Excellence in Education, established the belief that schools across the nation were failing, and that we needed to demand more of our teachers and our students.
"A Nation at Risk" was the blueprint for our country's hyperfocus on ‘measurable growth’ that education stakeholders experience today. It catalyzed a shift in the American concept of education. Outcomes, not input, would determine the quality of instruction. Standards, not knowledge, would dictate what gets taught, how, and for how long. Students’ “seat time” would be favored over other activities that required physical engagement.
Over a decade after many of the tenets from the report were institutionalized in 2001 through the No Child Left Behind Act and further validated with the Race to the Top initiative in 2009 (under the premise that these policies were necessary for the United States to maintain its competitive nature) the results have been mixed.
The idea that American schools would have to overhaul curricula and expectations based on ideas plucked primarily from the business world did not resonate well with educators. To this day, teachers who leave the profession cite the emphasis on accountability as the reason: Why make students demonstrate growth from one lesson to the next, when all available research shows cognitive development is far more complex, different for each child, and in many cases, difficult to measure.
The effects of such policies are far more prevalent in urban public schools, where poverty is clustered. Here are some truths that are self-evident to educators, but might not be as clear to the public at large.
1. Predictability is a luxury seldom experienced in urban districts. From year to year, districts across major cities have to contend with whether or not they will have adequate funds to maintain buildings, academic programs, staffing levels, roll out new initiatives, or planning that goes beyond 180 days. This has been the norm for my district, where the conversations in spring and summer turn to how much money is left to begin the following year, or how big the hole in the budget is, and if so, who will be laid off or what will be cut.
2. Class size matters. Educators know if there is one proven strategy that helps students gain skills and knowledge is small class sizes. Contrary to popular belief, the cost of maintaining small class sizes pays for itself. This is well documented in the National Education Association’s 2008 policy brief, "Class Size Matters: A Proven Reform Strategy." The NEA’s report showed that a cost-benefit analysis of the famous STAR project estimates that reducing class sizes from 22 to 15 in grades K-3 results in a $2 return on every $1 spent. Currently, the three kindergarten classrooms in my school average 25 students, and the two 1st grades stand at over 30.
3. Standardized assessments are a poor predictor of success or ability. Daily, students Things educators know about schooling that the public needs to know | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:
