If you have any interest in the US education system, whether as a parent, student, teacher, policymaker or innocent bystander, Valerie Strauss' September 27, 2010 blog article in the Washington Post is a must read. She correctly identifies student economic status as a significant factor in student achievement. Poverty has physical, sociological and psychological consequences in the classroom; to disregard this irrefutably documented fact is to ignore the elephant in the room, says Strauss. Sadly, this is precisely what most current education policy does.
This head-in-the-sand attitude was evident in the Bush era "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) legislation perpetrated on schools. NCLB was a creation of Ted Kennedy and the Democrats, pursuant to George W. Bush's effort to share the power, though it is generally credited to Bush. The centerpiece of NCLB was so-called "high stakes testing," a concept which sounds good on the surface. Testing student progress to determine achievement is a valid concept, however, the one-size-fits-all nature of the NCLB mandate falls prey to the popular habit of ignoring how elemental poverty is in elementary schools.
In Michigan, we use the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) to measure student achievement. The state standards and procedures are very strict, almost draconian. This year, for example, each school is allowed to exempt from taking the MEAP only a very small percentage of its population as special education students. The problem here is that in a high poverty area, such as many of our inner cities, a majority of students often qualify for the designation, although they may or may not be in special education programs. (In some schools, the word "majority" is an understatement.)
The result of this failure to exempt students who are not capable of performing anywhere near grade level is obvious. Schools in these areas chronically fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP.) The additional ramifications of this situation are serious. State funding can be jeopardized. Federal programs tied to AYP will be withdrawn. New initiatives like "Race to the Top" use test scores or AYP measures. Some pay-for-performance programs also use the scores from these standardized tests. As Strauss implies in her blog, the best teachers in the world can not always work miracles if large numbers of their students have learning difficulties which are endemic to their neighborhood.
We must devise a more sensible, caring approach to school reform. The Bible, both Old and New Testaments, says more about our responsibility to the poor among us than just about any other subject. Education is a key element in the effort to reduce poverty; better educated people tend to make better money than those less well trained. The Chinese proverb says, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." The "War on Poverty" has given away a ton of fish. It's about time we started focusing on more effective ways to train fisherman.
This head-in-the-sand attitude was evident in the Bush era "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) legislation perpetrated on schools. NCLB was a creation of Ted Kennedy and the Democrats, pursuant to George W. Bush's effort to share the power, though it is generally credited to Bush. The centerpiece of NCLB was so-called "high stakes testing," a concept which sounds good on the surface. Testing student progress to determine achievement is a valid concept, however, the one-size-fits-all nature of the NCLB mandate falls prey to the popular habit of ignoring how elemental poverty is in elementary schools.
In Michigan, we use the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) to measure student achievement. The state standards and procedures are very strict, almost draconian. This year, for example, each school is allowed to exempt from taking the MEAP only a very small percentage of its population as special education students. The problem here is that in a high poverty area, such as many of our inner cities, a majority of students often qualify for the designation, although they may or may not be in special education programs. (In some schools, the word "majority" is an understatement.)
The result of this failure to exempt students who are not capable of performing anywhere near grade level is obvious. Schools in these areas chronically fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP.) The additional ramifications of this situation are serious. State funding can be jeopardized. Federal programs tied to AYP will be withdrawn. New initiatives like "Race to the Top" use test scores or AYP measures. Some pay-for-performance programs also use the scores from these standardized tests. As Strauss implies in her blog, the best teachers in the world can not always work miracles if large numbers of their students have learning difficulties which are endemic to their neighborhood.
We must devise a more sensible, caring approach to school reform. The Bible, both Old and New Testaments, says more about our responsibility to the poor among us than just about any other subject. Education is a key element in the effort to reduce poverty; better educated people tend to make better money than those less well trained. The Chinese proverb says, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." The "War on Poverty" has given away a ton of fish. It's about time we started focusing on more effective ways to train fisherman.
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