LWVeducation
Have you seen the latest headlines: Florida is the only state meeting NAEP standards? You might think we have the highest standards in the country.
What it really means is that Florida is the only state which reports five levels on its state assessment that correspond to the five levels of NAEP. This is a good thing.
It is not enough.
The arts change how students learn. Remember when I posted the description of Rawlings Is Singing, and Dancing and Acting and Creating Art? This school has been one of the lowest achieving in the district. It was transformed, but the children are still there. Reread the post. Then, watch this video of the school’s first performance.
Rawlings is a traditional public school making a difference in children’s lives and their perceptions of themselves. The arts focus on the joy in learning. The arts teachers and core curriculum faculty are working together to build students’ academic and behavioral skills in ways that might seem invisible to children, but you can definitely see how it is done. The teachers describe the process. It is fun to see.
I do not care what school grade Rawlings has had in the past. Those grades have little to do with the excellence demonstrated by the teachers and students. The State must give credit where credit is due.
Should we test babies? How else do you get the message across about the importance of preschool for brain development? Even if you do test toddlers, there is disagreement over what to do about delayed development. Some researchers argue persuasively that instructive play is the most effective strategy. Others focus on the need to develop language skills in prescriptive ways. Regardless of philosophy, where this learning occurs matters.
The Center for American Progress report Examining Quality Across the Pre-school to Third Grade Continuum finds that gaps in learning are apparent at nine months and significant gaps are noticeable at 24 months. By kindergarten , forty-eight percent of poor children meet school readiness levels while 75% of moderate to high income children are ready. Children from low income families do attend preschools, but a study of these schools revealed quality gaps.
Five types of programs were evaluated using a 7 point scale from the Early Childhood Ratings-Revised. The study found that access to high quality early childhood education is limited and varies by type and by racial and socio-economic background. On average, all programs were above the minimal quality level (rating of 3). None of the programs, however, achieved an average rating of five to qualify as ‘good quality’.
Even within the same type of program, there is a range of quality. For example, the quality of Head Start programs for blacks on average, tends to be of much lower than for Head Start centers which enroll primarily white or Hispanic children.
The classroom experiences of children from preschool to grade 3 differ. Children from low income families and children of color are less likely to receive instruction in crucial literacy and numeracy skills. In order to close achievement gaps in the early grades, preschoolers need support to develop not only basic skills but also appropriate higher order thinking and problem solving skills. In early elementary grades–kindergarten through second grade teachers appear to spend less time developing the higher order thinking skills that are critical for school success.
“By the end of kindergarten, children are expected to gain knowledge in letters, print recognition and phoneme awareness, recognize words, begin to read, spell, and write; and demonstrate increased vocabulary and knowledge of the world.”
The report concludes that “Academic skills alone may not help students develop the skills they need …Standards such as sharing, self control and building relationships with peers and adults have generally been left out for elementary, middle and high school students”.
The solutions are obvious but not easy. Children from deprived backgrounds need access to high quality early education. This will require greater investments at federal, state, and local levels. Standards should be aligned and include consistent metrics and data systems to track access to quality between preschool and third grade. Teacher preparation programs and professional development programs must incorporate information about children’s development in all domains to support higher order skill building.
The debate in the media challenges the critical thinking and problem solving standards introduced through the Common Core. Supporters, however, decry the limitations of didactic teaching and learning strategies. The operative words are ‘what children should know and be able to do’. Not all children may reach any given standard, but the objectives for instruction and access to quality must be clear. Instructional strategies will and should vary. Teacher preparation and development programs must focus on teachers’ content knowledge, developing effective problem solving and and higher order skills teaching strategies along with the methods to develop the social and emotional skills children need to be successful.
The problems are obvious. The learning goals are clear. What is missing are consensus and commitment. Change must be possible without imposing arbitrary standards and punitive measures. A commitment to changes in funding priorities at federal, state, and local levels must be made. If parents believed that a coherent strategy, well implemented was possible, their suspicions about the intrusive collection of data on children and the profiteering motives related to private sector involvement in curriculum and assessment might diminish.
Which states get it right? Not Florida. It was one of eight states that received an overall grade of ‘F’ when its grades were averaged across the categories studied. The Network for Public Education rated states based on six criteria.
For each category, I combined the percentages of A, B and C grades received across states. I was surprised at the results. Relatively few states (11) use test scores to punish students and teachers, but Florida is one of those that do. You can see the combined percentages (think of them as passing scores) at the end of each of the criteria.
I have something positive to say about the Walton Foundation report on online charters. Yes, it is true that the Foundation has spent billions of dollars on school choice and launched many online charter schools. They decided to evaluate their investment, however, and the results were very disturbing.
Florida and Arizona are the big school choice states. Nationally, most (86%) of children attend traditional public schools. In Florida, about 80% of school age children attend public schools. Not surprising is the fact that both states are near the bottom in public school funding. Somehow choice is marketed as a way to improve educational opportunity, but the reality is different. Choice is cheaper but not better. A summary of the National School Board report follows. The full report can be accessed here.
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I saw a bit of trivia in the Tampa Bay Times the other day. It made me laugh or cry, not sure which, at life’s absurdities.
Based on VAM achievement gain scores only, 32 teachers in 18 districts had highly effective evaluations and 5 districts had elementary teachers who consistently earned unsatisfactory ratings over 4 years. Such small numbers can only mean that VAM scores are worthless.
There are 175,006 teachers in Florida. Could it just possibly be that VAM scores reflect which students are assigned to a teacher rather than which teacher is assigned to a class? It does not take high level critical thinking to answer this question.
The Florida legislature could come up with a better evaluation system. Almost any one of the options would be better if laced with a little common sense.
Are charter schools an emotional response by inner city low income families to long standing state funding inequities? A University of Virginia Law Review article addresses concerns that school funding inequities in Black urban areas lead to a tolerance of unfettered growth in charter schools.
The federal government support for charters also feeds the expansion without sufficient regulation. The net result may be a bubble and crash much like the recent financial crisis. What should be done to avoid a cataclysmic fall that could destroy communities?
Mother Jones summarizes the three practices that lead to serious mismanagement. I add a summary of the status Florida’s legislation to address these concerns.
Jeff Eakins, Superintendent in Hillsborough County warns parents that the meaning of school grades is not only different, it is inaccurate. The school grade formula is new this year. The test on which the grades are based is also new.
This is not the real problem with this year’s grades.
The League asked the Florida State Board of Education: “What Next?” What should be happening to fix problems, not just point fingers?
The New York Times published some solutions that are working in Union City, New Jersey. Note that it is not Newark, New Jersey where big money and celebrities tried to impose charter school solutions. Less hoopla and more methodical, careful community planning make a difference in Union City. See how click here.
