The NEA: Hold students and parents “accountable”
If the candidates aren’t going to take my advice, surely the National Education Association isn’t going to either. But still, let me offer one suggestion to its executive director, John Wilson: Find a different line of attack against merit pay than this one:
The unions oppose [merit pay] because it puts too much emphasis on one measure and doesn’t consider factors outside teachers’ control, John Wilson, the executive director of the 3.2-million-member NEA, said in an interview here.
“It’s very tough to hold the faculty accountable for test scores without holding students and parents accountable,” he said.
That’s a great point, John. Let’s figure out a way to hold third-graders “accountable” for learning to read. “Suzy, until you decode those ten words, no recess for you!” Or parents: “Mr. Smith, we’re going to garnish your wages unless you show up for next week’s PTA meeting.”
Mr. Wilson should just be honest: the NEA will support merit pay when hell freezes over. Which, according to Al Gore, is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
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August 29th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I disagree with your analysis of John Wilson’s point. As a former high school and middle school teacher, I think that students and parents have to accept responsibility for their academic achievement.
How can a teacher (however inspirational) teach a child effectively if that child skips school frequently, comes late to class, misbehaves, does not complete homework assignments, and is not disciplined by his parents for any of this behavior.
This is comparable to judging (and punishing) an employer if an employee fails to show up for work frequently, or comes to work drunk. What would the business world say in that instance? They would say, “That employee is irresponsible and should be fired.”
They would never say (and neither would I), “That employer obviously is useless. His company should be sold to a competitor.” I see no difference between an irresponsible 18 year old employee and an irresponsible 18 year old high school student. Why in one case do we heap all blame on the teacher and no blame on the teenager, and in the other case heap all blame on the teenager and no blame on the employer? That is nothing but sheer misunderstanding (at the least) or blatant hypocrisy (at the worst).
August 30th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Many times, the schools with the greatest needs have teachers will the least amount of experience. A teacher is often expected to analyze on a daily basis not only the academic needs but the psychological needs of the his/her students. Try to find a full time psychologist in a high poverty school. They
are few and far in between.
I have found many bright students of all races and genders who are overwhelmed with the needs of their family to the point the point that they can not fully focus on the academics that are taught within the scope of the 6.5 hour school day.
I have first hand experience in dealing with elementary aged students who
are the caregivers to younger siblings while their parent is working at night.
This is not an excuse but a reality. Also, why have so many systems moved
away from vocational high schools? We have many bright children who
would work to stay in school if they would have the chance to enter a
vocational school for their high school years. Believe it or not, not all children
have the desire to go to college and not all families have the means to send
their children. On that note, I have never met a child who did not want to
be successful once they left school. However, in our country’s push to “educate” all children we have left many students behind. We are selling our country short! Real short!
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:02 pm
A student who does not complete homework assignments should do supervised homework during school hours.
See, e.g.: Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Students Don’t Learn by DuFour et al.
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I think that students and parents have to accept responsibility for their academic achievement.
Wealthy districts have got this down to a T.
Here’s Richard Elmore:
“When I returned to visit schools in more affluent communities, I began to see them in a very different light. On paper, these schools’ performance usually looked reasonably good. From the inside, however, they looked jarringly different from the improving high-poverty schools I had observed.
One of the most powerful differences was that teachers and administrators tended to define student learning difficulties as a problem to be solved by students and their families, rather than one to be solved by schools. A common response to student learning problems in these districts is to suggest that parents seek private tutoring. At a recent gathering of about 300 educators from high-income schools and districts, I asked how many could tell me the proportion of students in their schools who were enrolled in private tutoring. Only four or five hands went up. But among those respondents, the answers ranged from 20 to 40 percent.”
What (So-Called) Low-Performing Schools Can Teach (So-Called) High-Performing Schools
That is life in a nominally high performing school. If your child is “struggling,” you can hire a tutor. In my own district a parent can hire a tutor who teaches in his child’s school.
School funding is $25,000 per pupil; teachers charge an additional $80 to $125/hour to tutor district pupils.