Posted on 12/16/2005 3:48:20 PM PST by NormsRevenge
In 2005 California increased the education budget by $3 billion and poured $50 billion into schools at the rate of more than $10,000 per pupil. Yet there is little to show for these efforts. Student achievement remains low and the dropout rate is high. Teacher quality varies widely from school to school and the state lacks an accurate way to measure student progress. Throughout this past year, California missed crucial opportunities to enhance accountability and boost achievement.
Not giving more choice to parents and students trapped at low-performing schools. Federal legislation gives parents whose children are in failing schools the option of private tutors and the right to transfer to a better public school. But few parents with children in under-performing schools know the status of their children’s schools or are aware of the right to transfer. Many districts do not inform parents of their choices or deny transfer requests outright. And although some public charter schools have shown tremendous success in improving achievement in urban and minority areas, charter schools still face stiff opposition from the education establishment. Many parents and students trapped in failing campuses still have no choice of getting into a better school.
Failing to recognize that all teachers are not equal. California failed to link a teacher’s pay to performance, rigorous evaluations, and willingness to take on challenging environments. Under the current system the Teacher of the Year is paid the same as the teacher who put in the minimum effort. Seniority alone should not be the determinant of a teacher’s pay.
Failing to reform tenure. In California, most primary and secondary teachers receive permanent status, or tenure, after completing a two-year probation. Once tenured, it is virtually impossible to fire teachers regardless of poor performance. A tenured teacher cannot be dismissed solely for failing to improve student achievement. Worse, if students consistently fail to advance under one teacher, there is no explicit provision that allows districts to commence the dismissal process. Proposition 74 on the November ballot would have been a small step in fixing the problem. The electorate missed the opportunity reform teacher tenure.
Failing to stop exorbitant union contracts from bankrupting our schools. Exorbitant union contracts are currently outstripping state revenue and limiting districts from contracting out for cheaper services in facilities and maintenance. These factors contribute to unnecessarily high costs in education, which means fewer dollars go to students in the classroom.
Failing to implement a value-added model of assessment. California’s current method of assessment provides a partial and often inaccurate picture of how students are really doing and the results are often of little help to teachers. Test-score reports focus on average test scores and growth at the school level, overlooking the needs of the individual student. California failed to implement a measurement model that provides information on how well individual students are progressing toward subject-matter proficiency from year to year.
Failing to improve teacher subject-matter competency. The National Council on Teacher Quality gave California an “F” grade on its system of ensuring the subject-matter competency of veteran teachers. The system allows too many teachers deficient in subject matter to be labeled as competent.
In California, state and local spending on education has grown by more than $11 billion since 1998. The state may increase education spending even more in 2006 but until California gets serious about reform, the results in student achievement will not keep pace.
Mo' Money .. Mo' Money .. Mo' Money!!!
Some things never change.
yeah, let's just throw more money at a problem that starts at home. no inspiration from the parents, no drive to succeed. I'm 20, senior in college (Mechanical Engineering), and I can honestly say that I owe my parents so much for how far I've gotten, and will get. Not my public school district throwing money around.
Thank your parents for all of us and Good Luck in the future.
will do! and thanks!
No kidding. A little work with mom and dad after classes is worth double what they're paying already.
Alabama: showin' 'em Cali-fornians how to learn. ;)
Tis true! ;)
(And as a native southerner, I'm allowed to say that.)
I wonder if anyone in the education establishment has figured out how much money is enough. It seems the more they get, the more they want and the worse they do. So how much is enough?
As the article points out, there are two things to show for it:
Student achievement remains low...
... and the dropout rate is high.
What more do you want?
The unspeaking truth is the fly in the ointment and the elephant in the living room can rear their ugly heads... but hush, don’t expect those who refuse to assimilate and those who do not respect education, to be suggested as being even remotely responsible for anything but mowing the grass at these school yards.
You said it before I could. Believe me, everyone with sense has already connected the dots.
To read something inspirational about how this can be fixed:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/16/MNGAKG93SS1.DTL
He gets results. bottom line
This was the California model until recently. The "learning streams" were called grades and you had to accomplish specific levels of mastery to advance from one to the next.
Have we abandoned grade levels in California?
I am NOT talking about grades - most emphatically so, unless the word be used to denote student quality, like in the expression "of the lower grade". Once upon a time and in a different realm there was a special school where the 7th graders were doing things like 5-dimensional geometry. [School admission was by competitive exam]. Hopefully this could give some idea of what I was talking about. The duller students, if present in the class and not segregated away, would slow and drag everybody down to their - lowest common denominator - level.
There was a down side to this particular experiment. The brain drain within the system resulted in a leveling downward for the whole of the system. In a smaller system next door, applying strict discipline, system wide, brought that whole system up.
There is no question what can be accomplished in a competitive environment. The question that plagues California is what to do with the failures who are a plurality, not by ability or desire, but by culture.
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