We know what works -- now let's do it [Education]

The Miami Herald ^ | Sun, Jul. 20, 2008 | LEONARD PITTS JR.

[Amelia]

...Longer school days and longer school years work. Giving principals the power to hire good teachers and fire bad ones works. High expectations work. Giving a teacher freedom to hug a child who needs hugging works. Parental involvement works. Counseling for troubled students and families works. Consistency of effort works. Incentives work. Field trips that expose kids to possibilities you can't see from their broken neighborhoods, work.

Indeed, the most important thing I've learned is that none of this is rocket science. We already know what works. What we lack is the will to do it. Instead, we have a hit-and-miss patchwork of programs achieving stellar results out on the fringes of the larger, failing, system. Why are they the exception and not the rule?...

....If that investment of $3,500 per annum creates a functioning adult who pays taxes and otherwise contributes to the system, why would we pass that up in favor of creating, 10 years later, an adult who drains the system to the tune of $60,000 a year for his incarceration alone, to say nothing of the other costs he foists upon society?...

...In other words, stand up. Get angry. Stop accepting what is clearly unacceptable. I'll bet you that works, too.

[metmom]

I do recall reading somewhere that the kids in lower socioeconomic groups tend to regress more in the summer than other students do. In inner cities, it also tends to keep students out of the toxic street culture more.

Sad to say, there are too many home environments that the kids would be better out of. I've seen plenty of it myself having lived in a welfare town. In those cases, I do think the idea could work.

The problem is, once something is started by the government, no matter how good sounding, it's only a matter of time before it becomes an out of control behemoth.

[Amelia]

vouchers should lead to more private schools. The rest will follow and whatever else works.

I posted this article yesterday. Did you see it?

Roland S. Martin: McCain right, Obama wrong on school vouchers

[Amelia]

In those cases, I do think the idea could work.

I think that he's mostly talking about failing schools, not schools that are successful already.

The problem is, once something is started by the government, no matter how good sounding, it's only a matter of time before it becomes an out of control behemoth.

That's true -- and you get all the fads that are adopted by legislators or educrats whether there is research behind them or not.

This is where local control and parental involvement could be very important, I think.

[Amelia]

Perhaps in places where parents aren't supervising and keeping kids safe and constructively occupied, this is a good thing.

I think that's what he's talking about, actually -- what works in failing schools.

The chain of accountability is weak, and should be more responsive.

I agree with that. I think in some places it's weaker than others, depending on local politics and strength of the unions in those areas.

Many youngsters from poor neighborhoods are sadly lacking in this parental support, and schools need to have enough flexibility to draw in the parents or help fill the gap in other ways.

Very true. That's the hard part...how do you do that? I think that's where having more time in school comes into play.

[purpleraine]

thanx

[CottonBall]

...Longer school days and longer school years work

Not sure on that one. Does anyone actually have any evidence of that?

I think the answer is relatively simple. FAIL any student that does not master the year's material. Period. As far as I can tell, in the 2 states I've been involved with education as a parent and as a teacher, very few kids are failed. I mean, really failed - held back a year or more.

In Texas, middle school kids that failed a class could take a 4-6 week summer school class and get to join their peers again in the fall. There's no way they could master 180 days worth of material in a short summer class. Not the mention that the motivation level and expectations in the summer classes were even lower than in the regular classes.

Teachers are expected to teach material to all levels of abilities of students. It's an impossible task. The nations doing well in the international math and science tests have several areas of commonality that we don't meet - one of which is classrooms with students of similar abilities.

Also, students know they can goof off and get passed for just showing up. I've seen this repeatedly in California schools. In Texas, I was told by students that they were going to intentionally fail the class because summer school was easier. They have no fear of being held back, and therefore no motivation to try.

[CottonBall]

don't buy the longer days and longer school years argument, at least not in our district. Perhaps in places where parents aren't supervising and keeping kids safe and constructively occupied, this is a good thing.

Actually, even then it's not a good thing. Schools shouldn't be used as babysitting facilities. That's part of the liberal mentality and how academics have gotten so watered down.

[CottonBall]

Folks keep saying that, but when I was in elementary school almost 50 years ago, we got out of school for the summer on Memorial Day, and went back AFTER Labor Day. It seems we also did much better in school than kids do today. Wonder why that is?

And very few kids even went to kindergarten. Now, pre-school is a 'requirement'. And our scores on international tests keep dropping...

I think the reason is that expectations were higher and standards were rigid back then. And teachers were not from the bottom of the gene pool. I had many teachers I respected and admired. I can only think of one or two in that same category that my son has had or that I have worked with.

[CottonBall]

Get control of the kids for longer so parental influence is lessened. be visibly nicer.

That's exactly what the libs want too. Now they're getting funding for pre-schools AND after school programs. Our tax dollars are being wasted on babysitting when it's the parents' responsiblity. Schools exist to education. Period. Anything else dilutes their focus and has gotten us to where we are. At the bottom on the TIMSS scores.

[CottonBall]

The problem is, once something is started by the government, no matter how good sounding, it's only a matter of time before it becomes an out of control behemoth

Absolutely. Once the schools/libs get control of the children with bad parents, they'll be taking more control of the children with good parents. There's already too much of that going on. Look at how CA is trying to criminalize homeschooling. This snowball is growing and growing. Let's not help it.

[Amelia]

In Texas, I was told by students that they were going to intentionally fail the class because summer school was easier. They have no fear of being held back, and therefore no motivation to try.

We used to have that problem, until our system decided that students could not master 180 days of material in summer class, and eliminated summer school. :-)

[Amelia]

And teachers were not from the bottom of the gene pool.

How would you fix that if you were in charge?

[metmom]

Also, students know they can goof off and get passed for just showing up.

They know how to play the system. My kids saw enough of that. Kids in the *modified* classes who are eligible for *resource* help who get higher grades on exams than the regular students.

In this small community, everyone knows everyone else and what they're capable of, and the test scores just say "cheating" about the TA's and their students. The other students in the school just hate that.

[arthurus]

Public schools exist to wash out any religious background that the students may have and replace it with Environmentalism and sexual promiscuity and damned little else. They are to impart just enough academics to enable them to be employed by the government or industry. Read the theoreticians of modern education like John Dewey and then compare the schools of today with the ones the strove to "reform." Some of the southern "bacjkward" schools that were behind their northern counterparts 4o years ago are now academically better than those northern schools simply because advancements get to them much more slowly. Some scattered wealthy districts manage to attract some intelligent and able teachers but they are very few and far between. All suffer from the demonizing and illegalizing of discipline.

My wife is a teacher in one of those "better" elementary schools. We kept our kids out of government schools after the first one. Numero uno actually educated herself mostly in spite of the schools and with her parents working hard with her outside of school. We decided that as we were putting so much time into education of the first one and sending her to the public school we would cut out the wasted time and the others didn't go.

[Tired of Taxes]

longer days and longer school years does not make for a better education.

Exactly. The idea of longer days in schools that have problems with gangs, drugs, violence, etc. doesn't sound like a solution to me, either. Maybe they should shorten the amount of time there. ;-)

[wintertime]

ping for later