Why restructure? Does it really do anything?

Restructuring Under NCLB Found Not to Really Do Much

This week's final post comes in under the NCLB act. As you know from previous posts, I am very pessimistic about the impact of NCLB. The biggest issue I find is that it has made us focus on testing more than learning over the past few years. In this article, research was conducted on 23 districts and 48 schools that needed improvement over the past 5 years. During the study, they found that the "solutions" offered through the legislation did not really transform the schools enough to have a significant impact on their achievement levels. This is cited as being the options for low-performing schools:

"The models—closing the school and sending students elsewhere; handing it over to a charter-management group or other outside entity to run; replacing most of the staff; or “transforming” it through changes in personnel, curriculum, and other areas—build on, but are not identical to, strategies called for in No Child Left Behind."

How can we say these things will make change? What if the students really don't care about school and they fail regardless of who is in front of them? Now, I do like the idea of converting to a charter school because it alleviates some of the pressures of strict AYP testing. There are some privileges that become available to charter schools not readily available to public schools. Firing staff or making significant personnel changes do not always get the buck either. There is no specific way they pick through the teachers. What if they just fired everybody? If I were doing a fine job, with good reviews and recommendations by my supervisors and peers, I'd be a little pissed off (excuse me) that I was fired because someone, who more than likely has no clue what I do as a Tech Ed teacher, thought I wasn't doing a fine job. There are teachers everywhere who probably shouldn't be teaching, but they are allowed to because the administration really does not take the time to see how effective they are. But again, is it really the teacher's fault 100% of the time. If you are in the poorest neighborhood, there is a large chance that, I don't know, the students could care less about school. Gangs, violence, and drugs probably rule and tests are irrelevant to them. How do you fix those situations?

Now there will be controversy though tied in to new money for education. The government wants to tie performance and these "tought" options at restructuring schools to new funding. How is that supposed to help if funding was inadequate in the first place? There may be some amazing teachers that refuse, on principle, to teach to the best of their ability because of their classroom environment, resources, and salary. What would happen if we started paying them more (instead of furloughing them) and giving them the resources they needed? Things would change. I think the biggest issue amongst us all, administrators, teachers, and students, is motivation and morale. Education is on the verge of becoming either the best thing we have or just something you do because it's the law. We have to receive motivation that is truly intrinsic. I want to be paid well for what I do, especially if I have advanced degrees. I also want to be able to go ask my principal or CTAE director for something and be able to get it, not told "no". Students want to feel a sense of accomplishment, whether superficial or real, so why don't we oblige them if it helps them achieve more and do better in school?

Pay to Stay

Paying for Longer School Days

So some parents came up with an ingenious idea, raise money to pay the staff at their local schools to keep the kids an extra hour. The effort has been made since the Obama administration has stated that longer school days are needed. This push from the article is occuring in Chicago at the Disney II magnet school. The idea is to lengthen the school day in comparison to other cities elementary hours. The magnet school runs just over 5 hours a day for K-5 while other cities average 6 hours or more a day of instruction. Now, I am a proponent of just about any significant change in education because over the past 10 years, there has been a sharp decline in the pursuit of knowledgeable, well-educated, and literate students/citizens. There has been a huge transition to the struggle to make "AYP" under the NCLB act. The days of worrying about what a kid will become when the graduate has ended and it has become more of a focus on what will they score on the end of the year test? Say what you want, but this is the truth. Already in my school, they are doing CRCT remediation for students who scored low last year. Great way to motivate students to do better, take them out of connections (specials, PE, CTAE, fine arts, etc.) and slam them with more Math and Lit once a week. They already have 90 minutes every day of Math and Lit each and only see Science, Soc Studies, and Connections every other day. If they can't get it with 180 min every day, 15 hours a week, they won't get it with extra help. I say we restructure the way we teach the curriculum, take the focus completely off a test and focus on what students should know by certain times, say pay attention to the standards more and you'll make it easier to pass the test. It stresses the kids out enough to be in school, at my school they pretty much shut down around 1 or 2 and they have to stay until 4. Everyone thinks more time in school will do students better, no it won't, not for everyone. Shorten the time in school by at least 2 hours, go from 8 to 2, condense lessons down to important things, restructure the day so students benefit more out of it. There are easier ways to teach these kids and we are not doing them. I love the fact I teach Tech Ed, I would absolutely go crazy if I were a math teacher and my administrator was down my neck every day making sure I am teaching what will be on the test. Let's give these kids something they can take with them for years to come and it will bode better for them on these AYP tests. If all we say is, "addition, subtraction, division, and algebra is all on the test, and you MUST know them" students will not care. However, show them they need it to be an engineer, accountant, McDonald's employee (lol, its still a job though), entreprenuer, financer, investor, and we bring meaning and understanding to our teaching and they score better. End of story.

Dropouts Costing Wages and Taxes

Dropouts Costing Wages


I fixed my hyperlinking, finally....

This article talks about how costly it is for kids to dropout of high school. They have realized the value of the 2008 dropouts, which was just under 600,000 nationwide to be about $4.1 billion in lost wages and over $500 million in lost property, federal, and state taxes. This is an insane amount! Earlier in the blog I discussed about dropout rates and how much it can cost the state over the life of the person. This is a much larger deal. We all know that dropouts earn less than high school graduates and earn at least less than half that of a college graduate. However, if these guys had stayed in school and only graduated high school, hundreds of millions of dollars would have been generated in wages and taxes. This would help strengthen the economy despite the high unemployment rate. The employment market is turning into a bunch of unskilled labor because so many jobs go unfilled because of lack of qualified hires. There are jobs where the base salary is above 70K a year but no one qualified applies because everyone qualified already has a job. We think that dropping out only costs the student, but in fact it can have huge impacts on our communities, local and federal governments, and the economy. The dropouts are USUALLY never successful beyond creating trouble in and around their home cities. There are many who go back to school or make a life change, but those are fewer than the ones who drop out and do anything good. I know many high school and college dropouts from my high school class and they struggle on a daily basis. They have no career and are working a $8.50/hr job. Not that that is bad, earning money and working a job is important, but when a person is so creative and energetic and they waste it away because they want to party or are too lazy to do the work, it is not right. Most of my friends that graduated with me are working a rough 9 to 5 and can't get a break. I am happy where I am and know I can make a career out of teaching. However, back to the point of dropouts, it is never a good thing. People take for granted the opportunities an education can afford you. All I know is the less school I have the longer I will work. I would like to retire after 30 years of service and not have to put in 45 because I made the right decision to stay in school and go as far as I possibly could to earn the most amount of money.

Trying to Stop the Binge Drinking

Still cannot fix the hyperlinking issues. There has to be an embedded problem on my blogger account I can't see. It will absolutely not work for me I am sorry!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/sports/ncaafootball/19drunk.html?_r=1&ref=education

Attempts at Cutting Down Binge Drinking on Campus

A couple of college campuses are now implementing ways of trying to curb underage and young adult drinking on football game days. Several colleges in the northern states are now making students complete a BAC check before entering stadiums. They are attempting to target individuals who habitually drink, go to games and get ejected for unruly behavior. In affect, these students are entered into a program where a counselor attempts to help them with their alcohol problems early. I see this as a good program and think it would be a wonderful idea at college campuses all over the country. I sometimes look at my friend's Facebook pages and see pictures of tailgating where they were drinking underage and looking very stupid. The idea that you have to be 21 to drink is not taking seriously anymore amongst the students, parents, or organizations who operate major events like these. I have been to concerts where kids that barely look 18 have magaritas and beer and are plumb drunk with parents and the like. Alcohol is not a laughing matter. Now I believe an individual over 21 is entitled to make their own decisions about alcohol, suffering consequences or not. But someone under 21, because it IS illegal, should absolutely not be allowed to consume alcohol. Most people probably are soft on this idea and they think, I did it in high school or college, so my kid probaly will do it, they just need to be safe. Minors' judgements are off already so why make them even more off? A lot of my friends ruined their college experiences because much of it was spent in a drunken stupor. Friends who were smarter than me flunked out of schools like UGA because of too much partying at 18, 19, and 20. Some are still in school, others work at dead end jobs now. It has a bad tricle down effect no one likes to look at. Again, I say I believe there is nothing wrong with someone over 21 drinking, but under 21 seems just to be wasting your brain and life away just to feel good or relaxed. Teen death rates are at an all time high with so many car accidents and othe things, they need to be protected. The people interviewed for the article seem either pessimistic or optomistic about the new programs. Those who think it won't work are probaly under the impression that college students will do as they please regardless of the regulations whereas those who believe that it will work know they may be able to reach some people before they die of alcohol poisoning or something in the likes. I wonder what everyone thinks about this article and the view that college students may be drinking too much?

Praying for a Test....

My hyperlinking is not working properly. I cannot get anything to hyperlink correctly. I am sorry.

http://www.ednews.org/articles/in-south-korea-nation-stops-for-mega-exam.html

In South Korea, today, the entire nation stopped as almost 700,000 high school students took graduation tests. Their desire to do well has been such a promoted idea that people are even praying observantly for more than 100 days. This devotion to such a higher education should be influential throughout the world. But some view it as a waste of time. There is so much stress and anxiety there are reports every year of teenage suicides because of the importance of this test. This test can possibly affect their futures in ways no one can imagine. It determines what college you can get into and what sort of education or career you may end up with. The extremely high college entrance rate of 83% is nothing to balk at either. However, the test took 9 hours to complete, so rigor and difficulty are probably words that undermine what actually happens during the test. How does this compare to our school system? Students take tests to see if the schools are teaching the right material. We are penalized if the students can't pass tests. Yet these students spend hours and hours on their own without persuasion to study for a test that can grant them every wish they ever wanted. Importance is placed on the quality of teaching, not the quantity. They probably never test to see how teachers are teaching. CRCT and AYP is just a letter sequence to them. Yet they are ahead of us in education, with more engineers and scientists graduating from college every year. Where have we gone wrong where testing has replaced the learning environment. With all of the new funding, it is going to be a rough road for our education system. It is not a good idea to link pay to testing because it will only mean teachers teach to a test that has no meaning or relevance for kids, because NCLB says we can't hold them back even if they fail miserably. I was hired to do a job and that job was to teach students about technology, show them how math, science, history, and writing are relevant, and make connections to the real world and careers every chance to make these kids productive citizens. However, the focus is on meeting expectations set by individuals who are not even associated with education. Let them sit in my classroom for 2 weeks and see how things are. They want to make things better, make us more competitive, but we never raise the bar on ourselves, simply the students, but then allow many to pass under like limbo and skate through the system. Can we please take a page out of the South Korean handbook we missed in ours about education. It IS important, it IS relevant, and it WILL get you somewhere. The lies on TV and on the internet are not helping our case. Sorry for the rant, but it is sad to see how things have changed.

Closing the Achievement Gaps

Let me go ahead and apologize for the formatting/nonworking hyperlinking to about half of this page. As I was typing and adding hyperlinks along the way, something happened with my edit post page and I could not take away the underlining. Please ignore it. I couldn't control it!

New Report on Achievement Gaps

So with all of the hubbub about schools lowering achievement goals, too much money being cut from education, and even news of how different states are doing certain programs, there is promising news. The Center on Education Policy published a new report that describes the situation in achievement gaps between different student populations. The report shows that in 74% of all cases from 2002 to 2008, minorities and low-income students closed the gaps in achievement across all grades with their counterparts. Even though this is promising news, there is still some gloom over the way all 50 states test. Taken from another article, but cited within this one, "Part of the progress on the percent-proficient measure is because the proficiency bar is set so low," said Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at the University of California-Berkeley. There is an alarming number of people who are calling for change, but those in charge are not doing much about it. In the actual report, found here, there are some very good possibilities that may come from the study. There were significant increases in Hispanic test scores and African American test scores, specifically in 4th grade math, which shows that new curriculum and methods that are being implemented are beginning to work. In other data, it showed that almost every subgroup closed the gap with White students in specific areas from 5 points to almost 25 points on standardized

tests. I would like to believe that we are now truly in the realm of unbiased education and every student has an equal opportunity. Being at a school that is almost completely comprised of minority students, there are many unique challenges in order to reach these students. However, as we move to standards based classrooms and seek to diversify the way in which we deliver the curriculum, students seem to be better able to grasp the concepts. When we can stray from teaching to the test and give them life-long skills and concepts, they hold onto them longer. Educational theory also suggests that when the students do hands-on activities and even when students teach others, more than 60% of the knowledge is retained compared to about 10% when lectured to. This huge shift in the ability of students to comprehend and the need to differentiate instructional methods can be a good thing, as shown in the seemingly good test results. I would say that it has benefited education to start looking to teaching all and reaching all instead of just the majority. When I was in school, I knew, unfortunately, I was at an advantage because of how the material was directed. My friends, most of them minorities, would not benefit from the direction of the curriculum. This proved so in the standardized tests we took, including the SAT, ACT and AP tests. I generally outscored my friends who were smarter than I was, but were minorities. It appears that time is over and now every student has the opportunity to take control of their own education and that as we teach to new curriculum, the achievement gaps are closing. Hopefully in another 5 or 6 years, it will show that all races are equal in education.

A Terrible Way to "Make Progress"

States Lowered Proficiency Bar

What a way to show you made progress. The National Center for Education Statistics found that in 26 states, from 2005 to 2007, lowered their adequate yearly progress standards, whereas only 12 schools appeared to raise the bar. This is amazing! Well not entirely. In Georgia, as long as a school makes progress year to year, that is minimally improving their test scores, attendance, and subgroups, all while getting to exempt certain students, from the previous year, they make AYP. This is frightening. We are always complaining about how poor our education system is and yet state officials are lowering the bar to make sure their schools pass federal mandates. However, how can states really do anything with the NCLB being so stringent on how things are run. Students are being pushed through the system because they were exempted from being included in the reports because of status, even though they failed every test or had poor attendance.

They also go on to discuss how states could have arrived at this lowered bar. Some states did not change the test, but changed the cut off scores, while others modified the test or standards. In Georgia, the curriculum used to be based off of prehistoric standards. With NCLB, the state came up with QCC's to help improve Georgia's educational system. A sample of some QCC's for lit is here. These standards did not even have a chance to root into the system before state officials decided they weren't working. How can you tell if something as big as changing education standards for an entire state is working if you only allow it for 4 or 5 years? Then they changed to GPS standards or Georgia Performance Standards. Now, I have little problem with these new standards that are as of this year, fully implemented and incorporated into our curriculum. But, will these standards get tossed after 5 years if someone thinks they are not working? Who knows, but one thing is for sure, we need to set the bar higher. If all the students are encouraged to do is the minimum, then we can't get mad at them as teachers OR parents for slacking and making D's and C's. After all, those are grades that can pass them and make them eligible for sports. If you want to improve the educational system for the U.S., uniform standards must be incorporated and the bar needs to be moved up 4 or 5 rungs because the stuff they learn in class today was elementary for me when I was in public K-12 education. These kids can't read rulers, solve problems by themselves, come up with new ideas, or even create art because of the low standards we have placed on them. Let's get tougher, please.

Killing the College Student with Fees

College Tuition Up Sharply Amid Recession

In this article, Justin Pope provides some great insight and staggering numbers on the rising costs of tuition in the country. The average tuition in the country is now at about $7,000 per year at a 4-year public college, up over 6% from last year despite the economy. Costs are constantly on the rise despite all of the cuts in funding and all of the budget cuts colleges are making to deal with the economy. Despite this number, they say actual incurred costs are only about $1,600 for a 4 year student per year. I would like to know where they are getting that amount from. I am thankfully and gratefully lucky that Georgia has the HOPE scholarship and I was only "forced" to take out about $9,000 in student loans over the 4 and a half year period I was in school. Much of that went to living expenses though and had nothing to do with the college. There is a much greater underlying problem with the public education system though, that they will not speak of. Teachers, professors, researchers, deans, presidents, and so on are getting so filthy rich from the public colleges it is sickening. Just check out Open Georgia. On this site you can find all of the salaries for state/public employees for the entire state of Georgia. I attended Georgia State University and at this DI-AA (D one double a) school, there are over 40 people making over $200,000 a year. These people rarely even see a student, they simply preside over the school. Now I am not belittling their jobs, because it is important to run a school to the best of its ability and be competitive with other schools in the state and the country. But for purposes of serving the state and the educational system, why should they make so much money?! Why are they entitled, being employees of the Georgia government, to make more than our Governor (who made $137,000 in base salary in 2008)? Because it is deemed important? Why am I making so little to teach 700 kids a year and the president of GSU receives over $400,000 to preside over a college? At UGA (University of Georgia) there are over 100 people making over $200,000 a year. Why did fees go up? Because people higher up refused to take part in cost cutting measures. I am sure that they took like a 1% pay cut or are now working 10 less days a year now than they did last year, but how in the world can you justify so much money being spent on a salary at a government entity? It is a waste of funds. I would say that if everyone making over $200,000/year was to give up between 30 and 40,000 of their salary, which would equal what regular teachers have had to forfeit due to stae mandated furloughs to balance the ill begotten state budget, our cost to enroll would not go up. During my stint at GSU, the cost for me to attend 4 or 5 classes a semester went up over $1,000. My first year in 2004 it cost only $1600 for full time tuition plus about $250 in fees. By December of 2008 it would have cost me $2900 for full time tuition without fees. Luckily I only needed 2 or 3 classes so I paid for part-time. Again, the HOPE grant payed for most of it, but that is still from a state-funded program through lottery ticket sales. Today, students are having to pay so much more for so little education. I was baffled by the costs of some master's programs. I am extremely excited to be a part of VCSU, not only because of the Tech Ed program, but because it is affordable. UGA, Ga Tech, Va Tech, and even Purdue wanted in excess of $25,000 per year for their master's programs. And for what? A piece of paper that says I completed a rigorous program and forked out almost $60,000 for a $10,000/year raise? I believe the term for what we are trying to do today is, "Work smarter, not harder". I do not want to be in debt for my education for the rest of my life, I will find what works at a better price. The material and knowledge I have gained here at VCSU far out ranks the opportunity I could have had to call myself a UGA graduate.

Dropouts Increasingly Going to Prison

Kids are dropping out of school like flies. It seems that everything else has their attention, except the important stuff. Girls, money, drugs, video games, the media, TV, and many other things are capturing their attention. Well, it was no surprise to me, but a great deal of insight and information when the NY Times posted this article about the number of dropouts going to prison. The article says that 1 in 10 male high school dropouts are in prison or juvenile compared to 1 in 35 who are high school grads. This 10% rate is staggering, but also believable when you look at the type of students who are dropping out. This means that of the 6.2 million dropouts, there are at least 200,000 or 300,000 kids in jail. Low-income kids, at-risk kids, kids with no home support have no intention of being in school but looking to survive because that is what they see every day on the streets anyway. As an educator, this is alarming, our next generation has already taken themselves off the map and into a life of crime and punishment. Hopefully there are a lot of teens that go to jail and learn that is not the life to live, but not everyone thinks that. There can be many attributes to the dropout rate and the imprisonment rate of dropouts, but it all points to one thing. Desperation. Adults that dropped out and are now over 25 have an unemployment rate of 7.2%. That number drops dramatically to 4.2 for high school grads and to 2.3 for college grads. This disparity could lead to desperation. For individuals younger than 25 that rate stands at 54%, 32% and 13% respectively.

What is also frightening about this data, is that the NY Times reports the nation will spend about $290,000 on the dropout during their lifetime. Wow, let me just say that is astonishing. We are throwing money out the window to feed, clothe, and jail these individuals. Altogether that would be $87 billion dollars wasted if 300,000 dropouts spend their lives in and out of jail and other government programs. Some of these issues translates into multiple other issues. Single women having children with no father and no support, jobless men who cannot get off unemployment, individuals living off welfare, and an overall tone of not caring that you are worth nothing. This has to stop. We already see a problem has occurred, yet these people are birthing a new generation. How can we expect a "failure" to product a "success" if they have nothing to look up to? America needs to be re-educated on the need for an education. Every time you turn around the media has some dirt on education. Can we just stop the blame and look inside. Maybe we are doing something wrong at an individual level. That is what people need to start looking for. Quit putting the issues on someone else when its not their responsibility.

Grading Our Educational System

Grading Education Isn't Easy

It has become increasingly obvious to me that everyone that looks through the window every day at school, does not really understand what's going on. Everyone has an opinion about the state of education, yet no one who gives those opinions has the correct answer to solve our problems. Maybe if everyone started with themselves, asked themselves what they could do to help, it would fix itself, without our state governors stepping in, without our government stepping in, and without our President stepping in. In this article, the author discusses the issues of how public and charter schools are performing in Ohio. The concept of a charter school is to allow parents a choice. The charter schools give parents the opportunity to put their students in a community school that is exempt from certain state mandates so that the school can put its best effort forward. These schools generally receive more money than other public schools, but can also incur unintended costs. The success rate of these schools is extremely high in most cases, with almost 35,000 students enrolled in Georgia charter schools, there is a lot going on. In Ohio, there are over 75,000 students enrolled in charter schools. These schools have traditionally outscored public schools in goals for value added education. In recent years, though, regular schools have taken over. Progress is being made every year in all schools, for the most part, but can we tell which is truly doing better? Does this mean that charter schools are useless now? No, I don't believe so, but there are some issues charter schools are facing that are much greater than public schools. With the current economic state, charter schools are in financial danger. Many schools are failing and having to close or revert back to a public school. This costs jobs and social and economic impacts for the surrounding communities. What can we do to save charter schools or improve our public schools? Outsiders cannot answer those questions. I wish I could say I had all of the answers, but I think everyone in education would agree with that statement. Every person that is an educator or an administrator has some piece of the puzzle to fix what is going on. We are losing ground to other countries in aptitude and ability, yet we are complaining instead of fixing. Let's get on the same page, make some goals, and go accomplish them. I bet the entire country would be a little better off.