What Would Real Public School Reform Look Like?

Public School reform seems to boil down to closing schools, sending students to higher-achieving schools; converting a “failing” school to a charter school; replacing the principal, reforming instruction and increasing learning time; and giving teachers monetary incentives to do better.  Such “reform,” really restructuring, seems as nondescript and ineffective as placing a band aid on a melanoma. So, the question that needs to be asked is what would real public school reform look like?

As a society, we the “village that it takes to raise a child,” need to make a conscious commitment to our children receiving a free and quality public education. Without such a commitment and education, our children will not be able to differentiate between sound bites, propaganda, demagogy and the facts of a situation or position. Without an education, our very governance by informed consent is in jeopardy, not to mention preparing future generations for parenthood, employment and creative efforts for the betterment of all.

We need to determine how much it actually costs to educate a child for a year of schooling, including programs that the child requires in order to learn to their potential.

We need to create a system of funding for this education that is not compromised by the ebbs and flows of the economy or by political whims.  This would mean that we create a payment system where all members of the “village” share equally in the effort to have our children receive a public education.  A 1% sales tax on all nonessential goods and services is one example of such an approach.

We need to have the Federal Government pay for any program that it mandates that the states follow.  This includes the money to develop, implement and maintain such a program.

We need a system of oversight to ensure that revenues for education are received and properly allocated for what they are intended.  This can be done through an independent agency that is created for this purpose.

We need to view our children as the unique and special people that they are.  Our schools need to become the “neighborhoods,” to use Fred Rogers’ term, that create the means for each child’s uniqueness and potential to be realized.

One qualification for anyone who works in schools is a love and respect for children.  If someone lacks in these two areas, they should seek employment elsewhere.

We need to approach each child as a whole person, as someone who has physical, emotional, social, intellectual, artistic and spiritual needs.  Our children are more than just brains and candidates for the job market. 

We need to realize that not all children are developmentally ready for learning basic skills at the same time, learn in the same way, or show what they have learned by using only one means for measuring learning success.

We need to recommit ourselves to the project Head Start concept of exposing children, to experiences that will assist and prepare a youngster for beginning kindergarten. This is especially necessary in poverty communities where illiteracy rates are high and where children come from fractured families and where community violence is a way of life.

We need to do away with a graded K-3.  Instead we need to provide for an ungraded learning environment during these 4 critical years of discovery and development of basic skills. We need to focus on meeting the needs of each child so that at the end of this time, all children are ready to go from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” and have become proficient is all areas of basic skill development.

Each child in the primary and elementary grades requires a needs assessment at the beginning of the school year.  Each child needs to be provided with an individualized learning program.  This program is closely monitored and, at years end, evaluated to determine how well the teacher and child did in meeting the goals and objectives that were initially established. This can be part of the teacher’s evaluation process.

Each school site reflects the community within which it is placed.  Each site needs to perform a needs assessment to determine how best to provide for the needs of their students. Part of this assessment will determine the impact that poverty, abuse, gangs, violence, family transience, and lack of parent support have on children’s learning experience.

We need to focus on the development of the neighborhood school as essential child and family support centers within a community.

We need to guarantee that each school site is a safe learning environment for every child who is placed in our care.  All of the ills of society cross the thresholds of our public schools each and every day.  The stress of daily life that our children face is so daunting that vast numbers of our children live with post traumatic like stress symptoms.  Our schools need to be places where our kids can come and feel safe from the stressors that surround them outside of school.  It has been shown that stress significantly inhibits a child’s ability to learn. This is also true for kids who come to school with empty tummies. 

Instead of charter schools, neighborhood schools need to become the learning laboratories that provide modeling for best educational practice.  Charter school should not become a substitute for our neighborhood schools.  In some ways, charter schools are a means of avoiding the issues that need to be addressed to make public schools successful and “all that they can be.”

All children need to be able to understand, speak, read and write Class Room English to ensure equal opportunities for employment and to participate as informed citizens.

We need to reintroduce the teaching of civics in middle and high school along with the implementation of a constitution test that needs to be passed in order to graduate from high school.

We need to ensure that all children are computer proficient and internet savey.  

We need to introduce a life skills curriculum which developes the awareness that we all have needs and feelings, that we all need to feel safe and acknowledged, where we learn to communicate nonviolently, to listen and to be present with our classmates and learn the process of problem solving where each persons needs and feelings are respected and where a healthy outcome to a conflict is achieved.  A program that extends from kindergarten through high school and discusses and relates to life issuess throughout the emerging childs life experience.

We need to have those who are professionals in curriculum, pedagogy, school psychology; speech and language pathology, public health, educational finance, administration and educational research determine educational policy, instead of think tanks, special interest groups and politicians.  Professional educators need to be allowed to do what they know works for children.

Within each district we need to create a community consensus building approach to problem solving that embraces input from all sectors of the school community prior to the creation and implementation of any educational policy.

There needs to be a conscious process of thinking through the consequences of any educational policy before it is implemented.

Our philosophy of education needs to be predicated on what we know works and not on the next educational funding fad.

Our educational training programs need to be based on a professional school model for those who teach primary grades. This approach requires three years of “apprenticeship” with master teachers, as a part of a five year credentialing program.

Our professional school model needs to focus in on current research in teaching pedagogy and classroom management so that graduates are presented with the most recent information available to them regarding current thinking in education. They also need to provide them with a thorough grounding in educational history so that they can learn from the successes and failures of the past.

Training programs need to weed out those credential candidates who are emotionally, temperamentally or intellectually not suited to work with children.

District administrators need to exercise their responsibility in evaluating professional staff.  A probationary teacher is evaluated each of their probationary years.  If any issue presents itself during these beginning years, steps need to be taken to assist the teacher to improve.  If they are unable or unwilling to improve, they need to be terminated

We need to prioritize in-service training.  A minimum of 50 hours in-servicing per area of focus per year is required. This is a requirement for all personnel; classroom, support services, clerical and school service workers.  A critical area of focus is to address current best practices in all staffing areas.

New hire and probationary classroom and support services staff need hands on mentoring for their first two years on the job. 

We need to view the role of unions as a necessary check and balance against abuses of staff members, including the protection of their “due process” rights.

We need to stop the process of scapegoating and disparaging members of the educational community. Negativity breeds negativity and creates the destructive impact of unnecessary stress on those who work with children.  Acknowledgement and support breeds the development of team work and the heightened potential for success.

What true reform requires of us, the adults of our village is a consciousness about our ignorance, prejudices and fears so that we can move beyond them to genuinely provide for the needs and welfare of those who are entrusted into our care.  This is the very least that we owe our children.

Thanks for stopping by,

Namaste,

Jim Farwell