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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us December 19, 2005 Case In Point: Education Schools deserve much better than NCLB By Chris Honoré Tidings Correspondent Eds. Note : Third in a three-part series This three part series is predicated on the idea that the problems of public education cannot be solved by creating a scaffolding of punitive, reductionistic standardized tests such as those mandated by No Child Left Behind. That is the equivalent of saying that the Titanic could have been saved if enough bailing buckets had been handed out. The system is leaking badly, and while NCLB has the appearance of rigor, its approach seemingly no nonsense, and the word "accountability" used freely by people who seem serious, it’s an illusion. You can’t change the system from the top down. You have to change it at its base, at its most fundamental level: in the classroom. If you accept that premise, then the next question is, how? Actually, the ideal model already exists — in our colleges and universities. No one moves through college in lock step. There is no social promotion. Classes are taken and passed based on mastery. If you cannot master the information, if you cannot demonstrate to the satisfaction of the professor that you have learned the material, then you stop and start over. Applied to middle school and high school, it would mean that the student and teacher and parent (s) form an alliance of accountability. Therein is the nexus of real education. Sadly, we are still using an industrial model of education where students are passed through the grades based on age with little insistence that they become the ultimate caretakers of their futures. To push further toward the edge of the envelope, so to speak, there would be no more middle schools or high schools with designated grades. A student is not a sophomore or junior — he or she is simply a student, taking a course of study that must be mastered. Some will finish sooner than others. Others may need special help, tutoring, counseling, guidance. Mastery of each subject is key and well-constructed tests will play a central role. But the exams will be created by the teachers and not a state approved educational testing service. To reiterate, each student is responsible for his or her own education. If a student fails to master a subject (as measured rigorously by the teacher), then a diagnostic process involving a school counselor, parent (s) and teacher is set in motion. No one is left behind, but no one is passed along because they have a birthday. As well, immediately elevate teachers in terms of pay and status commensurate with their importance to the health of our nation. Far too many are working for what amounts to minimum wage considering what is asked of them. Demand in return a high level of professionalism and preparation. No teacher should be teaching out of his or her subject area. Teacher training should be ongoing. Peer reviews and evaluations must be built into the process. Look to medicine and law for the models. Reduce class sizes to no more than fifteen. Or use a system of large classes (50-100 students) meeting once a week for lectures which are then broken down into small seminars. Rethink everything. Acknowledge that this is a new millennium: what was then is no longer what is now. Ask what it means to teach children who have poor or nonexistent skills, and begin to comprehensively address those needs. Make sure that all children can read proficiently (at the very least) before leaving elementary school. This is essential. Being left behind is best defined as being unable to break the code of reading. Recognize that many students need to be rescued. Begin today. We know that far too many come to our schools each day from families in chaos, barely functional, parents balanced on a precipice of poverty. Some are raising themselves. For them, school is a refuge, the last remaining safe haven. If we can nation build at a cost of untold billions and counting, can we not children build? What’s at stake if we fail to fix our schools? A great deal. More than we can imagine. America to be America must have an educated populous or we risk losing those democratic institutions that rely on an informed electorate. To carry on a public discourse about the many issues facing us as a republic, the citizens must be informed and engaged. Meaning they must be educated. This is an issue of homeland security and should be responded to with the same gravity. Years from now, it may be concluded that the emperor who rode through town wrapped in the garments of standardized tests and scientific methodology was, in reality, buck naked. There is a lot of truth yet to be told about the NCLB Act that can only come from the classroom teacher. That voice, thus far, seems muted. It’s time. The Tidings would like to invite public school teachers (past and present) to share their impressions of NCLB as well as how they might envision addressing the major challenges facing our public schools. 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