The Crisis in Education

Useful Websites
Cramster.com  is a good site high school and college students, it is an on-line study community with lots of useful resources and advice.  Social networking for study!!!
The Week in Rap is a novel way to let your students learn about the news of the week in the language of rap!
Veterans History Project - The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.
Today in History Calendar - One of the free educational resources at Thinkfinity.  A great bulletin board addition!

Books to Read
The Education of Gospel by W. Norton Grubb and Marvin Lazerson discusses the idea that more schooling for more people is the remedy for our problems and that the aim of education is to prepare for work.

Interesting Articles about Education
For Students at Risk, Early College Proves a Draw by Tamar Lewin from New York Times on-line.

There is a payoff for the long bus rides: The 48 SandHoke seniors are in a fast-track program that allows them to earn their high-school diploma and up to two years of college credit in five years — completely free.

These Things We Believe by John Norton, Teacher Magazine on-line (you may need to subscribe to read this article)

 Good teachers are frustrated, I believe, because they care so much about the work they do. They feel strait-jacketed by conflicting directives from above, and overwhelmed by constant budget cutting that makes a hard job even harder. More and more, there’s a temptation to respond to the constant criticism with angry rebuttals that point out society’s mixed messages: “Teach to the test.” “Individualize instruction.” “Stick to the teaching script.” “Transform students into critical thinkers.” Then, when teacher tempers boil over, we hear: “How come they’re always whining?”

A Climate of False Crisis by Deborah Meir from the blog Bridging Differences in Education Week on-line.   (you may need to subscribe to read this article)

Narratives are easier to remember, and so we invent them. And, we always insist that at this moment we cannot move with caution because—it's a crisis in need of an immediate fix.

Thoughts from Yrisarri

For more than a decade the American school has been under one of the severest attacks it has ever encountered in its history. This assault is focused, in part, on the school's alleged inability and inefficiency in helping our children master the knowledge and skills they need to live in a highly technological and constantly changing society.

This statement is from Philosophy and the American School by Van Cleve Morris and Young Pai. The book was my Philosophy of Education text book in a class I took in 1979!  My entire career has been one marked by the educational crisis. This drumbeat of crisis in American education has been the driving force for change in the public schools. When we change we have to buy new curriculum materials from educational publishers. My guess is that the crisis is not real but manufactured for America's two competing/cooperating institutions - government and corporations. It is part of the  philosophy that allows us to remain in a state of stress about the future so that we will buy ideas and programs to alleviate that stress. What I have seen in my career in response to this fear is a movement away from local control of education to increased state control and less local curriculum development in favor of purchased curriculum programs.

There are problems in education that need to be addressed, but to place the future of our country on the shoulders of our children is wrong.  One way to improve learning in our schools is to decrease the stress on children not increase it.  As Jonathan Kozol has pointed out in his books, there are deplorable schools in our nation's urban centers. It feels as if the educational reformers want to make educators the scapegoats for society's neglect of  inner cities and rural schools.  We have been busy fighting terror in foreign lands when it festers in America.  A terror that makes children look to gangs and violence as answers to their problems rather than school and education.  This is not the fault of our schools; it is the fault of our national priorities.  To punish all schools for this problem does not make any sense.  I have always maintained that any one can get the best education in the world at about any school in America if they are motivated to learn.

Our biggest problem is that children and adults are rejecting the traditional American education while government and corporations, who have taken control, insist that what needs to be done is more of the same.  Charter schools, home schools and technology are providing new avenues for the customers of education and they are using these new tools in ever increasing numbers while the public schools are not allowed to compete.  Teachers and their learning communities have good ideas about what is needed.  They know that learning is more important than passing tests and they know how to make that happen.  They realize that they must motivate their students by providing a curriculum that is interesting and contains the correct challenge for each student.  They know that all students need differentiation because each person is unique and to provide a blanket curriculum across a nation as diverse as American is counter productive.

Our aim in American schools should not be to educate based on the average of the data to solve society's problems but to educate each person to reach their potential.  Our country will be much stronger if we allow individuals the freedom to learn what they need for their future.  More government and more corporate control will not accomplish this task.  Just as each student is an individual so the needs of each community are unique.  Let's put our resources behind helping each community meet its needs and that will further larger national interests more than dictating those needs from the top down. There is not a crisis in what our children know, but rather how our politicians and governments use them to further their interests.

Standardized Testing is a Narrow Measure of Teacher Effectivenss

Interesting Websites
Xpeditions a National Geographic website with an interactive “museum” that takes you on geography journeys. Here you’ll climb a mountain, hover over the Earth, speed across Europe, visit an archeological dig, and even order sushi—plus games, animations, and more!
Thinkfinity.org   is the cornerstone of Verizon Foundation's literacy, education and technology initiatives. Their goal is to improve student achievement in traditional classroom settings and beyond by providing high-quality content and extensive professional development training. This free, comprehensive digital learning platform is built upon the merger of two acclaimed programs Verizon MarcoPolo and the Thinkfinity Literacy Network. 
Lifestyle will introduce children to the wonderful world of writing with four websites they will have fun exploring. 

Articles to Read 
Retaining Teacher Talent This article contains research from Learning Point Associates about teacher effectiveness.  The studies probe teachers for their views on what makes and effective teacher. 
Moms' Depression in Pregnancy Tied to Antisocial Behavior in Teens is a Science Daily article about a study with some surprising findings.  
Physical Education to Valuable to Sacrifice to Budget Cuts an article by Besty Hurd from Saginaw Michigan explaining the importance of PE to a community that just cut those programs from their school.   
Convergent Education  (You have to subscribe to be able to read this article) is a special report from ESchool News about the growing schism between students use of technology and the way schools want them to learn. 

In short, students no longer are limited to learning only in classrooms under the tutelage of certified instructors during designated school hours–and this change has profound implications for educators.

 Thoughts From Yrisarri
There has been much in the news lately about evaluating teachers as a core principle for educational reform.  Much of the discussion is politically driven as part of an effort to challenge educational unions and some of it comes from corporate effectiveness models.  All of this discussion leads one to believe the schools are full of bad teachers that we can not get rid of and that effective teachers have students with high test scores.  Evaluating teachers is an important aspect of the job and I have certainly met some who should not be teaching.  That does not mean we should develop narrow prescriptive tools for evaluation purposes. 

But what is an effective teacher and who determines which teachers are effective?

Our new policy makers want to create a one size fits all test for effective teachers,  student achievement on standardized tests.  If your students aren’t performing well on those tests you lose your job; if they are doing well you get a bonus.  This seems to me to be a narrow approach to a complex situation.  If that is all it takes to be an effective teacher let us just put all the kids on computers and let them study for the tests!

Teaching is a combination of skills and artistry that takes time to develop and should be measured in a more responsible manner.  Teachers must motivate groups of children and differentiate their learning to match their developmental needs.  Students are not products to be formed in molds but individuals with unique needs and wants to be counseled and given guidance.  The effective teacher connects with their students and helps each one to reach their potential.

Measuring a teachers effectiveness has to be done in the context of the community.  This does not mean we should not hold all learners to high standards, just that what is a high standard to some is not perceived to be so by others.  Expectations need to be realistic from student to student, school to school and community to community.  Teachers should not be judged in isolation, but as part of a team.  All the teachers who teach a child are responsible for his or her education, not just the teacher being evaluated.

If the aim of education is to develop learners into effective and productive citizens, you may not be able to evaluate a teacher until the students are adults and in the workplace.  Shouldn’t we expect our schools to develop healthy, happy adults who love to learn?  That is what I expect.   How do you measure a teachers ability to do that?

Sometimes things teachers do are not immediately learned.  How do yo measure the effectiveness of teachers who plant seeds that do not grow right away?  There are teachers who develop the social emotional skills of their students, those are just as important for their future as academics, but not easy to measure.  Are those bad teachers?

Why not allow the evaluation of teachers to be done by their customers, the community they serve?  What if parents were allowed to choose their children’s teacher or even their children’s school? Wouldn’t that be a pretty good indicator of what the community views as a good teacher?  How about allowing for peer review and student input?  How about improving that the process for hiring educators to insure that dedicated competent individuals become our children’s teachers.  Why not guarantee that a teacher can advance in salary and responsibility to insure better schools?   There are many ideas for measuring and improving teacher effectiveness.  Why do policy makers seem to be stuck on the narrow measure of teacher effectiveness based only on standardized testing?

Unfortunately education is under attack and has become highly politicized at the national and state levels.  Fears about the future, wars against unions, calls for narrow agendas, and misunderstanding about what teachers do all contribute to a climate that causes us to look for scapegoats for what is perceived to be a deteriorating education system. 

Evaluating our teachers is too important to allow policy makers and bureaucrats to create narrow systems of evaluation that measure only one aspect of a teacher’s work.  If we want better schools, then we must expand the discussion about how we will evaluate the job our teachers do.

 

Friends of Early Childhood-NM Lesgislators Reception

One of the most important aspects of educational reform is to recognize the importance of early childhood programs in developing children who are ready for schooling.  That is why the Friends of Early Childhood reception for New Mexico Legislators at Rio Chama Steakhouse was a lobbying event in truly in the public interest.  Hosted by the NMAEYC, Voices for Children and the New Mexico Community Foundation should have been attended by every NM legislator.  For even if a legislator believes that responsible parenting is the key to child development, it is important for them to recognize that it is not the fault of the child if the parents are not responsible parents.

The attendance was better than anticipated with many familiar faces from both the house and the senate showing support for our youngest citizens.  There were over 40 supporters from the legislature and various departments of state government impacted by early childhood programs.  Of particular interest was the attendance by Representative James P. White from District 20 in Bernalillo County which includes some of the East Mountain communities.  That is one of the areas in NM in need of assessing their early childhood programs because of the rapid pace of change due to an exploding population.

Aron Segotta, the NM State Police Chief, addressed the gathering and stated his belief that early childhood programs will eventually reduce the amount of crime in our state and reduce our prison population.  Dorian Dodson, the cabinet secretary of CYFD,  was there to show her support.  She stated that close to half of her budget goes to early childhood programs and the rest to programs in the juvenile justice system.  With funding of more early childhood programs the future of this department could be one which spends less money repairing the damage done to children in their early stages of development.

The program included a viewing of the video Change The First Five Years and You Change Everything made available to all NM legislators by the Decade of the Child organization.  This video was produced to help develop a better understanding of why preschool children need these programs and influence the legislature to find more money to help early childhood programs in New Mexico. 

Baji Rankin from Decade of the Child and Emily Nunez-Darnell from the New Mexico Community Foundation were hosts of this event.  Our youngest citizens are grateful for your attendance, but talk is not enough.  Will the programs to help children in need be funded?

College For All: An Unnecessary Goal for Public Schools

Some Useful Websites
Lure of the Labyrinth- A cool way to develop pre-algebra skills
Map Maker is a great site for middle school and high school students who want to add maps to a report.
Architect Studio 3D On this Web site, you can design a house, walk through it in 3D, and then share it with the world. You can also learn more about architecture, past and present, and explore Frank Lloyd Wright's life and work.
The How-To Series The five posts from the blog Free Technology for Teachers give directions on how to use Web. 2.0 tools in the classroom

Articles to To Read
Revolution and Evolution in Educational System by PRof.MSRO ICFAI, University of India

 Education and character are two sides of same coin and one without the other makes no sense. Money can come and go, but it is the character that is valid from the beginning to the end of life. Any person, whether they can be equipped with the formation of character of each part of the world beyond. To put it in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. Put “The function of education to teach an intensive course, to think and think critically intelligence and character ….. .. .. This is the goal of true education. “

Meeting Kids Where They Are-Not Where We Wish They Were  by Jack Schneider From Education Week

Precious, in all likelihood, is not going to college.
This runs contrary to the aims of the dominant players in modern school reform, who, whether they are in government, school districts, or philanthropic organizations, routinely employ the phrase “excellence for all” in justifying their expenditures. The theory of change among the educational entrepreneurs, it seems, is simple: Find what works and make it available to all students. As Teach For America’s chief executive officer, Wendy Kopp, has said of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: “He just wants to find and scale the ideas that work"

 Adolescence and Mistake-Based Education by Carl Pickhardt PHD in Psychology Today

In childhood, the age of dependence, a conscientious parent is often the best teacher. In adolescence, the age of independence, confronting hard consequences is often the best teacher. 

The Dramatic Rise of Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents: Is it Connected to the Decline in Play and Rise in Schooling? by Peter Gray in Psychology Today 

Rates of depression and anxiety among young people in America have been increasing steadily for the past fifty to seventy years. Today five to eight times as many high school and college students meet the criteria for diagnosis of major depression and/or an anxiety disorder as was true half a century or more ago. This increased psychopathology is not the result of changed diagnostic criteria; it holds even when the measures and criteria are constant.

Books to Read
Happiness and Education by Nel Noddings

Jonathan Kozol, author of Savage Inequalities and Ordinary Resurrections  says, 'Noddings' thesis and argument that happiness and education not only can but should coexist must be taken seriously by everyone concerned about preparing children and young adults for a truly satisfying life in our democratic society.'

Quote of the Week

I used to think that a college degree was the leg up to success in life, an accomplishment that made you a better person, a stronger contributor. I thought it mattered less where you went to college than what you did with that education. Now, I understand that as a first-generation graduate of Regional State U, and a Baby Boomer, I was simply part of "credential creep."         Quote from Nancy Flanagan in the blog, Teacher in A Strange Land

Thoughts from Yrisarri
Educational policy reform is being driven partially by the idea that our public school system should prepare all students for college.  This is not only unnecessary but it is unrealistic and based upon arrogant beliefs about the value of work.

The goal is being proposed by well-intentioned people who believe in diversity and want all Americans to have the advantages of a college degree.  The argument is that statistics show that a person with a college degree is more likely to have a higher salary than their peers who do not.  As a matter of fact, as you progress on the educational ladder you statistically improve your chances of higher lifetime earnings.

While that is true, what about individual desires?  Why should we base educational goals on population wide statistical analysis?  There will always be individuals who are not ready or do not want to enter into a program of studies at a college.  Many of our high school graduates can benefit from going to work, or doing volunteer work to help them make informed decisions about their futures.  Why should they have to prepare for college in the public schools?

It is arrogant to think that the only pathway to success in America is through a college education.   There has been a misguided notion about the trades and their importance in our society.  After all, Benjamin Franklin was a printer who was as erudite as his better educated peers.  The value of work should not depend upon completion of a program but upon the quality of that work.  It seems to me that in today’s world the value of work is determined by the needs of corporations.  They provide large salaries to workers they need to create more money, not those who provide a high quality of work.

We seem overly concerned about another set of statistics.  Those that measure success in being able to make high scores on tests.  Our children’s relative standing among nations of test takers seems too low for many and we have to improve.  Once again we are not thinking about quality education but about being able to pass a test.  America has always been at the forefront of innovation because our educational system has worked.  We have provided the best scientists to the world, not the most.

College is not truly necessary for success in America.  What contributes to America’s success, however, is our ability to go to college whenever we are ready.  This requires a citizenry that values education for its own sake and pursues learning as a normal part of life.  A recent study indicates that anxiety and depression have increased exponentially in our children over the past 50 years.  This is not going to provide a foundation for success in the future.  As long as we place our values on statistics and corporate needs and not on individual needs and desires, our foundation for success will be weak.

National Standards

Websites for Learning
Funology has all kinds of acitivities for kids ages 5-8!!
Time for Kids - A powerful teaching tool, TIME For Kids builds reading and writing skills and is easily integrated across your curriculum, including social studies, science and math.
Discovery Kids is based on the Discovery Channel and has many interesting science and and nature activites and information.

Articles to Read
Differentiate Don't Standardize by Nel Noddings
"What do advocates of national standards expect to accomplish? Unless the ends sought are both significantly important and feasible, we should turn our attention to problems that are truly pressing, such as reducing the number of high school dropouts and curbing youth violence."
Debunking the Case for National Standards by Alfie Kohn
"I keep thinking it can’t get much worse, and then it does. Throughout the 1990s, one state after another adopted prescriptive education standards enforced by frequent standardized testing, often of the high-stakes variety. A top-down, get-tough movement to impose “accountability” began to squeeze the life out of classrooms."
We've Always Had National Standards by Diane Ravitch
"Most educators believe that the United States has never had national standards in education, but this is not correct. Without any action on the part of the federal government, we have indeed had standards in the past, and we have them now. They were not written in a document, nor are they now, but they are real nonetheless."
College and the Workforce: What 'Readiness' Means by Catherine Gewertz
"As the standards movement has evolved, one of its key questions has shifted. Instead of simply asking what students should know and be able to do to complete high school, educators and policymakers are now asking what students need to master to be prepared for the higher-level demands of college and career."
Teachers' Letters to Obama by Anthony Cody
"The overwhelming message is that, although we supported President Obama as a candidate and continue to have hope today, we do not feel heard by this administration, and have grave concerns about many of the actions of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan."
Educational Delema: Rigor v Relevance by Tom Vander Ark
"I remain committed to the idea that we can build rich instructional systems around fewer, clearer, higher standards--systems that incorporate content-embedded assessment (e.g., score from a learning game), performance assessment (e.g., essays and projects), adaptive assessment (e.g., quick online quizzes), as well as summative assessment--that promote rather than detract from engaging personalized learning experiences."

Thoughts from Yrisarri
In a mobile society standardized education seems an essential ingredient for success.  The big question is how do we standardize instruction across a vast population with diverse needs and wants?  Should all students in our public schools be studying the same thing at the same time? Are national standards a limiting factor to one of our national strengths ie: creative thinking? Will national standards prepare all students for their future? Will national standards cause teachers to become little more than technicians for a program? Will national standards solve our education dilemma? Do we truly have a dilemma?

These questions and more come to mind as I follow the debate on implementation of national standards for our schools.  My primary concern really comes down to the question of how we view our children.  It seems like we are experiencing another top down educational reform by people who are not cognizant of the true needs of our children.  Seldom are children mentioned as something other than a statistic to be manipulated by reform so that our national interests will be served.

If there is an educational dilemma it is based in my observation that many students see no connection between what they learn in school and what they perceive to be needed for their future.  By and large our students are not motivated to learn, and those who are learn to pass the tests.

I believe there have always been standards in our schools and that those students who desire to go to college are able to acquire what they need to succeed in college from their high schools.  Those students who did not wish to go to college have had various options during high school to pursue their perceived needs.  But, high school has not provided a well-balanced curriculum that provides for intellectual, physical  and emotional growth.  Without this balance we are sending our young people to confront life with only part of the skills they need.

Our emphasis has historically been on the intellectual side of the balance scale and today we have inactive kids who have a difficult time getting along with others who are different from them.  I believe that if we are going to create national standards they should be geared around developing programs that decrease our need for prisons,develop healthy and inquisitive young adults.

It is time we reorganize rather than reform education.  Instead of spending our time developing programs that have students lock stepping through an education, we should develop and organize our education system to allow for individuality and creative thinking.  A caring system that values the individual will cause more students to be motivated and prepare themselves for their futures.

There is agreement that we have a problem in particular with keeping our kids in school and that problem manifests itself around the end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence.  Why don’t we address the problem at that level?  Most of the information needed for further learning is in place by that time in our children’s education.  Why not graduate our students from mandatory education at age 15?  If they have learned the information that our society deems necessary for understanding our society we should acknowledge it.  In New Mexico we have a pass or fail test given to students at 15 testing that type of knowledge.  Why should a student go on if they can pass that test?

After graduation, with basic knowledge for living in our society in place, let students choose what they wish to study for, college, business, vocation, military, or paraprofessional work.  As the Australian's call it, let us develop a useful tertiary education system from ages 16-20.  They can all be rigorous programs that teach all students workforce skills at the same time.  Aren’t workforce skills the ability to understand that you must be on time, you must focus on your work, you must take responsibility for what you do?  Reading is not the problem in our youthful workforce; it is attitude!

While my idea is not perfect and perhaps not workable, let us use the strength of America, creative thinking, to solve our problems.  Let us work together to identify the true problems and then create local solutions to those problems.  If we continue the path we are on we will only do more of the same, continue to create students as products rather than individuals whose futures are in their hands not ours!

School LIbraries

Websites for Learning
Digital Storytelling is an Open Thinking Wiki with some good resources for teaching about stories.
LibraryGames.com  is committed to making the Library fun and Librarian's lives easier by creating entertaining educational library games, library videos, and Cds for school Media Centers and Public Libraries. 
Zotero is a free easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.
ICyte enables you to highlight and save text on any webpage, allowing you to recall the most relevant
information.
Brain Games contains scientifically designed games to help you imporve memory and attention.

Articles to Read
The Impact of the School Library Media Centers on Academic Achievement  from the ERIC Digest
Proficient Readers Need Good School Libraries by Gaby Chapman from Education Week
School Libraries key in Teaching Information Skills by staff of ESchoolNews.com

Thoughts From Yrisarri
A local televsion news commentary program recently featured a panel sharing thoughts about different aspects of funding state and city programs.  During the discussion one panelist pointed out that library funding needed to be on the table.  His reasoning was that libraries are “antiquated institutions” in today’s world. If you go to a school or public library you will find that they are busy places.  So why do so many people believe the library is an antiquated institution? 

Perhaps it is a misunderstanding of the multifaceted roles of libraries and librarians.  One must view this institution through a wider lens that focuses on the needs of all members of a society rather than individual needs.  As a school librarian my roles have included purchasing all types of media, organizing that media, circulating the resources, serving as the school media specialist, integrating technology into the services, teaching  information retrieval, reading great books to children, finding good resources for teachers, assisting in literacy programs, designing facilities, serving on committees, and more.  What I did in my job depended upon the vision of the school board, administration and teachers about the purpose of school libraries and librarians.  In my view the best schools demanded that the library and librarian be at the center of the school both physically and intellectually. 

An important component of today’s lbrary is technology.  Narrow visions of the library can keep it from developing the technology infrastructure needed to deliver effective services.  Early in the technological revolution money was cut from the library budget to buy computers.  By cutting the budget without disucssion, I felt the library’s role in the digital revolution was being minimized.  That I believe is at the heart of the vision of the “antiquated" library. 

Many today believe they can find whatever information they need on the internet making the library irrelevant.  What these people do not know that librarians know is that only a small fraction of total information is available. Everyone agrees that you get what you pay for and that knowledge is power.  So why do people believe that the power of knowledge is free?  The most current, complete and accurate information costs money.  That is what libraries have been about, gathering that expensive knowledge and making it available to everyone no matter what media is being used to share the information. 

Historically the school librarian has been at the center of curriculum, using the library budget to acquire materials and services to suport teachers and students in their work. School library programs are being overlooked in the current round of educational reform presses forward.   Some schools do without librarians using assistants to check out books to the students. The next step is to get rid of school libraries all together.  After all they are “antiquated institutions”. 

Excellent schools have excellent libraries where students love books and know how to find the best information. Technology is an integral part of a library used to find books and other information offered by the library.  In these schools the librarian is a resource using the library to provide programs and services which assist teachers and students in their pursuits. By the way, these schools with excellent “antiquated institutions” also have high test scores.

Help not Punishment for Struggling Teachers, Schools and Students

Some Useful Websites
AAA Math features a comprehensive set of interactive arithmetic lessons. Unlimited practice is available on each topic which allows thorough mastery of the concepts. A wide range of lessons (Kindergarten through Eighth grade level) enables learning or review to occur at each individual's current level.
Energy Kids-Find energy related stories, hands-on activities, and research articles for your classroom! These curriculum-based lessons are separated by age-grade.
The Open Door Web Site is a reference source for both students and teachers.  The contents of this site are designed for use by students between the ages of 9 and 17.

Articles about Cognition, Affective Education and Pyschomotor Benefits
Emotional Intelligence Is the Missing Piece -This article is explains how social and emotional learning can help students successfully resolve conflict, communicate clearly, solve problems, and more.
Why Exercise Makes you Less Anxious - At a time when high stakes testing is imposed upon our students this article by Gretchen Reynolds point makes it clear that Physical Education should be more important to our curriculum than before.
Proficient Readers Need Good School Libraries - Gaby Chapman's article focuses on the fact that studies show that reading achievement in a school is directly related to the quality of its library but says,

School libraries are slowly but steadily being replaced by an onslaught of packaged reading programs designed to teach “virtual reading,” in which students can learn everything about reading without actually doing it.

Book Review
Mind Reading- by Allison Gopink  is a book review for Stanislas Dehaene's new book about the reading and the brain called Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention .  Neuroscientist are discovering that reading has not been around long enough for humans to have become an inate part of the human brain.

Thoughts From Yrisarri
In my years of teaching and working in schools I came across a few poor teachers.  But, as I listen to to the movement for reform it seems as if there are many more bad teachers than I ever imagined.  One of the cornerstones of the current push from the Secretary of Education and other reformers is to rid the schools of bad teachers.  It seems that teacher unions and teachers themselves are to blame for the education disaster in America!

Once again the Department of Education is missing the point of the future for our children.  It is more important in today's workforce to know how to cooperate, punitively firing teachers who are deemed "bad" teachers by some objective or subjective criteria, is not going to help create a culture of learning that teaches our children good values.  Competition is between companies, not between workers in the companies.   The current thinking seems to be that competition is the missing equation in education.  This includes students and the teaching force. It is as if teachers and students are always applying for the job but never get to practice their skills.

Instead of calling for dismissal of teachers for doing poor work, let us first decide that we will help any teacher who does not meet basic benchmarks without threatening the job of someone who invested personal treasure in themselves to become a teacher.  Perhaps schools that don't meet the benchmarks can be assured that their community will be helped without a threat of takeover or dismantling of a community investment.  Maybe we can even make it clear to our students that we want to help them not fail them.  I think that message is not received by many of our students today.

What I suggest is that our first instinct be to help others rather than dismiss them.  One of the great reforms for education could be to create a culture of kindness and a tradition of caring about others.  We can begin this by finding ways to "dismiss" the punitive natures of some of our classrooms and schools.  One way to begin this reform is by committing to help struggling teachers, schools and students rather than punish them when they fail.