Improving Education

As you can probably tell from my blog posts, education is near and dear to my heart.  Asking me to discuss how education can be improved is like asking me to get up on my soapbox.  Seriously, I could go on and on with my Polly-Anna ideas, but I'll do my best not to write a dissertation today.  I'll just hit the high notes.

First and foremost, I believe that all of the adults in education need to remember that education is about kids.  We are a service industry, here to serve kids.  By serving kids, we are impacting our future.  Working in education is HARD, but we can't forget that it is all about the kids.  And we must remember that they are kids, not mini-adults, just kids.  We must do whatever it takes to help our students succeed; it won't be easy, but it will be worth it.

Now, when I mention the adults in education, I am also discussing the politicians and other policy people who make decisions about what education should look like.  In my humble opinion, these people should be required to spend an entire week - yes, I said it an entire week in a public school.  I am inviting them to walk in our shoes before they make decisions about what education should "look like."  Folks, you. have. no. idea. until you've lived and breathed it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Educating Kids is Hard Work; if you want to make uber important decisions about educating kids, then come spend time in the trenches with us.  I can almost guarantee that they would see things differently.  And that new vision my friends, would improve education.

The other important change I would make would be to the standardized testing policies.  These high stakes test in Texas, and other parts of the US, stink, as in they stink really bad. It is completely unrealistic to expect all kids to achieve at the same pace.  Should we assess kids to determine if they are making progress?  Absolutely!  Should we use the assessments to guide future instruction?  Of course.  Should we expect teachers to help kids make progress each year?  Well, like duh, it is called teaching for a reason.

The emphasis on high-stakes standardized testing is KILLING our future.  The over-emphasis has teachers in a panic, and because of this, kids are missing out.  A prime example of what kids are missing out on, is good quality writing instruction.  Our state assessment asks kids to write ONE page, so that's where teachers focus - aiming at getting their babies to fill up that page so they can pass the test.  PEOPLE, high school students should be able to write more than one page.  What are we thinking?  If we expect a fourth grader to write one page, then why is one page the goal at 7th grade, 9th grade, and 10th grade, too?  I thought our policy makers wanted rigor.  A one-page essay = NOT RIGOR.  We teachers know this, but because the state asks our kids to write one page; we make for dang sure they know how to write one page, but this one-page expectation may only be rigorous for a handful of students.  Many other students should be writing way more than one page.

Please policy makers and politicians, let the TEACHERS participate in the decision-making.  If we as professional educators had a voice in how education looks in our country, you'll see improvement; and it will be amazing!  I guarantee it.