Every quality-of-life issue is tied to educational attainment and each child having the opportunity to receive an excellent education, and everyone in New Bedford agrees they deserve it and that their opportunities need to be improved. Identifying an issue is easy. To forge solutions by bringing the stakeholders together — and we are all stakeholders — is the real challenge at hand.
It is hard to imagine improving performance by vilifying New Bedford's teachers. The root causes of students' educational failures will not be addressed by replacing teachers en masse. Any turnaround plan requires a positive partnership with all stakeholders, not turning those who depend on our system against each other. Firing half the teachers in a school, terminating the principal and staff, is scapegoating at its worst. What is required is a carefully crafted plan that identifies the real obstacles to learning and addresses them individually.
The teachers should be equal partners in developing the improvement plan. They know our children, families and community. They know and understand their issues and how they affect the ability to learn. Give them a real voice in addressing achievement gap issues. This will lead to buy-in and citywide support.
Unified and working respectfully, we can come together to improve our system and resolve the complex societal problems that prevent maximum attainment. This can be the city where a realistic appraisal of an urban educational system's problems are identified and effective solutions are formulated. All urban areas in the United States face the same problems. Student under-achievement, achievement gap issues and unacceptable dropout rates are not unique to us.
The current educational system in the United States does not meet the needs of children who live under the poverty level, have special needs, speak English as a second language or need extra time or instruction for mastery.
These difficult issues have not — and cannot — be resolved or improved by a system based on teaching to a standardized test. Compounding the problem is that the teachers and our district are evaluated based on the test, depriving all students of a full education because of the never-ending emphasis on cumulative scores.
Under this test-driven system, teachers and administrators doing their best to see students excel are blamed for the system's failure. It's time to challenge the unintended consequences of education reform and the test.
In urban districts throughout Massachusetts and the country, education reform has produced uninspired and incomplete curricula that all but eliminate art, music, physical education, health studies and other important subjects from the school day. It has not increased overall attainment, narrowed the achievement gap or reduced the dropout rate.
This is a fact. The current system's accountability measures create constant instability and detract from teaching efforts in "underperforming school districts." Amazingly, as a result of "lagging" test scores, these "districts" now comprise two-thirds of the districts in Massachusetts, the state that ranks first in education in the United States.
It is time to rethink the reform system that is built upon teaching to a test administered and required only of public school students. It is time to question a system that provides scant collaboration for school districts from the federal and state departments of education, other than constant, uninformed criticism, unfunded mandates, unrealistic expectations and, ultimately, threats.
It is time to acknowledge the reality that we are creating an education caste system that is blocking a significant percentage of our students from any meaningful opportunity to participate in our society, earn a living wage and become engaged citizens. New Bedford must confront these issues and develop programs that address the failings for all our children to have an equal opportunity to receive the highest quality education.
To begin this important process I suggest the following necessary steps:
First, stop the scapegoating of teachers, no threats by either side, no boycotts by the union: All parties must fully cooperate in good faith to devise an improvement plan.
Second, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the superintendent should remove from the discussion any plan that arbitrarily displaces 50 percent of teachers at any school: Let all stakeholders, including all of the nonprofits that support all of New Bedford's youth, work together for a Transformative Improvement Plan that addresses the issues at the high school, and all city schools.
A true district-wide improvement can only be accomplished if every student and their family has a personal education plan written and implemented for their success. "One-size-fits-all" plans will not address individual student needs. Every problem that prevents our students from obtaining or receiving an excellent education must be identified. Real solutions must be found and implemented. Plan development must be transparent with no hidden agendas, and with its only goal the betterment of all students.
Third, begin a dialogue with the teachers as full partners. Set realistic goals and begin to understand the limitations of a high-stakes-test-driven educational system. Bring the DESE to the table; invite representatives of UMass Dartmouth, Bridgewater State University and Bristol Community College, and all New Bedford stakeholders to participate in these discussions. In this process, conduct open meetings with full public participation to create a system that provides advanced and remedial educational opportunities that will result in employment opportunities for our citizens.
We can develop a comprehensive and effective equal opportunity public education system if we unite, have an honest dialogue and work together.
3 comments:
Please run for office again! You get it!
I am a parent and I have 3 children in the New Bedford schools. I admire and respect all of the teachers that have changed my children's lives. They are not the villains, we all know and understand the what' going on . Mayor Mitchell, you need to step down and take Ms. Durkin with you. NOW!
Whether or not you like Mr. Lang as a political agent you have to give him kudos for being a critical thinker: something that has been lacking in various education circles for some time.
Here are just a few new, could be old ideas that should be considered going forward:
The sweeping changes that need to occur first is between parents and their children. Take notice that I did not say "students." The accountability piece that ties the way a child behaves in school, whether in a classroom or not, and the effort that is mandatory for a child to become proficient in all curricula is... vacant. Parents need to parent in a way that promotes the parent as the authoritative figure in the household. Children should not run the show at home! If a child runs the show at home, they believe they run the show "wherever," especially at school. Bad recipe! Parents need to trust teachers, and know that whatever we recommend to help your child is in the best interest of your child. We do not have it in for your child, and BTW parents, children lie, just in case you didn't know.
Secondly, the direction regarding pedagogy or curricula that teachers have been given over the past 15 years has been woeful. A joke is all I can say. It needs to stop! The positions that have been created and then eliminated, the use the book, don't use the book, more visual less concrete, more tech, less tech, two column notes, more hands on, no homework, a little homework, a lot of homework...enough! Talk to the successful teachers, at the different grade levels, and they will help you outline a direction that will work.
Get rid of the "bad" teachers, did I say that. Not all teachers are in the right profession. Administrators and union officials need to come to an agreement on what a poor performing teacher resembles an assist one another in making our facilities as competent as possible.
Next, school handbooks. Write them with the understanding that parents don't read them. Handbooks are not a proactive document. They are a CYA document, and we all know that. Parents, Administrators, and Facility need face to face meetings every single year before a "student" enters the new year. Tedious, you bet, but it is becoming clearer that these are types of drastic changes that are needed to change the overall education culture. Put a plan place that targets the top major issues impeding student growth within our schools and lets get them on the table. Lets explain to parents the rewards and consequences of their child's actions, and make sure that the rules are in place, and that the rules are followed to the "T."
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