Need your help/Input

[wesleyrp]

Hello fellow DCPers,

I am researching through various avenues and I want to get some prospective from you guys about the various States of Education in other States in the US. My book is called "Wake Up Amercia, Your Freedom in Education is Lost." Basically it is a book about how legislators and politicians are adding more and more stress to young peoples lives by passing legislation that creates over testing and more course work load than necessary. At the same time the overriding theme in the book is that Arts and other Activities are being pushed to the curb. In Texas as we start the TAKS Test tomorrow it just serves as a reminder that our teachers and administrators as well as our students are stressed. Teachers have lost the ability to be creative in their classes because of fear of failure. To make matters worse those students that have a learning disability are still in the end expected to have the same standards as those without a learning disability. To me this is wrong. The local level has lost it's voice. The mandates handed down from the Stae and Fedral Govt. are creating a learning environment that if not changed will have students thinking like robots. Items such as creativity and expression and being able to participate in band, choir, theatre, athletics etc... is becoming less important in the eyes of the public and especially to law makers. I speak mostly about Texas as the new 4x4 plan is really starting to take it's toll. So what I'd like to know is, are the same problems occurring nation wide? Have we become a Nation of AP, Honors classes matter and nothing else does? What's happening in other States around the country, and are they over testing and over taxing the kiddos like what's going on here? I know this seems like a bit of a soap box, but I am a band teacher that loves teaching and my job and just want to see our nation be about the individual and not statistics. I want to see us allow for students to thrive in what they're good at instead of being forced into classes that are too hard. Do we even realize that kids can fail AP courses and still earn a higher GPA than those with A's in regular courses? Am I the only one that sees wrong in that? Do we really want kids to be in the wrong level of classes or to live like that? Some will say, "Wes, life is a huge stressful competition, and they will compete at everything to earn their keep in life." I agree, but I also remember loving to play baseball, football, basketball, being in band, FFA, and activities with church. I just find it hard to believe that now a student must go to summer school/do corospondence work like a college kid to be able to get courses out of the way to be in their activities, is this really the best we can do? Is this what it is like in the other States? Please let me know as I need research and want facts as to the goings ons of education in other places. Thanks to you guys for supporting music and the arts and thanks to all current drum corps members and musicians that are following your creative dreams. Thanks for reading and give feedback please...

God Bless,

Wes Perkins

BK '97 '98

[BigBoom]

Wes,

If you haven't already done so, read Sharon Nichols' and David Berliner's Collateral Damage: How High Stakes Testing Corrupts America's Schools. It was published two years ago and provides a framework for arguing against the current national trend of focusing so intently on raising test scores a few percentage points, at any cost.

One point I disagree with in your introduction is that it's not the AP and Honors kids who are getting excluded from the arts, athletics, and other courses and activities that are interest driven. These kids tend to have all kinds of choices. It's the kid who "Falls Far Below" or "Approaches" or earns whatever label a state chooses as "Unsatisfactory" who finds himself losing most or all elective choices by being forced to undergo some sort of remedial test preparation class or classes until he either passes the test or drops out.

I think you're on the right trail with your book. Best wishes for making it a success.

Boom

[Hrothgar15]

Based on my experiences, I can't complain...what I will say though is that all my life I've worked my butt off in school and it seems to be paying off, but then again I've always loved learning from the beginning.

[josephmb]

yo masta P.

i want a free copy of your book lol

[va9590jm]

Another good book that you might find helpful/interesting (I think its great) is The Overachievers by Alexandra Robbins.

[Elmo Blatch]

Ah, a research topic I truly enjoy. A fantastic text that explores high stakes testing is:

"Conflicts of Interests: The Politics of American Education," by Joel Spring. I found this to be an easy and enjoyable read. Dr. Spring has no issue taking to task any elected official, regardless of party affililiation.

Writing a book is no easy task, especially if you want to see your research stand up to harsh criticism. If this is the case, there are some questions you need to ask yourself:

1. Have you written a book like this before? If not, who will be collaborating with you? A "voice crying in the wilderness" is rarely heard.

2. What is your goal? Are you trying to change national policy and expectations? If so, books usually aren't as effective today as other artistic venues (like music and film). Let's be honest; politicians who complain the most about education generally don't get their information and develop their opinions from books. Why do you think your book would convince them to start reading about the subject?

3. What is your audience?

I applaud your efforts in taking on such a task but in order to stay on task with the forum guidelines, a personal message might be more appropriate for the rest of my response.

Best of luck in your endeavors!

Elmo Blatch

[TerriTroop]

I like the idea of making a film about this rather than a book. That may be more effective. The problem with that is getting permission to film in schools, including parent permission. Maybe you should hook up with the director of "America's Core" (Troopers 2007 return to the field documentary)! Michael D. Gough is around here on DCP, and I know other ways of finding him.

I teach at a private school that does not participate in standardized testing. We have our own internal evaluative processes, including an extremely rigorous high school admissions process for those transitioning from 8th grade to our high school. The entire faculty of the school know what the long-range educational and developmental goals of our school are, and because of this we are highly invested in each and every student.

Here is a very small window into what we're about as a Waldorf school: "The school's guiding values are a life-long love of learning, creative thinking and self-confidence, a sympathetic interest in the world and the lives of others, and an abiding sense of moral purpose. By creating a school environment that balances academic, artistic, and practical disciplines, as well as providing daily opportunities for both group and individual learning, Austin Waldorf School cultivates the faculties that allow our students to develop these qualities."

Creating self-confidence is not about an "everybody is a winner" style of thinking. It's about guiding a student toward objective discernment and critical, creative thinking by the time they graduate through a developmentally appropriate curriculum that takes into account not only intellectual capacity but emotional and physical stages of growth. Music, movement, art, speech and drama are our academic helpers in a Waldorf school. They are not subjects that stand alone; rather, they are recognized as critical partners in intellectual, physical, emotional and moral development. As such, these subjects are curricular rather than extra-curricular. At any other school, our students might never know that they are actually capable of making things with their hands, or able to play the cello or trumpet, or able to stand on a stage and deliver a line of Shakespeare with just the right pace and sense of wit. Another critical partner in our process are the parents of our students. They are heavily involved and invested in the long-range task of Waldorf education.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but I definitely believe our public school system ignores a great deal about child development in order to get specific number results on tests to justify the means. I know I'm possibly offending some public school educators here, and that is not my intent. My intent is to wake us all up, to encourage thinking out of the box, and maybe open a door for conversation about what kind of changes in education would better serve our current culture.

Edited March 3, 2009 by TerriTroop

[Bossop]

Hello fellow DCPers,

I am researching through various avenues and I want to get some prospective from you guys about the various States of Education in other States in the US. My book is called "Wake Up Amercia, Your Freedom in Education is Lost." Basically it is a book about how legislators and politicians are adding more and more stress to young peoples lives by passing legislation that creates over testing and more course work load than necessary. At the same time the overriding theme in the book is that Arts and other Activities are being pushed to the curb. In Texas as we start the TAKS Test tomorrow it just serves as a reminder that our teachers and administrators as well as our students are stressed. Teachers have lost the ability to be creative in their classes because of fear of failure. To make matters worse those students that have a learning disability are still in the end expected to have the same standards as those without a learning disability. To me this is wrong. The local level has lost it's voice. The mandates handed down from the Stae and Fedral Govt. are creating a learning environment that if not changed will have students thinking like robots. Items such as creativity and expression and being able to participate in band, choir, theatre, athletics etc... is becoming less important in the eyes of the public and especially to law makers. I speak mostly about Texas as the new 4x4 plan is really starting to take it's toll. So what I'd like to know is, are the same problems occurring nation wide? Have we become a Nation of AP, Honors classes matter and nothing else does? What's happening in other States around the country, and are they over testing and over taxing the kiddos like what's going on here? I know this seems like a bit of a soap box, but I am a band teacher that loves teaching and my job and just want to see our nation be about the individual and not statistics. I want to see us allow for students to thrive in what they're good at instead of being forced into classes that are too hard. Do we even realize that kids can fail AP courses and still earn a higher GPA than those with A's in regular courses? Am I the only one that sees wrong in that? Do we really want kids to be in the wrong level of classes or to live like that? Some will say, "Wes, life is a huge stressful competition, and they will compete at everything to earn their keep in life." I agree, but I also remember loving to play baseball, football, basketball, being in band, FFA, and activities with church. I just find it hard to believe that now a student must go to summer school/do corospondence work like a college kid to be able to get courses out of the way to be in their activities, is this really the best we can do? Is this what it is like in the other States? Please let me know as I need research and want facts as to the goings ons of education in other places. Thanks to you guys for supporting music and the arts and thanks to all current drum corps members and musicians that are following your creative dreams. Thanks for reading and give feedback please...

God Bless,

Wes Perkins

BK '97 '98

I am a retired teacher with two Masters Degrees and 36 years of experience in the class room. Since I stll work as a substitute teacher in my old school system, I think I am not really out of touch with the state of education today. My school system is in a town with a high socio-economic population, and sends well over 90% of its students on to higher education. In the past, the philosophy was "have a strong curriculum, teach it well, and the students will learn. Don't teach to any state mandated test." Today it is much different.

Massachusetts sets state standards and has state mandated tests called the MCAS which all students must take and pass. So now, the curriculum is geared strictly to the test. I was told, "If it's not on the test, don't waste time teaching it." If a teacher wants to do an activity for enrichment, or even just for fun, we have to be able to justify it and tie it with a standard. It's not fun teaching with feelings of paranoia.

The thing that I objected to the most is that some of our favorite units that we had developed over the years (eg. Ancient Greece) would be replaced with another (eg. geography of South America) because the MCAS for that year tested the geography of South America.

Since the MCAS doesn't (so far) test in the arts, where do you think cuts will be made when money is tight? I don't recall who said this, but I totally agree with it,"We don't need the arts to live, but it is the arts that make life worth living."

Hope I was of some help,

Art

[CookieMonster]

Whenever I hear stories like this, I feel truly blessed by my public school education. I came from one of those rare districts that had great opportunities for AP credits (I transferred enough to come into college as a sophomore), music (My public school education was good enough to get me into music school without a single private lesson before college), and athletics (not my bag, but hey, we had some pretty good teams). I came to college, and being that it is primarily a music ed school, I was dismayed and surprised to find that many districts even around my state (New York) did not even have string programs, much less music theory or music technology electives.

And this is not entirely a structural thing, while most music teachers fight for their life to keep their programs alive, somehow mine managed to fight and put in enough ridiculous effort to not only keep their programs alive, but to actually expand them.

While New York does have a set of state-required tests that must be taken in order to graduate, they were generally easy enough that teachers (in particular history and sciences) could teach all they had to and then put in a couple extra units or extemporize on the areas that they and their students found particularly interesting. While it may be disappointing to see that the arts (with the exception of writing/literature) are not represented in these tests, I find that the arts can and still do have a good place in public education.

The easiest way to ensure that the arts stay alive in your district is to make them an integral part of your community. Our marching band would do local parades in addition to hosting a show and traveling, our theater and musical productions would play to full houses for the entire run of the shows, and our orchestra would put on concerts that they played with a local rock group. Not only did this keep the music alive, it also made it more or less self sufficient organizations that would probably have difficulty being cut if they tried (god willing).

I'm not sure if that helps, it's less fun to hear about things that are done well.

[PCSoprano9702]

Wes,

I think some background as to the motivation for testing and where we can go from here may help you.

I encourage you to look up "Reinventing Government" by David Osborne to get a grasp on where these mandates are coming from. Osborne argued for performance-based government: find a metric, and use it to evaluate employee performance. This book became very popular as it was implemented by the Clinton Administration in 1993. Where it falls short is the definition of a metric. In education, it's become test scores. They're measuring how well a student did on a test, not how much the teacher was able to educate the student. It's a focus on easily measurable outputs instead of the actual intended outcomes.

To that end you may want to check out the first chapter of Denhardt and Denhardt's "The New Public Service" which blasts Osborne's ideas (which they call "new public management") and offers a less concrete, but more meaningful way to measure performance - public opinion. It's a neat idea, but in education it assumes a very wise, engaged, and large PTA - which is pretty rare.

I wouldn't spend too much time in either book, but both, particularly Osborne, have some neat "success" stories in education. It would be very cool to check in on those stories 17 years later and see what came of their programs.