Two
simple changes would have extremely positive
results for public education. I believe
these changes would increase student achievement
more than the combined results of every
other proposal I've seen in print.
The
first is to increase the school year from
175 days of instruction to 195 .
Student achievement is directly related
to “Time on Task.” In
the stroke of a pen this would render silly
all those radio talk show debates about
whether to eliminate art and music classes,
or Physical education, or about how valuable
time is being wasted “teaching to the test.” If
we are serious about making our schools
work, then keep them open the same number
of days as the rest of the civilized world.
The
second is to measure annual teacher achievement
in the classroom . Accountability
on the school level can only go so far.
We must make teachers more accountable.
It is now possible to measure teacher achievement
in the classroom by comparing how much their
students improve on standardized tests from
the beginning to the end of their school
year. Teachers with consistently superior
results should get significant pay raises.
TIME
ON TASK
Loyal
readers of my past columns have seen me
puzzled by the fact that a student can become
a criminal for missing or being late for
10 school days yet a teacher can miss at
least 12 days each year at will. I meant
no disrespect to teachers. But we are looking
at this whole dropout problem backwards.
If missing school days is so important that
we hunt down and criminalize students, whose
main crime may be having parents who have
two jobs, problems with transportation,
or can't speak English, than why don't we
make sure that our schools provide more
days of instruction?
My
son's school district has 175 days of instruction.
Japan has 220, Korea has 222 and Malaysia
has 200 school days. Any smart third grader
knows enough about numbers to reason that
students at those Asian schools will do
better than students at Texas ' public schools.
Why is this so hard to see?
There
are things that can greatly increase “Time
on Task” without lengthening the school
year. As much emphasis should be given on
reducing teacher absences as reducing student
absences. When the teacher is absent all
students fail to learn. Teachers should
be given incentives for every sick or personal
leave day they don't use. Also schools should
sharply limit their “celebration day” activities.
I estimate my son loses at least 2-3 days
each year at school sponsored parties that
are not related to classroom instruction.
Why is it that when a parent takes a child
out of school for a personal celebration,
that parent is viewed as being irresponsible
and could be indicted, whereas when the
school does exactly the same thing this
is seen as somehow educational?
As
far as the school year here in Austin
is
concerned it would not hurt anyone to reduce
the number of vacation days by 7. It
would
not kill our child or his parents, in fact
we would enjoy the relief, if his 18
day
Christmas vacation were reduced by 4 days
or his 9 day misnamed Spring break, which
is in winter, were reduced by three days.
There are an amazing 13 days during the
school year when students are locked
out
of school and given meaningless “holidays” because
their teachers have staff development days.
Why not eliminate two of these days
and allow children into their classrooms?
If these in service training days are that
important they can be held on Saturdays
or evenings. Finally, by moving the last
day of school from May 26 to June 11, students
would gain another 11 days of classroom
instruction. This would give students a
school year with 195 days.
MEASURING
TEACHER ACHIEVEMENT
In
any word association quiz, the word most
associated with “teacher” is “test.” As
a dorky public school student I lobbied
all my teachers to do away with grades
and
tests. They argued, correctly, that tests
and grades were an indispensable part
of
education. That you had to know how much
you knew and didn't know in order to
progress. I've never understood why the teachers
who best understand the need for measuring
achievement are so adamantly opposed to
their own achievement being measured.
Let
me make two things clear here, lest I again
get hundreds of angry e-mails. The first
is that no teacher should suffer a salary
reduction because of poor achievement scores
alone. The second is that relative teacher
achievement should always be adjusted to
account for the background and starting
level of her or his students. A teacher
with many impoverished students, who gain
an average of 0.9 grades in math, should
be rewarded more than one in an elite school
whose students gain 1.4 grades in math.
Here's
how this would work. At the end of each
school year students are given standardized
tests in math and reading and any other
appropriate subjects. These test measure
the grade level of each student. Since every
student is tested it is possible to have
an average grade level of achievement at
the beginning of the school year compared
to the achievement level at the end of the
year. This would provide a measurement of
the average achievement increase for the
class as a whole. This would be an excellent
measurement of teacher achievement.
This
measurement will provide Principals with
an excellent management tool. It will make
teachers accountable. Teachers with consistently
low achievement will be motivated to take
more training and perhaps alter teaching
methods. Teachers who demonstrate superior
achievement should be given merit pay increases.
Their teaching styles should be researched
and emulated.
I'm
convinced that the real good teachers strongly
favor the measurement of teacher achievement.
They want a yardstick by which they can
measure their success and a guide to help
them improve their performance.
CONCLUSION
I
believe some teachers should be paid above
$100,000 a year. This will not be possible
until we have the ability to measure teacher
achievement . Unfortunately our
system of public education has produced
some educators who are more interested in
a self-sustaining mediocrity with a positive
face, than are willing to take on the risk
of high achievement.
In
every other profession there are myriads
of statistics that define our achievement
level. Every day we face evidence that we
are doing well or poorly. We learn from
our failures. We are motivated by our successes.
It is the height of irresponsibility to
prevent teachers from receiving the types
of feedback that will make them better educators.
I
also believe that increasing the school
year from 175 to 195 days is the simplest
yet most effective program for increasing
student t learning that exists. I'm tired
of seeing pork barrel politics in education
masquerading as innovative pilot programs.
If we are serious about education, then
lets have 195 days of education.
If
educators do not have the will for a 195-day
public education system that works, then
it is only a matter of time before taxpayers
decide they don't have the will to fund
a public education system that doesn't work.
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