674: Can it be saved? No, it cannot, and here’s why:

After 31 years of teaching, I am coming to the sad conclusion that public education in the USA is almost to the point that it cannot be saved.

Federal agents, state agents and district agents have played all they can play on the one string they can easily control in the orchestra that is public education – the teachers. What is coming to fruition is the result of that relentless twanging on that one string, compounded by the problematic, stifling effects of teaching in a Pandemic, added to the ineffectual and undermining policies that have been enacted over the past several decades, to wit: teachers are leaving the profession in unprecedented numbers, and the supply chain of new teachers is not keeping up with the demand. I myself, cannot recommend teaching in the USA, and instead, suggest that those who desire to teach consider international teaching instead of domestic USA public schools.

Why do I believe public education is almost unsalvageable? The federal policies that began with No Child Left Behind and have continued with the various equally flawed mandates since then, have set up a current system of comparison that allows no school to have their “numbers” drop. This race to obtain the necessary “numbers” to avoid having a school taken over by the state (mandated by the feds) has resulted in chicanery of the worst sort that would have an accountant brought up on criminal charges for cooking the books.

Shifting the responsibility for learning back to the students (because the teachers actually are teaching their hearts out under a ridiculous progression of “effective practices” professional development courses) will mean actually holding students accountable for attendance and achievement. Implementing this will mean (since it hasn’t been done for YEARS) a resultant drop in inflated grades and graduation rates (mostly worthless pieces of paper that purport to be diplomas certifying acceptable levels of achievement) that will result in schools being slated for takeover, meaning that entire school faculties will be terminated. As if they could actually replace those professionals in the current labor market, which is highly unlikely, given that more schools than not are currently understaffed because of the shortage of qualified professionals.

Why will “numbers” drop if schools actually return accountability to the learners? Because students have been catered to in a decades-long atmosphere in public schools of complete absence of responsibility, contributing to the “entitlement” generation employers are discovering as schools churn out “graduates” with zero work ethic and very questionable knowledge. One public school system, for example (by no means unique) has no grade reporting through the entire elementary school experience (PreK through grade 5 – that’s 7 years).

This is then followed by “grades” reported in grade levels 6-8, but no zeros are allowed to mar students’ academic averages. This means points are required to be entered from teachers for zero effort – AND students are passed along to the next grade level regardless of grades or achievement in their classes. So, not only is zero effort rewarded, it isn’t necessary to actually attend to the lesson content that IS BEING PRESENTED by the teaching staff. It absolutely does not matter what a student learns or does not learn during those three years of middle school, because they are automatically going to be socially promoted. Yes, the school does have attendance requirements (by state law) but there is NEVER a case brought legally for truancy, and students who exceed the maximum absences allowed are routinely exempted from any consequences if they merely request an exemption. So, neither learning OR attendance matters.

This is the situation now for the first 10 years of a student’s academic experience. By now, the student is 14-15 years old, and they’ve had a decade of complete and total academic irresponsibility. They are reading and performing academically two and three years (or more) behind where they should be (and those expectations are being lowered to match).

At this point, students enter high school where there are requirements for Carnegie Units, and now, for the first time in nearly a decade, they have to actually pass a class. So, seeing as this isn’t happening for up to half of them, the school now gets into creative accounting to keep their “numbers” up. See, if they suddenly began failing students whose lack of knowledge/achievement deserve to fail, their enrollment numbers will rise as precipitously as their graduation rates will fall in order for those failing students to retake those failed courses next year. This means schools will have to hire additional teachers to handle the load (if they can be found), and/or class sizes will rise. It also means some schools literally will not have space to accommodate those students, meaning portable units, or floating teachers who are teaching classes in rooms when other teachers have planning. All of this results in pressure from administration on teachers to pass students who have not passed, by replacing grades for work not done, putting in points for learning tasks not attempted, and finagling any other way that can be finagled to shuffle kids on though who haven’t learned or performed to minimum standards.

And, for some school systems, what will trump the educational, staff, and space reasons for speciously passing along students who have not earned their diplomas, it is a fact that increasing enrollments from failing students who might have been held accountable for the first time in their lives means that rising school enrollment will result in the school will be placed in a higher sports bracket. And this is without a potential rise in eligible athletes since the enrollment rise is from failing students who aren’t eligible to be athletes and they will then be forced to compete in football (and other sports, but let’s be realistic, only football counts) against larger schools. OMG.

I know of one school near the top of one sports classification bracket that routinely won the state football championship for years by finagling their attendance numbers, striving to avoid being reassigned to the next larger bracket where they then would be competing against larger schools. They shuffled off low-achieving students (except for those who were athletes, of course) to an alternative school in the county to lower the enrollment at the primary high school in order to stay within their desired sports bracket numbers. Not kidding – talk about creative accounting.

For those schools that actually aren’t a sports franchise that does academics as a side hustle, they are currently forced to pander to students who have a history of doing very little – and who have no desire, like most other habitually lazy people, of actually expending any effort to achieve their education. If schools return to traditional education – since the modern “effective practices” research quite obviously has not resulted in a better-educated graduate, there will be a period of time when students who are discovering the reality of failure drops the school’s “numbers.” In this day and age, that means the school will be taken over, by the evidence of their falling “numbers,” because numbers don’t lie, do they? Of course they do. Thus, administrators actually cannot effect meaningful change, and must continue to pander and pad their “numbers.”

Employers can already tell it. Our society can already tell it. And it isn’t going to get better, because there aren’t administrators who are willing to make the necessary changes because of the consequences to their careers. Same thing for the teachers who are forced by administrative orders to award points to students who’ve done nothing in class – they also need a job, and are unwilling to be the first one to stand up and say, “I’m not doing this crap, because it is crap.” They have income and a pension riding on that crappy job, and they aren’t willing to rock the boat, even though they know full well what is happening. It is a self-perpetuating disaster, and it’s been happening, is happening, and will continue to happen.

A school that has the sort of teachers/administrators with the guts to call a spade a spade are so rare, Hollywood makes movies about them.

568: Effort

As another school year winds to a close, I am forcibly reminded that many, many, many people have a ridiculous sense of entitlement. I posted in my classroom a few weeks ago (for exactly this time) the statement “Don’t be upset over the RESULTS you did not get from the EFFORT you did not invest.”

As a teacher, I provide students with multiple learning opportunities: assignments. I count (grade) most of them. Our school uses a continuous average grading system, which means we do not set in stone your grade as a student each reporting term. So, your final grade is not determined by the averages of your first, second, third, and fourth grading term results, but instead, the overall average at the end of the year.  This allows students who do poorly to bring up their averages and earn credit for the year.

It also means students who have done moderately to marginally well all year can fail the entire year (even posting a passing average for the first three quarters) by slacking off at the end – which is RICHLY coming to pass. It is amazing how seven or eight zeros at the tail end can drop a close to failing year-long average right over the cliff.

I have warned students in every class that if their averages are in the low 70’s, that they are in danger of failing the course for the entire year, and they are, as usual, ignoring me. Problem is, time is short for completing work, and I am not grading anything turned in late now at full credit, PLUS, I am not accepting work from FIRST,  SECOND, and THIRD TERMS at this late date. Seriously?? You even bothered to ask?

I watched you sit and do nothing for days and weeks, while I chivvied you and reminded you and redirected you countless times, and NOW you get concerned about course credit and passing averages? NOW you want me to provide you with “extra credit” work? Nope.

In twenty-six years of teaching, I have NEVER, EVER, not even ONCE, had a child fail a class I taught with low grades on work they submitted. Not once. Every single child (and I work mostly with high schoolers) who fails has done so on ZEROS: work they just chose not to complete and submit for scoring.

I can work with a student who shows me some effort, even if it is not up to standard. As an employer, I want someone to work every day at the tasks I have set for them to do. As a teacher, I want exactly the same thing. I can help you if you are working. You can ask questions, and we can fix your work on the spot to provide you with better scores. You can get feedback on where this work could be improved.

I do not “give” grades: you earn them and I post them. I can credit someone who is working, even when they do not possess the native ability to do it at A or B quality work. THAT is not required. It is wonderful and appreciated and celebrated, but so is the determined effort to get the work done and submitted on time when assigned. I cannot post credit for something that is not submitted.

And the time of reckoning is at hand.

 

238: Grit Your Teeth and BEAR IT.

Last week was truly from hell. Monday, I got my contract documents for my next job in Panama, a two-year contract I am thrilled about, and I printed them, signed them, scanned them and e-mailed them back. I also finished the trimester report cards for two classes – way early! YEA!! That was just about the last positive thing that happened!

Sometime in the night, Monday night, IN MY FREAKING SLEEP, I apparently herniated a disc in my back. HOW do you do that in your sleep?? Tuesday I hobbled to work with considerable back pain, eating Tylenol like candy all during the day. OUCH. When I got there, we got the sad news that our director (the person who would be called our principal in the US) had passed away from her battle with cancer, after a year and a half of fighting it. Hers started with lower back/leg pain, too – just like I was experiencing.  It was a tough day. The University called in two counselors and we held two assemblies to inform the students, who were understandably upset.  And, my back pain got worse. And worse.

Thursday, school was called off for the funeral. I was unable to attend,because I was unable to stand up for more than a few seconds at a time. I spent the day medicated, and getting gradually more and more nauseous, until I began vomiting. What fun – back pain, and tossing cookies. Friday, I called in to work, since I still could not stand, and was still puking. The University clinic injected meds, since I could not keep them down, and they dispatched me to Fez, a big city an hour away, for an MRI. That took until 7 pm, and I got home shortly after nine. Saturday morning, I returned to Fez for the verdict – which was a MILD (OMG, if that was mild I don’t even want to THINK about how much a real herniation would hurt) herniation that would not require surgery IF I obeyed directions and took the next week off, medicated it and let it heal. DONE DEAL. My mama didn’t raise no fool.

I did stop on the way home and put my report cards on my Flash drive so I could work on them as I was sitting down at the computer while at home for the week, and actually keep up with work. Fortunately, this month is my lightest teaching load this year, so subbing for me requires the minimum, and I am sending in lesson plans for my three classes each day.  We are reading Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream for the seniors, the 10th graders are reading Eric Hoffer’s essay, The True Believer, and the 11th graders are reading The Great Gatsby, since somehow they missed that one in earlier years. So, I read, make out lesson sheets and e-mail them to school. The students are e-mailing their finished work to me at home. Heck – why do I need to go in??

191: Killed by a cold…

One of these days, I am going to delay going to the clinic for just one more day so I can finish the piled-up work, just one more day too many, and the cold will turn into virulent raging pneumonia, and it will kill me deader than a doornail. Doornails are pretty dead. It seems that E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G else comes before me, and that just sucks, and I only have my own stupid self to blame for it. Why do I do this stupid stuff time after time after time? Will the whole world grind to a screeching halt if I take an hour to go see the doc for some meds to knock out this infection, before it knocks out me? Of course not. So, why in the he….ck is this the third day in a row, and I still have not gone?

It is not like I have a terminal fear of doctors, because even though I might not have the UTmost respect for the profession, and I am darn sure that they are correct when they claim to be PRACTICING medicine, I still am convinced that they are an excellent way to keep from dying from something stupid and silly….like a stuffed-up sinus infection and a bronchial, tubercular-sounding cough. So what gives?

Is anybody on Earth going to be even a little bit grateful that I have worked like a dog to complete my report cards for this grading trimester? Our assistant director commented that I had more cards to fill out than any other teacher on staff. I am not sure about that, but I am glad, glad, glad to be finally done with the very last one, even though many students won’t be happy about it. I do tend to tell the truth. Don’t let ANYbody tell you that you will be appreciated for telling the truth. EVERYbody would rather you tell a polite lie. ESPECIALLY on a report card. At least this grading period, no students offered me bribes for better grades. Darn it.

I could use the extra cash to pay for the doctor.

59: School – YUCK

I am a teacher by profession. That means that I have pretty much been in school for all my life. First, the one I attended for day care, then pre-school, Kindergarten and then ten years of formal schooling in the American public schools, and YEARS of collegiate enrollment which STILL is not over. If I am not working on the school I teach, I am working on the school I am attending.

Teaching involves pre-reading tha lesson material, designing lesson plans, creating lesson handouts and assessments, actually teaching them and conducting the assessments, grading the assignments and the assessments, recording the grades, and returning them to students, discussing them and reteaching when necessary. And that’s only the stuff dealing with the normal school day when no one is absent and has work to make up, or the administrative stuff I have to complete that goes along with running a school.

Being a student is far, far easier. I have to attend class, listen, absorb material (usually by reading), and produce assignments as requested by the deadlines.

However, I have been a student too long. I actually prefer the more difficult and time-consuming teaching rather than the easier learning mode. It is not that I dislike learning new things, as I do enjoy that, very much. I simply have had enough of the student personna. When you are the student, your goal is pleasing the professor so that you achieve a passing score in their course. Often, that means producing a piece of work that you may personally have no interest in. OFTEN. You do it because the professor wants it that way, and being successful at school is the ability to meet the demands of the teacher, to THEIR satisfaction. Probably explains why Einstein sucked at it.

That is the aspect of being a learner that I dislike. I don’t like feeling like I have to toe the philosophical line of someone else’s convictions. And it is far too easy to discern where the professor camps their tent when there is a debate, or more than one point of view, on any particular issue. And frankly, it is not worth the cost of the tuition I paid, not to mention the trouble, of espousing a point of view contrary to the prevailing one (read: the professor’s). I dislike having to retake courses and repay tuition, especially since it is same song, second verse. It is much easier to wait to have a personal opinion until after I have earned the institution’s stupid degree, which is all the employers are looking for: those letters after your name. Once you HAVE a PhD, you can disagree all you like; in fact, there then is some cachet in disagreeing. Until then, you are taking your life in your hands.

And I now have only a few more months of student-hood to suffer through, and I DO mean suffer. My doctoral concept paper committee at the University has said that my proposed research study design does not have enough participants, in spite of the fact that very few of my reference studies hold their research in various locations (most had ONE, like mine) or have many participants (MANY had fewer than I am proposing). And this is like I can magically produce elementary schoolchildren who are willing to participate in my study. All I can do is ask, which I have been doing for  months. But, like  many other stupid professors I have been under (apt mental picture) they want what they want, for the reasons they want it. This means that for the third time, I must redesign and re-research a completely new dissertation research topic. Suffer. Suffer. Suffer.

And when and if I ever actually complete this degree, there is no inducement on this Earth that will tempt me to attend the graduation ceremony. MAIL ME the stupid piece of paper. And no one will EVER see that diploma on my wall – I will photocopy it when I need to prove to an employer that I have it. It has totally LOST any shine, gleam or glimmer of attractiveness it ever held for me. The only attraction it might still hold is the fact that I will earn a little extra money WITH the degree than I now do performing the exact same job without the degree. That’s about it.

38: New grading system

I just read about a new way to grade students, an article given to us by my school Director. This is a logical extension of the present standards-based grading system, in that students are scored based on how well they meet essential standards, and how they are able to perform using what they have learned in class. This makes sense. I have had students pass class because they complete their homework and are trying, not because they really grasped the essential curriculum concepts that I was actually teaching. Now, effort should count for something, since employers are looking for effort, among other things, and we need to encourage students who work hard, not just those who work smart. But, increasingly, we need the students to work smart.

This new system proposes that teachers identify the essential things that students would know and be able to do at the end of the class we are teaching, and then that we assess them according to whether they have achieved, or not achieved, or perhaps even surpassed these performance and knowledge goals. This makes for fewer tests, and makes homework an optional practice for the students who know they still need to “get it.” I no longer have to actually grade every piece of paper I give students to do – I just have to put the feedback on it. Then, students know how close they are to achieving the benchmark, or standard.

This is quite similar to giving students a rubric to self-assess their own work. An objective is on the rubric, and various levels of performance are awarded a certain number of points. Low points mean an unsuccessful effort, medium points is an acceptable response, but not an outstanding one, and high points equals an outstanding product, or academic excellence. That means a C is truly “average” work, instead of the more common A- meaning an average effort, and an A+ being outstanding.

The new standards-based grading system means that students will demonstrate mastery of the content of the class, not mastery of doing homework, or some other item that is not curriculum-driven. Students choose whether to complete homework, because they know the practice is tied to their mastery of, and personal achievement on, the standard. This makes sense, except that it is different from THE WAY THINGS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DONE. Therein lies the rub.

How is a parent going to react when they see a child’s report card which lists below proficient, proficient, or outstanding on a number of curriculum objectives, rather than an A, a B, or a C? And what about the thorny problem of behavior? Punctuality, behavior issues, participation, teamwork, organization, those things that help make most students successful? Do we make objectives for those, too and report them in the same way?

All these things are interesting, and such a new system will have to be carefully thought out. What if a student can demonstrate mastery of the objectives of a class before they take it? Does that mean they should receive credit for the class? I think they should. Does that mean we should administer a pre-test to our students the first day of class, to see who needs to be promoted to the next class, and who actually needs to take this class? I think we should. Does that mean we will have ages mixed up in various classes – probably. Should that matter – probably not. The new system is based on demonstration of mastery, and those students who can demonstrate mastery should be able to proceed through classes and through school at their own pace. Does this mean lots of changes to a traditional school? Yes. Will these be good changes? Well – they will encourage students to achieve in order to finish sooner than regularly scheduled, and encourage those quick students to move on, leaving teachers to help the slower ones achieve mastery at THEIR own pace. That sounds good to me! It sure will make school different, but I thought that was what everybody was screaming for – a change in schools to make them better at producing better student graduates. Will it work? The research says it will work – we’ll see!

What do YOU think about all of this?

37: Why Grade Papers?

Why do student’s papers have to be graded? The assignments are so that they can practice what we have done in class and show what they have learned. So why must they be GRADED? Why not a good job, or way to go, or this needs revision, or you need to study more, instead? Well – if students were more proactive instead or reactive, that might work.

I have discoverd that students do not do an assignment if they know it will  not be graded. Just plain not do it. SOOOooo, I grade E-V-E-R-Y-
T-H-I-N-G that I ask students to complete in class. If it is important enough to ask them to do it in class, it is important enough to score. Does that make lots of work for me? YES.  If students would do what they are asked to do, I could maybe not take grades on practice work, BUT…we do not live in utopia, do we?

Another reason why student’s papers must be graded is for continual improvement. When I look at a piece of writing, for example, I am not only looking at the ideas, the clarity and creativity with which they were presented, their logic and reasonableness, examples and citations, I am also looking at format of paragraphs, thesis statements, capitalization, grammar, commas, punctuation in general, sentence fragments, run-on sentences, word choice, literary devices and a billion other annoying little details that get right only with practice, editing and much correction on my part and the student’s part. Often, students will not edit or proofread their work. Why? I always skim my written work, even though that does not mean I don’t spot a mistake only after I have hit the “post” button – a nanosecond, an oh-no second, too late. But I do proofread. And I do edit. It is much easier to edit now that most things are word-processed. I am from the dark ages when the whole PAGE had to be laboriously re-typed if an error was made. Or a space was left out – anything. Editing THEN was a REAL chore. Now, it is easy! But students still mightily resist doing it. What’s the prob, dude?

Lastly, I grade student’s papers beccause I have not found a better way to do things. I am looking. Believe me.

 

33: Work, work, work, work…..

I know it does not get anything done when I rant about how much I have to get done, but it makes me FEEL better, so there. I have curtains to stitch so that the light does not filter through so hubby can watch his digital projector. I have a dress I want to make out of a painted T-shirt that I have been waiting to do, and two pieces of fabric just calling my name for a dress, a backpack to repair and a shirt that needs a few stitches.

Then, I have to finish posting and commenting on grades for this nine weeks grading period, and the lesson plans for at least the last month to catch up on. I HAVE lesson plans, I just have not written them down yet. Darn it. I have lesson handouts to create for two novels we are reading in class, plus chapters in American and World history to create study questions for. THEN, we have lessons in two classes of Computer Applications, and one for Senior Project – what we will be doing after the college application essay project. The last classes are ART, and they will be working soon on portfolios, which I need more cardboard for! Then we have to begin writing poetry for our Literary magazine, and planning our Coffee House performance. Sheesh.

I am painting a big wall hanging of a mermaid sitting on an undersea rock, with sea life all around her, and her red hair floating on the current. I also have the image of a papier-mache mask going full guns, and have collected the materials to complete it, I just have to actually DO it.

I have to hunt online for life insurance – term for hubby. I have to organize my clothes upstairs, so that the flimsy Marjane closet can actually hold what I put in there. I need to take little kitty for his kitten shots and worming. I need to read about 40 books on my “must-read” list. And I have to relax a little before my shoulders get so tight that my head pops off of them.

I need to turn in applications for employment – teaching positions in other countries, in case I do not get rehired here. I have two children in college and MUST be employed, so it is important to have a backup plan in case they do not want me back – it could happen.  I need to contact another professional who has volunteered to help me conduct my doctoral dissertation research using her students – and I have to write instructions for her so she knows what to do with the lessons I planned for this research. Then I have to edit my 40+ page Concept paper (AGAIN) and resubmit it, and then I get to edit my 150 page+ Doctoral Dissertation Proposal. I also need to email other schools begging for more teachers to help me do this research project, since I need more participants than my small school can supply – or so the dissertation committee says. AND I need to RELAX before my shoulders get so tight I can’t even turn  my head left and right.

I think that was most of it. I am sure I forgot something, though……