A page 2 article in today's WSJ mentions a troubling report published yesterday by the National Center for Education Statistics.
According to the report (which admittedly is based on 2009 data), 35 states have passing grades on their standardized reading and math exams which are below the "basic" level on the national NAEP exam, including my home state of New York.
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| from www.wsj.com |
I am no expert on this topic, but it seems to point to a dumbing down of standards in most of the fifty states, at a time when many developed countries, and some emerging ones, have more literate and numerate populations than we do. Joanne Weiss, chief of staff to Secretary of Education Duncan said it showed that "low expectations are the norm" in too many states.
Education is a big complicated issue. I have heard that part of the solution may be finding the "secret sauce" that certain teachers have that allows them to reach students and motivate them to learn. Apparently the Gates foundation has been funding such "R&D" efforts. But can this secret sauce really be identified and applied? Or is it the result of commitment, experience and hard work, like any other professional expertise?
Conservatives say that more school choice through voucher programs and the like is the answer. It is tempting to think that freeing up individual families to vote with their feet will lead the magic hand of the market to throw up educational solutions that work. But I wonder: of the 13 OECD countries who outscored us in reading,and the 24 who outscored us in math, how many had free-market voucher programs? Any? Wouldn't a good starting point be to look at other countries, see what actually works, and try going with that?
My opinion, for what it's worth, is that to turn around our public education system we must attract the best and the brightest to teaching. This may have been what happened generations ago, when many exceptional women went into teaching for lack of better choices. Now, with a wide open labor market, I fear few of the best people want to dedicate their lives to public school teaching. Sure, low salaries may be part of the problem, but salaries for university professors are also low, and somehow this doesn't deter extremely bright people from going into academia. People from all over the world come to the USA to attend our universities, and young, talented academics are willing to accept a sub-standard living standard to teach in them. Why should public primary schools be so different?
One friend with teaching experience told me that the problem with teaching as a career is not the salaries, but the manner in which we educate our teachers. According to her, teaching colleges focus very little on the subject matter being taught, in favor of a focus on softer theories of education. This psychological / sociological focus suits many of the budding teachers --who were not all that passionate or knowledgeable about literature, math, or science to begin with-- but does not serve the children well. If we want to create a more rigorous, hard-core education system, do we need to start with our teaching colleges?
2 comments:
Many items for discussion in this post...
#1. Many countries only test those students on the "college track" and not those who are in vocational training or those who are already part of the work force.
USA thanks to NCLB etc. tests every child including special ed students, esl students, etc. otherwise the state will forfeit federal funding.
#2. Gone are the days that high schools offer different options for kids. In an effort to do the right thing by offering opportunities for all kids, all kids in America are basically given a "one size fits all" education to prepare them for a liberal arts college degree. High schools no longer offer auto and wood shop, home ec, and with education dollars scarce school districs are limiting the amount of kids that go to special vocational schools.
#3. Why would the best and brightest of our young people want to be teachers when our society no longer values them? Not a day goes by without an article in the paper or on the news that teachers are what's wrong with this country and how our pension plans are why the country is in such a financial mess. Instead of villifing teachers we should be trying to elevate the profile of the profession so that bright college students would consider it an option.
Bailey,
I heard collies were intelligent, but I had no idea! Thank you for the well thought out comments.
The first two points ring true, though I wonder if this is enough to completely account for those frightening rankings.
On the 3rd point I have no doubt -- if we really want to improve the educational level there will have to be some sort of cultural change.
By the way, I have a cat from the North Shore Animal League, but she is 6 years older than you, so you wouldn't know her.
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