What Makes a School Great?

How do you define a great school?

The way it's typically done in the US is via standardized test scores. If you search a particular school, most likely you'll end up at greatschools.org, a website that ranks schools solely on the most recent standardized test scores available.

Obviously this ranking system leaves much to be desired, particularly for those who realize the flawed nature of standardization and high stakes testing. There is no attention paid to any of the important features of a school that research has proven to be crucial for student learning. These include class size, recess time, parent/community involvement, teacher collaboration/support, and student interest level, just to name a few.

It pains me that some parents select their child's school based solely on a group of test scores that have little application to the world. Standardized tests, after all, cannot measure some of the more important life skills such as problem solving, creativity, social skills, and compassion.

So why then, are we basing such an important decision--where to send our children to school-- on these functionally useless test scores?

Streamlining

I spoke with the ELA teacher that preceded me and who is now doing Title One. She was/is a fabulous teacher, as my 8th graders like to remind me since they had her last year. As the Title One director, she was at school a couple weeks ago, offering support and interventions to teachers. She had offered me her class materials from previous years when I first took over but I didn’t really know what to ask for so I never took her up on that offer. I did receive some materials via her husband, the principal, some of which I used.

After her presentation about ways she wanted to support teachers (RTI), I talked to her about a few things, only one of which I remember now. I mentioned to her how the 8th graders seemed much more closely aligned in level, whereas 7th graders seemed all over the board.  I think I used the word “streamlined” to describe 8th grade. She enthusiastically agreed, saying that 7th grade just needed to be streamlined.

I was somewhat surprised that she said this, merely because she was such a good teacher, but I just nodded along because I had to get my thoughts in order. The idea of streamlining students seems.... totally/categorically wrong to me. That is exactly what standardized tests require, that all students perform at the SAME level. But never in the world will you find a situation in which 20 to 30 people involuntarily thrown together in a room perform at the exact same levels. We NEED differences in ability. “It takes all types,” as the saying goes. It is a GOOD thing that people have different fortes. Companies value differences, and in fact it is this very thing that gets one hired: standing out from the crowd! I don’t want to make everyone the same; I don’t want to streamline my students.

But where does that leave me? Against the grain, at the very least. Maybe the question then is what DO I want for my students, if not to perform at the same level? Of course the ultimate goal is that they become productive, self-reliant, caring citizens.  

Streamlining inherently means some students will be held back or stagnated. Why the hell would I want to stall a student? I’d rather stall a car. Another sad reality of standardization is that advanced students are essentially abandoned. Now that they’ve achieved and passed the test, a teacher has no more reason to help them improve--there are too many failing students that need her attention.

The Cantankerous Common Core Monster

I had a three-hour Common Core training that left me so completely disheartened and frustrated by our public education system. Since discovering unschooling a year ago, I can't believe how counter-intuitive so much of what we do in public school actually is. I am adamantly opposed to the Common Core, which has been adopted by 46 states due to federal funding pressure. The Common Core, it turns out, was designed primarily by Pearson, the biggest education company in the US. While schools are laying off vice principals, school counselors, librarians, and running at minimum staff, education companies are making millions. Today the middle school SPED department asked the middle school team if we have any extra supplies. They are scrounging for pencils, pens, paper, expo markers, and other basic supplies. They've been using scrap paper because they have nothing else. To be clear, it's not Pearson that is at fault; rather, our system is backwards and Pearson happens to be the one profiting.

For me, standards go against my fundamental belief that students learn at different paces. Standards go against so much of what the research says and so much of what I know to be true!

Standardized testing takes up so much time. My school uses a system to test the kids four to five times a year to see where they're at. Kids are so tired of bubble sheets. I have articles galore on standardized testing, almost all of them viewing it unfavorably. I have articles on brain research which somehow never get applied to education.

Thankfully, there is a new degree that combines neuroscience with education. Finally! I hope to get my master's in that cross-field one day.

Good Teachers and Sinking Ships

Since I have decided to make a career change from teaching to... as yet to be determined, I have heard the same response time and again. "But you're such a good teacher. We need good teachers."

Though I'm flattered by the compliment, good teachers are not what our education system and our children need. Sure, good teachers are instrumental, but in such a broken system, these teachers can hardly play a tune. When good teachers aren't allowed to teach the content they think is relevant, to assess the way they know best, and to teach more holistically than the standards would ever allow, their good ability is wasted. In our current system, good teachers' abilities are stifled. They aren't teaching the way they intuitively know to be best, the way they've seen work with even the toughest of students.

I've read letters written by retiring veteran teachers who can't understand this testing madness we currently practice. Veteran teachers have told me, many times over, that if they had the same decision to make in today's society, they wouldn't choose to be teachers. This is not because they don't enjoy teaching; on the contrary, teaching has been their livelihood. But the system has disintegrated to such a degree that getting started at this point is like jumping onto a sinking ship.

Good teachers won't solve our current problems. We need a fundamental systemic change, so that these good teachers are able to teach to the fullest of their potentials.