What is the most important issue in Education today?

 

I think we need to look at the way our schools are structured to create real and enduring change in our profession and in our schools. There must be a happy medium between using test scores to dictate teacher pay/retention (what some reformers are crying for) and unions/contracts/tenure/salary schedules (what most of us currently have). Neither extreme will enable schools to do what is best for students. 

 

The tenure system protects poor teachers and teachers who refuse to embrace change and innovation. Good administrators want to nurture good teachers and keep them in the building. A good teacher does not need to fear a life without tenure if their administrator is fair. As a teacher trying to do the best for her students, I can say there is nothing more frustrating than a tenured teacher who refuses to change in order to serve the students more effectively. We all have seen this and know it goes on. Why should a teacher be exempt from changing or trying new things simply because they have worked somewhere for four years?

 

Tenure and salary schedules hurt all teachers by basically keeping them captive in a district for their entire career. How many people actually work for the same company their entire career? People change jobs when they find a better offer, when they find somewhere that will mesh with their style and personality, or when they find somewhere that will allow them to grow and thrive in their field. Teachers generally do not have that luxury. Once you are on the salary scale for several years, you would likely lose out by moving to another district, as most do not give you full credit for your time. Teachers are professionals who deserve the freedom to change districts without penalty.

 

Until we distance ourselves from unions as we know it, teachers will not be viewed as professionals. The "them against us" mentality needs to stop at both the teaching and administrative levels. We are all in education for one reason - to do what is best for the kids in our classrooms. Conflicts between the unions and administrations cloud this simple fact.

 

I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I know that there is something better than the situation we are in right now. I don't advocate using standardized test scores to dictate pay, for obvious reasons. However, there must be a way for teachers and administrators to work together to develop a fair and objective review system in which teachers could be reviewed by their colleagues as well as their administrators. I know there are some districts in the area that operate without unions and contracts, so there is a way to make it work and make teachers, administrators and school board members happy.

 

If we can focus on changing the structure of our schools, we will take a step towards making our schools more effective, promoting teachers as professionals, and educating our students in the 21st century.

 

Thanks for listening!

Traci Meziere

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Posted by Gregory Louie 1/14/2009

 

I like the topic posted by Scott McLeod on his blog, Dangerously Irrelevant:  "...how to lead in an era of disruptive innovation."  It is well worth the read for anyone interested in staying up-to-date one how technological innovation can be managed.  For me it is the most relevant question for Mr. Duncan.

 

We undoubtedly live in an age of disruptive innovation when human knowledge is creating powerful new tools that will supplant the old.  Our educational system has been obsolete for decades.  This has required companies to spend significant funds on training their workers to meet their needs.  Now with open-source learning systems schools are becoming increasingly irrelevant.

 

So what is the solution?  I happen to be fond of learning from the examples of best practices of educational systems throughout the world.  In my book, the Finnish sytem is arguably the best with impressive wins on major international comparative tests of student learning.  And what was the secret of their success?  Build the system ground up by supporting teachers!  The role of administrators was turned upside down.  Administrators in Finland are support personnel, not channels to administer top-down mandates.  Their role is to facilitate and provide whatever a teacher needs in the classroom.

 

Imagine no more district level blocking of Web 2.0 tools, but a administration that treats a teacher as an adult-professional capable of selecting any Web 2.0 tool or multimedia appropriate for the lesson.  Contrast that to an administrator that requires each teacher to fill out paperwork for each video they download or Web 2.0 tool they use.  The current system stifles teacher-led innovation.

 

In exponential times, the only system that has a hope of keeping up is one that empowers the majority of players.  That means allowing both teachers and their students to create, innovate and lead the system into the 21st century.

 

So Arne, support us, let us blossom and remove the barriers to innovation that a top-down system imposes.  Read all you can about the innovation society and learning organizations and model the educational system based on the principles firmly demonstrated by google, mozilla and other IT companies that are leading us all into the future.

 

Thanks for listening!

 

Gregory Louie

Biotechnolgy Teacher

Gravelly Hill Middle School

http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/mrglouie 

 

 

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1) Equity of opportunity for all students in regard to funding, technology access and quality leadership. 

2) Alternative forms of accountability as the era of testing has cast a dark shadow on teacher innovation, quality minutes with students and a lack of connection with 21st century skills.

3) Support for teacher education programs and the job of teaching to make this profession sustainable in regard to salaries, benefits and an investment into the community in which you teach.

4) A re-examination of the voucher program and the backlack on public education.

 

Interesting news this morning the that private school enrollments have decreased in this economic recession and people are returning to public schools. Public education is the backbone of this country and a reflection of the investment into public service.  Our post-secondary system is just as important to make this level. of education a possibility for all students.  My hope is that the new era in education includes the teacher voices and vision in regard to how students can achieve and reach their full potential without a pencil/fill in the black exercise.

 

Janice Mertes

Sun Prairie High School

jdmerte@spasd.k12.wi.us

 

 

 

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I have two:

#1 - The overfocus on testing, and, as the result of that, the push for all kids to develop, and learn, at the same rates.  I think that this has done more damage to children (and teachers) around the country than anything else.   That is the first thing that needs to be changed before anything else can be changed. 

 

#2 - The fact that society, and access to information, has changed tremendously in just the past ten years, but the way we are teaching has not.  As a high school teacher, I have noticed that every year there are more and more students who are apathetic about their education.  They have simply stopped working and stopped caring.  I think that it is because they realize that so much of what they are being taught is information that they don't need to know, but they do know that when they need to know something, they can easily learn it simply by connecting to the resources available over the Internet.  We are still teaching them to be passive learners - empty heads into which we feel the need to shovel information.  Instead, we need to completely refocus the way we are teaching (especially at the middle school level, and possible 9th and 10th grades), and instead focus on, as crazy as this may sound, more self-directed learning:  passion-based learning.  Rather than being their teachers, we need to become their facilitators, their guides, and/or their mentors. -Michele from NJ

 

I totally agree with Michelle from NJ.  In most ways, we continue to teach students by giving them information and then testing to see if they have "mastered" the content.  I have been teaching teachers how to rework their teaching and learning into problem-based learning units.  Students are much more engaged and learn a lot more than if they are lectured, take notes and take a test.  Problem-based learning units, if properly created and implemented, teach students how to be lifelong learners.  I like to think of problem-based learning as similar to the show "Survivor" where problem solving, teamwork and interpersonal skills are the key.  Twentieth century teaching reminds me of the show "Jeopardy" as most of that information can be looked up in a very short amount of time using the Internet.  Let's move beyond the Jeopardy style classrooms and move towards problem-based learning where students solve real problems with real tools e.g. computers.  True 21st century learning pairs problem-based learning with 1:1 laptop programs.  --Sharon Ellner, Pulaski, Wisconsin

 

I believe we must address structural changes, not simply watch as,"administrators are running around straightening out deck chairs while the Titanic goes down."  Large classes hamper the ability of a teacher to personalize the connection of education to real world experience and this is an essential issue facing education. How do we make math, science, and humanities meaningful without measuring, building, experimenting, and engaging social issues of the day?  The regime of the multiple choice test is not a full measure of our students and should not fool them or us into thinking that this is what they are worth. We have wasted great resources in recent years and many believed that borrowing was creating wealth. Our future president told us in Grant Park that November evening that all of us would have to shoulder the weight in the struggle up the hill that lay ahead.  In my district, the superintendent announced that over 2,300 teachers will be let go and class sizes will increase.  We will have to weather the storm and use our wits and strength to survive until it passes. In the light of a new day, we must rebuild the structure of our educational system so that we can engage students with rigor, encourage problem solving, use resources wisely, and provide a more varied and stimulating learning experience for our students.

 

Charlie Unkeless

 

Quote attributed to Joseph Eger, “Listening to the Vibes”, New York Times, page 34, 1972 May 15