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When standardization is engaged, everyone suffers the same indignities
As heart-breaking as Peter Campbell's report (A Visit to a Corporate Welfare School ) is..I would like to point out, that in many districts that are clamoring to meet the mandates of their district and state's compliance with NCLB, the atmosphere is very similar.
The environment in our public school classrooms is similarly regimented and oppressive, the teachers are under pressure and, even if they recognize the horror of what they are required to accomplish, they have little choice but to comply...Do you think they are often irritable and short with the students--You bet!
Are the students beat down by such a system? In my daughter's AP lit. class, class discussions are non-existent; How in the world does one learn about literature without an opportunity to discuss it? It doesn't really matter anymore, since the objective is locked in by the standard test.
What do the parents understand about these suburban classrooms and schools? For the most part, they are simply responding to surface, media-dispensed statistics about state or district "progress" and they are bought into the "lake woebegone" myth of advanced placement and other programs providing their child-product "accelerated" opportunity.
The fact that the movement is so tied in with other voices of propaganda--the business world, the faith-based groups, the military...creates a lobby strong enough to pre-empt any voice of dissent...
Sometimes, it seems like an adult version of The Lord of the Flies, and the steady growth of this mentality will leave only the shrewdest, most cold-blooded warriors intact.
I have to say that this article has my attention because I believe that it is an accurate, informative and important look at the life inside of a school and classroom. I understand and agree that the indignity of teaching a minority child or ANY child in the manner described is horrid. I have to correct several passages because I believe that these accurate corrections are the other half of the story. You see, more of the truth has to be included in this very important narrative.
In the following section, I will follow the author's words with my comments, in red. I have used numerals to label each excerpt for the purpose of this discussion.
excerpt I: "This is even more troubling given the fact that no white, wealthy, suburban district would ever consent to a school that controlled its students and its teachers in this way. Indeed, these schools pride themselves in their individuality, their creativity, and the professional autonomy of their teachers, who are viewed as experts in assessing what is best for each student."
comment: My children are schooled in a "wealthy, white, suburban neighborhood." Although I would not call it "consent," because I am alarmed about the extent to which parents are unaware, the dynamics described in the paper closely follow the dynamics in our public school classrooms. In fact, while "these schools pride themselves in their individuality, their creativity, and the professional autonomy of their teachers, who are viewed as experts in assessing what is best for each student," the school board, appointed by the governor in our state, has employed a superintendent who created scripts, pacing guides and a grueling testing program, in compliance with our state and federal mandates and in accord with the NCLB act. Our teachers have no autonomy and, as experts, have no ability or time to assess anything of the kind; no individual student matters to any extent, except to the degree that they will support a desirable statistical outcome on tests.
excerpt II:..."he's being taught to read through Open Court. In Reading the Naked Truth, Gerald Coles writes, "Putting an excessive emphasis on word skills might result in beginning readers not achieving competence in a variety of additional strategies of reading, strategies especially necessary for high-level material in later grades. An excessive skills emphasis that encourages children to see reading as 'word work' rather than as an experience that informs and excites them and fires their imagination could discourage enthusiasm for reading and thereby encourage aliteracy, that is, students who know how to read but have no interest in reading."
excerpt III: "In classrooms such as these at Edison, I see this deadening effect at work. Low-income minority children are being given the lowest of the low when it comes to a rich curriculum. The reading program is designed for one thing: to help kids pass the state standardized test. The rationale is understandable: these kids need help in "the basics" because they don't get it at home. But this then leads to the creation of a curriculum that is nothing but the basics. No white, wealthy school - not a single one in the country - uses the Open Court curriculum."
comment on excerpts II and III: "No white, wealthy school - not a single one in the country - uses the Open Court curriculum." Ours does.
excerpt IV: "It's little wonder why this is the case: no wealthy, white parent would stand for these dumbed-down curricula. Not for a minute."
comment on excerpt IV: "It's little wonder why this is the case: no wealthy, white parent would stand for these dumbed-down curricula. Not for a minute." Ours do.
excerpt V: "If he lived in my suburban district, he would have a different educational experience, thus a different life, and thus a different future."
comment on excerpt V: "If he lived in my suburban district, he would have a different educational experience, thus a different life, and thus a different future." If he lived in ours, he might have a nicer house, more open space to run and play in, more personal safety, and more opportunity to grow up healthy, but don't believe for a moment that his educational experience, at this moment in time, would even be marginally different from the oppressive and lackluster atmosphere that was so accurately described in this article.
I include the following log to substantiate my comments about our "white, wealthy, suburban" school district and hope to illustrate that while the rhetorical phrases are in place, (Advanced Placement, Honors,) the application of these "opportunities" are corrupt.
I have identified my children as 1a=first child, and 1b=second child...
this way, no child is number 2.
Back-to-school night this year:
I went to "back to school night" last night at our childrens' high school. Let me tell you what a dramatically changed situation this is over the course of three years time.
In biology, for example, and 1a is in AP and 1b is in honors, these two teachers are incredibly dedicated to their craft and their specialty, BOTH expressed outrage over the scripted, limited, test-oriented, handicapping of the county control of their classrooms. The honors teacher held up the pacing guide and apologized profusely and said she could no longer accept being forced to follow a program that insists she race through material in a classroom where they can not learn. She also picked up a huge manual and said: "and look at this: this is my SCRIPT." She was not expressing a reaction to change; she was expressing a tangible fact of her classroom. She is 5 days "behind" and her entire class already failed one test, which she planned to exclude. The depth of teaching that takes place under these restrictions is, as you can imagine, quite compromised. Racing through sections of material, important concepts covered only by a demanding, abbreviated worksheet with contents dictated by the selected references from the test is not the kind of learning experience I had in mind for my children.
1b, being the super-type-a student that she is, got a 50 something on the test and she is only one of several very capable students in the class. You see, the pacing guide and testing program just doesn't work! ( and if it doesn't work for students of 1b's ability, you should just imagine for a minute what is going on in classrooms of children who are at lower levels.) I happen to talk to them too; it breaks these teacher's hearts and my heart. They showed me their pacing guides and stood there, eye's brimming sometimes, and asked me how in the world these kids can be expected to deliver on these inappropriate curriculum guides. The point is that they can't. The children are falling farther behind and the teachers' spirits are dying. No one is learning. Everyone is miserable.
My children are robbed of hour after hour of time outside of school with endless, mindless, worksheets and assignments that have them up until midnight before they slump into a mere 5 hours of sleep and wake up to do it all over again. They race to their school busses in the dark of the morning and wake up to yet more of the endless looming standards and measurements that will hallmark their academic careers and continue to leave them little time to read a book for enjoyment or participate in an art or music class for enjoyment or personal growth.
In 1a's AP science class, the teacher happened to love her science and teaching and had basically the same remarks, except, in this case, it was all about the college board approach to the classroom: the entire class is dedicated to the test. The good teacher, the good scientist, can't possibly function with this sort of harness...But their principal and most importantly, their superintendent demands that these courses be taught this way; IE: the goal is the test score ( the statistic that the press will more than likely write an article about. ) The AP class has a guidebook and a test-orientation just like the other classes. The difference is, this time we buy it from a vendor that has a phenomenal monopoly on the educational services circuit. Do you get my point?
1a is taking 5 AP classes. She did that because these were classes she really wanted to take, subjects that she wanted to learn about. Learning in our schools now means learning what is on the test. Apply that to 5th year french. This class is only taught as an AP class now. This entire class is devoted to test taking skills. I have to tell you that the teachers, bound by the superintendent's pacing guides and scripts, his dedication to expanding AP, his block schedules, have destroyed the teaching and learning that could be the legacy and essence of our schools for the teachers and for the students.
1b is miserable, and so are her teachers. She is working for hours on assignments and worksheets the teachers have to get done, even if the material being delivered is way too complicated for homework, and even if it is a waste of time; there just isn't time in class for it all and the county dictates the plan; period. The teachers know it, 1b knows it, but the papers continue to report the "progress." neither 1b nor 1a, or their teachers experience it as progress; do you?
1b is 13 years old. Her life right now is full of dread.
Conclusion:
The situation is horrendous; definitely. Be aware, however, that this time, it is bad for ALL of us.
A Visit to a Corporate Welfare School: Peter Campbell, instructional designer and reform activist, visited an Edison School today. Assessment Reform Network listserv.( accessed Oct. 25, 2005 at http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/ http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/2005/10/visit-to-corporate-welfare-school.html )
The environment in our public school classrooms is similarly regimented and oppressive, the teachers are under pressure and, even if they recognize the horror of what they are required to accomplish, they have little choice but to comply...Do you think they are often irritable and short with the students--You bet!
Are the students beat down by such a system? In my daughter's AP lit. class, class discussions are non-existent; How in the world does one learn about literature without an opportunity to discuss it? It doesn't really matter anymore, since the objective is locked in by the standard test.
What do the parents understand about these suburban classrooms and schools? For the most part, they are simply responding to surface, media-dispensed statistics about state or district "progress" and they are bought into the "lake woebegone" myth of advanced placement and other programs providing their child-product "accelerated" opportunity.
The fact that the movement is so tied in with other voices of propaganda--the business world, the faith-based groups, the military...creates a lobby strong enough to pre-empt any voice of dissent...
Sometimes, it seems like an adult version of The Lord of the Flies, and the steady growth of this mentality will leave only the shrewdest, most cold-blooded warriors intact.
I have to say that this article has my attention because I believe that it is an accurate, informative and important look at the life inside of a school and classroom. I understand and agree that the indignity of teaching a minority child or ANY child in the manner described is horrid. I have to correct several passages because I believe that these accurate corrections are the other half of the story. You see, more of the truth has to be included in this very important narrative.
In the following section, I will follow the author's words with my comments, in red. I have used numerals to label each excerpt for the purpose of this discussion.
excerpt I: "This is even more troubling given the fact that no white, wealthy, suburban district would ever consent to a school that controlled its students and its teachers in this way. Indeed, these schools pride themselves in their individuality, their creativity, and the professional autonomy of their teachers, who are viewed as experts in assessing what is best for each student."
comment: My children are schooled in a "wealthy, white, suburban neighborhood." Although I would not call it "consent," because I am alarmed about the extent to which parents are unaware, the dynamics described in the paper closely follow the dynamics in our public school classrooms. In fact, while "these schools pride themselves in their individuality, their creativity, and the professional autonomy of their teachers, who are viewed as experts in assessing what is best for each student," the school board, appointed by the governor in our state, has employed a superintendent who created scripts, pacing guides and a grueling testing program, in compliance with our state and federal mandates and in accord with the NCLB act. Our teachers have no autonomy and, as experts, have no ability or time to assess anything of the kind; no individual student matters to any extent, except to the degree that they will support a desirable statistical outcome on tests.
excerpt II:..."he's being taught to read through Open Court. In Reading the Naked Truth, Gerald Coles writes, "Putting an excessive emphasis on word skills might result in beginning readers not achieving competence in a variety of additional strategies of reading, strategies especially necessary for high-level material in later grades. An excessive skills emphasis that encourages children to see reading as 'word work' rather than as an experience that informs and excites them and fires their imagination could discourage enthusiasm for reading and thereby encourage aliteracy, that is, students who know how to read but have no interest in reading."
excerpt III: "In classrooms such as these at Edison, I see this deadening effect at work. Low-income minority children are being given the lowest of the low when it comes to a rich curriculum. The reading program is designed for one thing: to help kids pass the state standardized test. The rationale is understandable: these kids need help in "the basics" because they don't get it at home. But this then leads to the creation of a curriculum that is nothing but the basics. No white, wealthy school - not a single one in the country - uses the Open Court curriculum."
comment on excerpts II and III: "No white, wealthy school - not a single one in the country - uses the Open Court curriculum." Ours does.
excerpt IV: "It's little wonder why this is the case: no wealthy, white parent would stand for these dumbed-down curricula. Not for a minute."
comment on excerpt IV: "It's little wonder why this is the case: no wealthy, white parent would stand for these dumbed-down curricula. Not for a minute." Ours do.
excerpt V: "If he lived in my suburban district, he would have a different educational experience, thus a different life, and thus a different future."
comment on excerpt V: "If he lived in my suburban district, he would have a different educational experience, thus a different life, and thus a different future." If he lived in ours, he might have a nicer house, more open space to run and play in, more personal safety, and more opportunity to grow up healthy, but don't believe for a moment that his educational experience, at this moment in time, would even be marginally different from the oppressive and lackluster atmosphere that was so accurately described in this article.
I include the following log to substantiate my comments about our "white, wealthy, suburban" school district and hope to illustrate that while the rhetorical phrases are in place, (Advanced Placement, Honors,) the application of these "opportunities" are corrupt.
I have identified my children as 1a=first child, and 1b=second child...
this way, no child is number 2.
Back-to-school night this year:
I went to "back to school night" last night at our childrens' high school. Let me tell you what a dramatically changed situation this is over the course of three years time.
In biology, for example, and 1a is in AP and 1b is in honors, these two teachers are incredibly dedicated to their craft and their specialty, BOTH expressed outrage over the scripted, limited, test-oriented, handicapping of the county control of their classrooms. The honors teacher held up the pacing guide and apologized profusely and said she could no longer accept being forced to follow a program that insists she race through material in a classroom where they can not learn. She also picked up a huge manual and said: "and look at this: this is my SCRIPT." She was not expressing a reaction to change; she was expressing a tangible fact of her classroom. She is 5 days "behind" and her entire class already failed one test, which she planned to exclude. The depth of teaching that takes place under these restrictions is, as you can imagine, quite compromised. Racing through sections of material, important concepts covered only by a demanding, abbreviated worksheet with contents dictated by the selected references from the test is not the kind of learning experience I had in mind for my children.
1b, being the super-type-a student that she is, got a 50 something on the test and she is only one of several very capable students in the class. You see, the pacing guide and testing program just doesn't work! ( and if it doesn't work for students of 1b's ability, you should just imagine for a minute what is going on in classrooms of children who are at lower levels.) I happen to talk to them too; it breaks these teacher's hearts and my heart. They showed me their pacing guides and stood there, eye's brimming sometimes, and asked me how in the world these kids can be expected to deliver on these inappropriate curriculum guides. The point is that they can't. The children are falling farther behind and the teachers' spirits are dying. No one is learning. Everyone is miserable.
My children are robbed of hour after hour of time outside of school with endless, mindless, worksheets and assignments that have them up until midnight before they slump into a mere 5 hours of sleep and wake up to do it all over again. They race to their school busses in the dark of the morning and wake up to yet more of the endless looming standards and measurements that will hallmark their academic careers and continue to leave them little time to read a book for enjoyment or participate in an art or music class for enjoyment or personal growth.
In 1a's AP science class, the teacher happened to love her science and teaching and had basically the same remarks, except, in this case, it was all about the college board approach to the classroom: the entire class is dedicated to the test. The good teacher, the good scientist, can't possibly function with this sort of harness...But their principal and most importantly, their superintendent demands that these courses be taught this way; IE: the goal is the test score ( the statistic that the press will more than likely write an article about. ) The AP class has a guidebook and a test-orientation just like the other classes. The difference is, this time we buy it from a vendor that has a phenomenal monopoly on the educational services circuit. Do you get my point?
1a is taking 5 AP classes. She did that because these were classes she really wanted to take, subjects that she wanted to learn about. Learning in our schools now means learning what is on the test. Apply that to 5th year french. This class is only taught as an AP class now. This entire class is devoted to test taking skills. I have to tell you that the teachers, bound by the superintendent's pacing guides and scripts, his dedication to expanding AP, his block schedules, have destroyed the teaching and learning that could be the legacy and essence of our schools for the teachers and for the students.
1b is miserable, and so are her teachers. She is working for hours on assignments and worksheets the teachers have to get done, even if the material being delivered is way too complicated for homework, and even if it is a waste of time; there just isn't time in class for it all and the county dictates the plan; period. The teachers know it, 1b knows it, but the papers continue to report the "progress." neither 1b nor 1a, or their teachers experience it as progress; do you?
1b is 13 years old. Her life right now is full of dread.
Conclusion:
The situation is horrendous; definitely. Be aware, however, that this time, it is bad for ALL of us.
A Visit to a Corporate Welfare School: Peter Campbell, instructional designer and reform activist, visited an Edison School today. Assessment Reform Network listserv.( accessed Oct. 25, 2005 at http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/ http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/2005/10/visit-to-corporate-welfare-school.html )
posted by annie | 12:09 PM
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