Post by Columbus Family on Apr 12, 2007 12:53:27 GMT -5
I forget how I stumbled onto this message board, and I note that while there are many "hits" there are mostly comments posted by the moderator--and seem to be about the single issue of bus transportation in cold weather.
While this is certainly important, I wonder how it is that I can find so few parent forums in which to discuss another really important topic, which is teaching and learning in the schools. My family has been in Columbus (by choice) for quite some time. I absolutely believe in the importance of public education. But I am truly frightened by the amount of time wasted on trivia and the overwhelming assumption that our kids in Columbus just can't learn as well as the kids in the suburbs (or black kids as well as white ones, or ...you get the point). As long as I have been here, there have been a few schools at every level that were brilliant--creative, high schools, good graduation rate. A dark side is that while "anyone" (meaning kids without disabilities, kids that haven't gotten in trouble, etc) could lottery in--there are some subtle disincentives (one high school counselor told me that usually kids figure out by sophomore year if they "belong" there; a student told me that one principal told her she shouldn't apply if she couldn't maintain a 3.5 average). And meanwhile the rest of the schools are somewhere between pitiful and barely average.
I sometimes hear parents and students complaining about the tests and how hard they are, and "unfair" to "our" students. I often hear teachers complaining. Why is it that the kids in the suburbs are so much more likely to pass those tests? Could it be that our kids aren't being exposed to enough content? Think about the Saturday "proficiency institutes." If you have sent a child to any of them, you know, they are nothing more than lots of test taking practice. What if the same amount of time were spent actually learning more of the material? Do our kids really need 30 or so hours every year (6-8 Saturdays for 4 hours) learning how to bubble in and look in the text for clues, etc? And, is it helping?
Summer school, in some districts, provides extra learning. In Columbus what you get is "Credit Recovery," which is a computer workbook for any classes that a student failed. What are we doing for the students who didn't fail any classes, but still don't know enough to pass the Graduation Test? Any time the topic of limited learning comes up, we start to hear about all the kids "who don't really want to learn," who are taking up all the time. Sad to say, when Columbus paid for a curriculum audit a number of years ago, and another for middle school just a few years ago, they saw lots that could be improved in classrooms. They found that teachers were teaching to worksheets and by the book way too much of the time. They also found that many of the adults had behavioral issues in their treatment and attitude towards students.
I do wish we could spend some time thinking about the learning.
While this is certainly important, I wonder how it is that I can find so few parent forums in which to discuss another really important topic, which is teaching and learning in the schools. My family has been in Columbus (by choice) for quite some time. I absolutely believe in the importance of public education. But I am truly frightened by the amount of time wasted on trivia and the overwhelming assumption that our kids in Columbus just can't learn as well as the kids in the suburbs (or black kids as well as white ones, or ...you get the point). As long as I have been here, there have been a few schools at every level that were brilliant--creative, high schools, good graduation rate. A dark side is that while "anyone" (meaning kids without disabilities, kids that haven't gotten in trouble, etc) could lottery in--there are some subtle disincentives (one high school counselor told me that usually kids figure out by sophomore year if they "belong" there; a student told me that one principal told her she shouldn't apply if she couldn't maintain a 3.5 average). And meanwhile the rest of the schools are somewhere between pitiful and barely average.
I sometimes hear parents and students complaining about the tests and how hard they are, and "unfair" to "our" students. I often hear teachers complaining. Why is it that the kids in the suburbs are so much more likely to pass those tests? Could it be that our kids aren't being exposed to enough content? Think about the Saturday "proficiency institutes." If you have sent a child to any of them, you know, they are nothing more than lots of test taking practice. What if the same amount of time were spent actually learning more of the material? Do our kids really need 30 or so hours every year (6-8 Saturdays for 4 hours) learning how to bubble in and look in the text for clues, etc? And, is it helping?
Summer school, in some districts, provides extra learning. In Columbus what you get is "Credit Recovery," which is a computer workbook for any classes that a student failed. What are we doing for the students who didn't fail any classes, but still don't know enough to pass the Graduation Test? Any time the topic of limited learning comes up, we start to hear about all the kids "who don't really want to learn," who are taking up all the time. Sad to say, when Columbus paid for a curriculum audit a number of years ago, and another for middle school just a few years ago, they saw lots that could be improved in classrooms. They found that teachers were teaching to worksheets and by the book way too much of the time. They also found that many of the adults had behavioral issues in their treatment and attitude towards students.
I do wish we could spend some time thinking about the learning.
