An Alternate Education Reform Plan

I have recently been blogging about Gov. Malloy and his proposed legislation for education reform in CT, also called SB 24.  This bill recently past, and included the following components: money for early childhood education (1000 spots funded by the state), a State Department of Education run cohort of poorly-performing schools (where the state runs them and has extreme power over things like collective bargaining and teacher removal), and a new evaluation system that is based on student performance, administrator evaluation and parent/student surveys which will be tested next year.  Now, this might seem like a good idea, but there are issues.  First, the number of preschool spots is nowhere NEAR sufficient to cover the needs of the state!  Even though they DOUBLED the number from the governor’s original proposal, we would need MANY more openings if we are even to make a DENT in the achievement gap between urban and non-urban schools.  Second, reforming those schools who are the poorest-performing in the state is also a good idea, but the CT SDE is too bureaucratic to get much done at all (for those of you who have tried to deal with them, you know what I mean).  The schools they HAVE taken over in the state have NOT improved much, if at all. (In fact, Malloy did not have ONE SINGLE FORUM in Bridgeport, a school the state had already taken over.  How much progress do you think they have had THERE if he wasn’t willing to show his face in the city?)  Lastly, making teachers’ certification and livelihood based on a new evaluation system that has not been tested is RIDICULUOUS!  At least it is to be TESTED before they actually base people’s JOBS on it!  The legislators on the Education Committee went over the bill and changed it.  They reduced the number of schools that the state can take over, and removed the evaluation requirements.  This was done in closed-door negotiations with representatives from the teacher unions in the state (the CEA and AFT-CT), showing that the political representatives we have elected to represent the interests of We, the People of CT, are actually only looking out for the interests of the UNIONS!  Gov. Malloy has responded to the changes by calling them “Stupid,” and saying that the legislators don’t care about the students of our state.  So far, neither side is listening to the parents, students, or the teachers who care about the REAL problem – the problem that our education system is FLAWED!  It was based on the ideas and economy of the 1950s.  Our schools haven’t changed with the times.  They are geared to be like an assembly line – churning out graduates that will go to work as blue-collar and white-collar workers with few of them (10-15%) going to college.  We live in a new, global economy.  In order to make it in this new world, it almost REQUIRES that our high school graduates go to college.  College is the new High School.  We need to be preparing our students to attend college, where they can prepare for a career that is more in tune with the 21^st century.  We need to motivate them to learn the skills of the 21^st century (problem solving, etc.) rather that the mid-20^th century (following directions, stenography, cooking, etc.).  Our government and the unions are looking out for their OWN interests.  Those that are looking out for the best interests of our students are not getting heard – our voices are being drowned out by the louder voices of those that have the most to lose (their political power or their union dues income…).  We need to stand up and be heard – tell our elected officials that we want REAL education reform!  Reform that is not beholden to any special interests (unions, corporations starting charter schools and taking our tax dollars to “teach” our children…), but reform in the SYSTEM!  As an educator, parent, taxpayer and citizen of Connecticut, I see how detrimental politics can be on the public education system, and how real reform can be stagnated by our political system.  So, here is a real plan for education reform, one that people can believe in…

I was tutoring a student in trigonometry the other day – you remember trigonometry, right?  You DON’T?  Why not?  It wasn’t motivating.  You weren’t interested, your teacher wasn’t interested, your classmates weren’t interested…basically, trig was a big waste of time.  Who profited from you having to take a semester or year of THAT class – no one!  First and foremost, school is not INTERESTING!  When I was done working with the student, we talked a little about my ideas about education.  She said she LOVES to learn, but her teachers just go through every day like it was just another day at the office.  When the teachers have no excitement for what they are teaching, then the students don’t enjoy learning it.  When she found out that I went to Space Camp and a Nuclear Energy Workshop in Idaho, she was INTERESTED!  She wanted to LEARN about those topics.  MY excitement was infectious.  THAT is the first part of my reform plan.  Teacher certification needs to be more than just about learning educational theory and how to lesson plan.  We need teachers that are excited about what they are teaching. All teachers need to have that excitement about the material that can infect their students.  In the state of CT, we have a lack of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) teachers.  There are PLENTY of people who would LOVE to TEACH these subjects in CT, but are shot down early because they do not have any education classes.  THEN, even if they TAKE those classes (which are often boring enough to make the teacher from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off seem excitable), they have to take a semester to student teach (which is a 4-5 month period where they earn NO income – if they have a family to support, they are out of luck…).  WHO in their RIGHT MIND would DO THAT?

THAT brings me to the second part of my plan – we need INCENTIVES to bring people into teaching these subjects where we have a lack of good teachers.  If the state allowed these scientists, mathematicians and engineers into the classroom and get “in-the-classroom” training, we might not HAVE a lack of STEM teachers!  The state’s antiquated laws dealing with teacher certification are to blame for this.  Let’s restructure the law so that people who wish to become STEM teachers can go into the classroom WITHOUT all the bureaucratic nonsense of having to go through a teacher certification program that RARELY teaches real life classroom skills!  Another problem causing the lack of STEM teachers in the state is the salary of those teachers.  The local teacher’s unions have their salary scales negotiated with the districts so that all the teachers are subject to the same scale.  A teacher in a subject that has an overabundance of teacher candidates (like social studies) gets the same salary (based on number of years teaching in public schools) as a STEM teacher that is more excited about teaching and more experienced in the subject matter, but was new to the classroom.  We need to have a performance-based pay scale, one where teachers can get paid based on experience both in and out of the classroom (public AND private) as well as student and parent reviews.  Student performance should be PART of this, as well, but NOT based on the NCLB standards!  By increasing incentives for GOOD TEACHING, we would get BETTER teachers into the classroom, and promote that excitement for learning that is missing from most schools.

I will continue describing my plan for reform next week with changing teaching methods.  Although I think that the state made a nice first step with increasing preschool spots and testing a new evaluation system, much more is still needed if we are to improve the educational system and become more competitive in the world economy.