Local Paper

[George Sheridan <learn@JPS.NET>]

A column from the Auburn Journal, the leading paper in the county seat of 
Placer County.
http://www.auburnjournal.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/January/14-194-NEWS5.TXT

January 14, 2002

One-size-fits-all approach doesn't work for schools
by Dennis Clifford

Your boss is calling a special meeting to announce that he has come up with 
an answer to his problem of falling short of his personal business goals. 
You will now be required to take a standardized test designed by people who 
know little or nothing about your job and its unique requirements. You 
should be particularly excited about the realization that finally your 
performance will be compared to everyone who works in your industry without 
regard to your particular circumstances.

One of the good things is that you will be given a copy of the test so you 
can understand what is expected of you. At the same meeting the boss says 
he does want you to attempt to perform to the test but just proceed with 
your job as usual.

Not to worry though because we are going to require that every political 
bureaucrat, from school trustee to the president of the United States take 
a standardized test as well. Just think of it, all our problems will be 
solved at last.

Yes, I am standing on my soapbox again. Since President Bush signed his 
bill calling for all states to take standardized tests, my penchant for a 
quality education process was aroused. Once again we have a case where 
legislators are attempting to dictate to classroom teachers without talking 
to the teachers first.

I understand that state boards of education probably have had their input 
but that, in my estimation, only compounds the problem. One of my fellow 
school board trustees, Carl Wagner, placed emphasis on what is really 
important in the education of children. He said on many occasions that, ?We 
do not need trustees, or administrators, or buildings, or even books. The 
one thing necessary, is the teacher.?

Standardized tests are, supposedly, the easy answer to a very complex 
problem. The process of education is constantly under stress from every 
quarter. One model, standard, or gauge of mental accumulation of knowledge 
is to be used to determine whether or not a teacher is doing his or her 
job. Why shouldn't we all be subject to this type of yardstick? How can we 
believe that a one-size-fits-all evaluation provides a reliable source of 
information?

Can anyone remember when our children were being compared to Japanese 
children in the education process? Everything we did was wrong and they 
were right. We had a Japanese exchange student, Yasko, in our home for a 
year and she gave us an interesting picture of schooling in Japan.

She told us that she went to regular school six days a week and then went 
to English language school five days a week as well. It should be no 
surprise that they were beating us so bad, they had an 11-day week to work 
with. Our poor kids only had seven days a week and then they only went to 
school five of them. Obviously, Yasko attended two schools on most days.

She did tell us that the Japanese did not provide a scholastic education 
for every child in Japan. They offered trade schools and for some children 
they provided little or no education at all. She told us many of the 
children of Philippine emigrant workers would not receive any schooling.

Why do we not hear any more discussion of the Japanese model of education? 
It is because it has not lived up to its promise that they would take over 
the world.

Americans, for the most part, believe that every individual child should 
receive the best education possible. And yet we fail to allow teachers to 
teach. We need to de-politicize the teaching process.

We need to get the politicians out of the classroom and back into an 
environment where they are more comfortable ? at a restaurant with their 
favorite lobbyist. I don't know but I am going to research to see how many 
state legislators were classroom teachers before they surrendered 
themselves for our best children?s interests. I think the lawyers still 
have an edge in the legislature.

I wonder how First Lady, Laura Bush, feels about standardized testing, 
since she was a teacher? President Bush is obviously listening to somebody 
but is it the person best able to tell him what is going on, the classroom 
teacher?

I was a school board member for 13 years and I always found it challenging 
that the state Board of Education would convince the Legislature to develop 
a new process or program every couple of years. Then they would force local 
boards to implement it in the schools. This was usually the result of the 
latest testing results. Never mind that we were still in the process of 
implementing the third year of their last great reform.

We need to declare a moratorium on any law regarding educational process 
for a period of at least five years ? a sort of cooling-off period that 
will allow classroom environments to stabilize.

Then we need to develop a radical new approach ? listen to our teachers. 
Talk to the persons closest to the process. Most important, we shouldn't 
allow the results to be filtered through the state school board. 
Incorporate parental input and even talk to students for they might have 
something worthwhile to say.

Too many cooks spoil the broth and that can be a real problem. Education 
should not be a political football as it is too serious a game to lose. We 
need to stop the education game and give our children our very best.

You might even say, our future depends on it.

Dennis Clifford?s column appears in the Auburn Journal on Tuesdays.

Auburn Journal
1030 High Street · P.O. Box 5910
Auburn, California
(530) 885-5656