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Teresa

SoWal Guide
Staff member
Nov 15, 2004
30,250
9,279
South Walton, FL
sowal.com
A modest proposal to fix the schools
by Matt Miller
First, Kill All the School Boards


http://images.google.com/imgres?img...um=1&hl=en&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-39,GGLD:en&sa=N

excerpt
What of school boards? In an ideal world, we would scrap them?especially in big cities, where most poor children live. That?s the impulse behind a growing drive for mayoral control of schools. New York and Boston have used mayoral authority to sustain what are among the most far-reaching reform agendas in the country, including more-rigorous curricula and a focus on better teaching and school leadership. Of course, the chances of eliminating school boards anytime soon are nil. But we can at least recast and limit their role.
In all of these efforts, we must understand one paradox: only by transcending local control can we create genuine autonomy for our schools. ?If you visit schools in many other parts of the world,? Marc Tucker says, ?you?re struck almost immediately ? by a sense of autonomy on the part of the school staff and principal that you don?t find in the United States.? Research in 46 countries by Ludger Woessmann of the University of Munich has shown that setting clear external standards while granting real discretion to schools in how to meet them is the most effective way to run a system. We need to give schools one set of national expectations, free educators and parents to collaborate locally in whatever ways work, and get everything else out of the way.
 

wrobert

Beach Fanatic
Nov 21, 2007
4,134
575
61
DeFuniak Springs
www.defuniaksprings.com
A modest proposal to fix the schools
by Matt Miller
First, Kill All the School Boards


http://images.google.com/imgres?img...um=1&hl=en&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-39,GGLD:en&sa=N

excerpt
What of school boards? In an ideal world, we would scrap them?especially in big cities, where most poor children live. That?s the impulse behind a growing drive for mayoral control of schools. New York and Boston have used mayoral authority to sustain what are among the most far-reaching reform agendas in the country, including more-rigorous curricula and a focus on better teaching and school leadership. Of course, the chances of eliminating school boards anytime soon are nil. But we can at least recast and limit their role.
In all of these efforts, we must understand one paradox: only by transcending local control can we create genuine autonomy for our schools. ?If you visit schools in many other parts of the world,? Marc Tucker says, ?you?re struck almost immediately ? by a sense of autonomy on the part of the school staff and principal that you don?t find in the United States.? Research in 46 countries by Ludger Woessmann of the University of Munich has shown that setting clear external standards while granting real discretion to schools in how to meet them is the most effective way to run a system. We need to give schools one set of national expectations, free educators and parents to collaborate locally in whatever ways work, and get everything else out of the way.


Tootsie,

I had not commented on this because I have not been able to reconcile the European way of doing things with the way we do things in Florida.

First, if the voters wanted to abolish local school boards here, I would have no problem with that. I believe that there are a lot of elected officials whose jobs should be abolished. But the school board here is the local control. The State sets standards or minimums as to what to teach, the school board sets the policies for how this is done. Of course with FCAT and NCLB there seem to be a lot of standards, and a lot of things done to make sure that everyone is included in whatever instructional program is decided upon. But there do seem to be better ways of doing things, this is demonstrated by the school at Seaside and Liza Jackson Academy in Ft. Walton. I think that some sort of accountability has got to be enforced in the system. Getting rid of bad teachers is not impossible, and with the backing of the administration it can be done, but people bend over backwards to try to accomodate, even those that should be out of the system, that it borders on the absurd at times.

As for parents collaborating on things, do you have any ideas how to get them involved in their child's education? In nowal, they even offer to babysit the siblings and cook dinner and still can only get the parents to show up that would show up anyway.
 

Teresa

SoWal Guide
Staff member
Nov 15, 2004
30,250
9,279
South Walton, FL
sowal.com
:wave:
well, first of all our county is light years away from true reform, such as discussed in this article. it will happen in other progressive states first, as mentioned here as well.

but at least we can be aware of some of the thinking going on in other areas of our country (not necessarily europe).

getting parents involved will take big changes in the way education is done in general.

when obama talks about overhauling education, or implementing any of his policy ideas, he means that WE have to do the work. and regarding education - parents will have to be very much involved if education matters to them.

this is all very abstract / ideas for discussion. we are not there. not even close.
 

BeachSiO2

Beach Fanatic
Jun 16, 2006
3,294
737
I have started to become more interested in school reform due to the successes shown by programs outside of the norm like Charter Schools and Montessori Schools. Although I don't have children in schools, I do have two young nephews that will be entering school soon and friends and family members that have children in those two types. Additionally, my community is working to create a Charter School like Seaside and I have been very impressed with that type of alternative school.

One issue in Swedish schools that I find to be interesting is their "perform to progress" strategy. If students aren't academically sufficient to continue on for higher education, they are moved into a vocational path. This begins between middle and high school and continues as they progress.

One final thought I have is that quality education has taken a hit by the "grading on a curve" phenomenon. It doesn't push the exceptional or even the mediocre student as hard as straight up and down testing would. I believe there is a need to make a college education worth something and grading on a curve doesn't do that in my opinion.
 

Teresa

SoWal Guide
Staff member
Nov 15, 2004
30,250
9,279
South Walton, FL
sowal.com
I have started to become more interested in school reform due to the successes shown by programs outside of the norm like Charter Schools and Montessori Schools. Although I don't have children in schools, I do have two young nephews that will be entering school soon and friends and family members that have children in those two types. Additionally, my community is working to create a Charter School like Seaside and I have been very impressed with that type of alternative school.

One issue in Swedish schools that I find to be interesting is their "perform to progress" strategy. If students aren't academically sufficient to continue on for higher education, they are moved into a vocational path. This begins between middle and high school and continues as they progress.

One final thought I have is that quality education has taken a hit by the "grading on a curve" phenomenon. It doesn't push the exceptional or even the mediocre student as hard as straight up and down testing would. I believe there is a need to make a college education worth something and grading on a curve doesn't do that in my opinion.

absolutely beachS! there are so many alternative education programs in our own country that are extraordinary examples of what can be done in education, here and now.

you should check into the montessori philosophy. it is so amazingly amazing, I can't begin to describe it. because the philosophy has been around for many many years, and it was so well thought out based on maria montessori's (physician and teacher) work and study of children, that it is fully applicable and appropriate for every child, and continues to be relevant and define what education should be.

we are so blessed to have a small montessori school in santa rosa beach!

a teacher at seaside middle school tells me that their school is very much like montessori, and this the basis for its being such a wonderful school. I've heard a lot of good success stories of children completing that program, over the years (it's nothing new - its an alternative program that's been around here and has offered much to its children and families).
 

rapunzel

Beach Fanatic
Nov 30, 2005
2,514
980
Point Washington
I think school boards can be excellent, and I think they can be terrible. I think the same goes for mayors. Unfortunately, we don't have a mayor, so this isn't an issue for us yet. A school board, headed by a good superintendent that holds principals accountable but gives them the freedom and respect to allow them to lead their schools effectively, is the best we can hope for in Walton County.

Unfortunately, there is a complete lack of information regarding almost all of the candidates running in county elections. We have no daily local media, and only one or two weekly papers that try to serve this community directly. (Trying to inform myself about the sheriff's race has been an exercise in futility. My only conclusion after reading this board to try to figure out which candidate might be best is that if a retired English teacher ran they'd get my vote because the first requirement should be good verbal and written communication skills.) We have low information voters because we don't have much information. Low information voters elect based on name recognition, and when name recognition is the criteria the results are almost always bad, the elected officials almost always easily swayed by the most insignificant public pressure, and controlled by power brokers. It's a shame we don't give people the option of voting 'no preference' in races they are not educated about.

We need to demand better information before elections, and we all need to be less passive and more involved if we want to make this county a better place to live and raise children.

There are two incumbents on the school board who have my support, and I would love to know how I could do more to help them. It sounds like money is an issue for some candidates. Walton GOP is also endorsed by someone I respect, so I look forward to learning more about his platform (although I think he needs to read the Republicans and Democrats chapter from Audacity of Hope before I could really throw my support behind him ).

Toots, perhaps we should plan some sort of get together -- sort of a salon type of thing with people of all political persuasions invited -- and invite some of these people to talk to us, and try to do some fundraising for those who seem to have good ideas for our schools. Low information voters and underfunded candidates will never bring about anything more than the status quo.

I worry about the huge number of children being taken out of our school system to be home schooled, but are left with little schooling and structure and without the tools do make their way in life if they want to do anything other than what their parents plan for them. I keep thinking about that poor 16 year old girl, being home schooled, who when asked about where she might go to college opened her mouth, but was silent as her mother answered for her, "our church doesn't believe in girls going to college -- she'll get married when she's 18 and have babies."

I worry about things like No Child Left Behind, too.
 

scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,732
3,330
Sowal
One issue in Swedish schools that I find to be interesting is their "perform to progress" strategy. If students aren't academically sufficient to continue on for higher education, they are moved into a vocational path. This begins between middle and high school and continues as they progress.

One final thought I have is that quality education has taken a hit by the "grading on a curve" phenomenon. It doesn't push the exceptional or even the mediocre student as hard as straight up and down testing would. I believe there is a need to make a college education worth something and grading on a curve doesn't do that in my opinion.

I think this strategy is already present in many schools that offer advanced placement or gifted and talented programs. My schools started separating out the classes for Math starting in the 6th grade and English starting in the 9th grade. Once a kid is placed in that track, they can only go down (rare, but occasionally happened when someone decided they didn't want to work as hard and would rather get easy A's or B's as our grades weren't weighted), but it was very difficult to move up into the group.

IMO grading on a curve is stupid as it just encourages lower standards and not trying. Our teachers not only held us to higher standards on the percentage scale (a 93% in AP English was an A-), they refused to grade on the curve as they felt that it penalized the kids who did well.

Lower standards = lower results IMO.
 

rapunzel

Beach Fanatic
Nov 30, 2005
2,514
980
Point Washington
absolutely beachS! there are so many alternative education programs in our own country that are extraordinary examples of what can be done in education, here and now.

you should check into the montessori philosophy. it is so amazingly amazing, I can't begin to describe it. because the philosophy has been around for many many years, and it was so well thought out based on maria montessori's (physician and teacher) work and study of children, that it is fully applicable and appropriate for every child, and continues to be relevant and define what education should be.

we are so blessed to have a small montessori school in santa rosa beach!

a teacher at seaside middle school tells me that their school is very much like montessori, and this the basis for its being such a wonderful school. I've heard a lot of good success stories of children completing that program, over the years (it's nothing new - its an alternative program that's been around here and has offered much to its children and families).

There is one thing that really bothers me about charter schools...and I will acknowledge that it is probably easier for me to say this because I do not have children -- they seem to me to work if the community throws its support and undivided attention into the school. Which is great, for that one school, in that one neighborhood where there are enough people that do not work full time and can dedicate themselves to being on the board and raising funds. But, I fear, this is where we lose sight of our civic duty. One school may save our child, and the children we know personally and therefore care about, but there are a lot of children out there in the community that suffer from this dis-involvement in the county school system by the very people who could do most to insure that children get an excellent education. The two education systems that result will make our county more divided, poorer in some areas and better preparing kids to go off and live somewhere else in others.

Charter schools are a stop gap solution, but they are not THE solution.
 

scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,732
3,330
Sowal
I worry about the huge number of children being taken out of our school system to be home schooled, but are left with little schooling and structure and without the tools do make their way in life if they want to do anything other than what their parents plan for them. I keep thinking about that poor 16 year old girl, being home schooled, who when asked about where she might go to college opened her mouth, but was silent as her mother answered for her, "our church doesn't believe in girls going to college -- she'll get married when she's 18 and have babies."

:puke:
 

wrobert

Beach Fanatic
Nov 21, 2007
4,134
575
61
DeFuniak Springs
www.defuniaksprings.com
There are two incumbents on the school board who have my support, and I would love to know how I could do more to help them. It sounds like money is an issue for some candidates. Walton GOP is also endorsed by someone I respect, so I look forward to learning more about his platform (although I think he needs to read the Republicans and Democrats chapter from Audacity of Hope before I could really throw my support behind him ).

Well I went to the library to see if they have it, but it is closed today. If they do not then I will order a copy from Amazon tomorrow and give it a read.
 
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