http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/database/stats/poorexam.html

As to the questions in as to who deals…, whose responsibility is this…? I am just an ICT teacher in a small school for pupils with moderate learning difficulties–but I have a small and unquantifiable share in those decisions taken or not taken in the corridors of power in my case in London, England. In a real sense although I have practically no say in them they are my actions as much as anyone else’s, and as we say in school, “My actions are my responsibility,” so I do what I can to put them right.

Read “Shame of a Nation” by Jonathan Kozol
http://www.learntoquestion.com/seevak/groups/2002/sites/kozol/Seevak02/ineedtogoHOMEPAGE/homepage.htm

It speaks of the haves and have nots in volumes, specifically NYC and comparing it to the surrounding areas. Very eye opening and very sad. I had the pleasure of listening to him speak and his words still resonate in my head.

Imagine if our society was willing to make that kind of investment in every American public school! (Of course, I keep in mind that per pupil spending varies considerably from district to district and achievement in some districts with low per pupil spending rates is quite high, so money isn’t everything, though one very important factor.)

Meanwhile, we are all also very stressed out at my school about our At Risk status, since for several years we have had difficulty getting some subgroups to pass the state-mandated achievement tests. Despite all of our very hard and best efforts since August, we are still concerned about those few students who did not pass the 5th and 6th grade reading tests and will soon face the 7th grade reading test. Though most of our students do well on the tests, the current system obviously isn’t meeting every student’s needs.

I was once naive. I believed it was a deep rooted sloth inherent to their beings, an inability to keep their pants on and eggs unfertilized, and general apathy to becoming educated that was ultimately to blame for their folly.

I now have a clearer idea of what’s happening. Texas, along with every other state in this country, has experienced the call of accountability. Educators’ goals have shifted; intellectually rich content has been disposed in order to teach students how to pass a standardized exam. I feel as if classrooms echo “I’m never going to use this, ever!” now more than ever. Meanwhile, students’ families can barely manage to fiscally survive. When their families summon them to work, they have no reason to object. The vast disparity between first and third class jobs is huge, and the second class job has been lost in the fray. Students that have had the luxury of attending an “at risk” school that places a huge focus on acceptable exam scores might find that they do not have the skills to move onto a first class job. So, then, why not drop out and start working a third class job and just bypass the whole high school thing?

But maybe I’m just crazy. I do not pretend to hold much credibility as a student.

As for the system being broken, I don’t think so. The system is being held hostage by the current administration with a lot of complicity from the NEA.

there are ways out of the quagmire and you’ll find those ideas talked about regularly on my blog;

http://region19.blogspot.com

- Frank Krasicki

I also know that this problem is not inherently one of urban schools. I grew up in Michigan farm country, and there were 150 of us in 9th grade in 1970. In 1974, only 90 of us graduated. A small number of us went on to college, but most kids either worked the family farm or got jobs in the local factories. School, except for the Future Farmers of America, was irrelevant for the life most kids were headed for.

Now, some of the communities there have set up charter schools with a focus on farm and rural business, which I think was a step toward making school relevant. But as long as school assumes there is one schedule and one curriculum (with maybe some variations) and “my way or the highway”, we stand to continue to alienate plenty of people.

However, for the most part that structure is fast becoming obsolete, if not there already. Most schools, public or private, are organized around the concept that we teachers have all the knowledge and the students have none. Around the idea that the best way for them to receive the learning is in relatively large groups from sources we have created or blessed.

The district in which I work is like Will’s where 90 something percent of the kids graduate and go on to higher ed (Lake Wobegon east :-). But I wonder how many of them are prepared for and actually succeed in the real world. How many have the skills necessary to adapt to constant changes in the way information is received, processed and used.

I agree that our educational system is broken, primarily because it is increasingly disconnected from the world around it.

That juxtaposition may sound amazing but it is true. While we are doing a better job at every level, our student body, our community, and our society has changed so that the students we get today are less well prepared for school, they spend less time doing school work and reading, and the schools don’t receive the same level of support from the community or parents that we once did. It is amazing to think that our system could be doing a better job while producing the same product but it is true. And this illustrates the problem we face. Fixing education isn’t just about fixing schools or preparing teachers better, or giving more assessments. It is about turning around our entire society.

Frankly I’m tired of hearing about how education is broken. It is time to tell some hard truths. Parents aren’t parenting and they are letting their children down. It all starts at home - children who are read to become readers. Readers succeed in school. Businessmen cannot berate me for how bad my school is and at the same time schedule my students to work 35 hours a week. And an educrat who spent 2 years as a teacher before leaving the classroom has little of value to tell me about running a classroom or preparing a lesson.