I have placed this commentary on my blog. You can respond to it by visiting the following address: http://www.calcomui.org/blog2
Just last month public schools around the state sent layoff notices to 22,000 California teachers.
Last year, over 16,000 teachers lost their jobs. In the past two years, about 10,000 classified school employees such as secretaries and custodians have been let go as public education funding for schools in California has been cut by about billion So, in the last two years our schools may have lost roughly 48,000 of the staff needed to educate our children.
Even before those cuts our schools were performing very poorly. According to the National Center For Education Statistics, in 2009, eighth graders in only two states (Mississippi and the District of Columbia) had reading test scores lower than California’s eighth graders. California was tied with Louisiana for the third lowest score in reading. In Math, only three states’ eighth graders had lower scores (Alabama, Mississippi, District of Columbia).
When I was growing up the poor education given to students in states like Mississippi and Louisiana were legendary. It is humiliating to have my home state now ranked among them as the lowest in student achievement.
Some will say, “We can’t expect to do better. Many of our students speak little English. Many come from poor inner cities and from families whose parents have little education themselves. Furthermore, teachers and schools don’t have adequate funding, supplies and equipment.”
And yet the evidence contradicts those nay-sayers. Take the case of Jaime Escalante, a highschool math teacher at Garfield Highschool in East Los Angeles. This is a struggling campus of working-class, largely Mexican American students. He proved that even students from such a background could master subjects as demanding as calculus. Hi achievement was portrayed in the movie “Stand and Deliver.”
He believed that that all students, when properly prepared and motivated, can succeed at academically demanding course work, no matter what their racial, social or economic background. And he did it with students that faced all the challenges listed by those who say we can’t expect much more of our students, because of those challenges. If Mr. Escalante could do it, other teachers can too.
The people who pay the price of our schools’ poor performance is the students. And they will pay for the rest of their lives in the form of reduced earning potential, increased dependence on social and economic services, and failure to achieve their full potential as human beings.
Given that fact, we don’t have the right to accept the status quo. Too much is at stake. If there are teachers and administrators who are failing to produce adequately schooled students, maybe they should be dismissed. When they took the job they knew the goal and the challenges. If they can’t do it, we should find others who can. Given the life long consequences for our children, failure is not an acceptable option.
If schools are not getting the job done, then perhaps they should be closed. If charter schools can, then perhaps they should be encouraged to do so. We must do what it takes to make sure ALL our children do get the education they need to succeed in life.
But, in particular, it seems important that the public take charge. We need to make sure schools are doing their job. When they fail to do that, we should enforce changes that will improve their performance.
And luckily, last year the legislature passed legislation that makes that possible. The bill was SBX5_4. It gives parents at least two key tools.
First of all, if their child’s school is performing poorly, they can apply to have their child attend a better school in their current school district, or they can request transfer to a better school in a neighboring district. If a child is transferred within the district of residence the new school must have a higher performance rating that the school the child is leaving.
This tool can put pressure on school districts to do better. Part of their funding is based on the number of children in their schools. If children transfer to another district the losing district loses funds.
Secondly, if a low performing school fails to make progress, the parents or guardians of the children in those schools can force the schools to take specific measures outlined in the legislation to bring improvement to the school. With certain exceptions, they can force the school district to do this if at least one half of the parents or guardians of students attending the school ask that it be done.
We need schools that actually produce educated children, not schools that merely throw information at our children. Perhaps it is time to start forcing change on our schools.
Boyce Hinman
California Communities United Institute
b.hinman@calcomui.org
Tags: california teachers, eighth graders, jaime escalante, layoff notices, math teacher, mexican american students, mississippi district, national center for education statistics, poor education, state governance