Some Comments on School Problems

These two criticisms appeared in the Albuquerque Journal.

On Thursday, March 23, 2006, page E13, a letter describes the “Social Promotion” and Discipline problems we have listed in our blog.

APS Needs Change to Make the Test Grade
By Elisa Garcia, APS mid-school teacher

It is that time of year again when all Albuquerque Public Schools should have finished mandatory state testing to determine if their school has made adequate yearly progress.

Sadly, many schools will not reach their goal, and others will join the ranks of schools that have no chance to change their probationary status. Many will point their fingers at the teachers when in fact they should be pointing their fingers at APS.

I work at a school that is on probation, and no matter how hard my fellow teachers and I work, we will not reach our goal of meeting AYP. Why? How are we to make AYP when we are administering a test to sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students who come to us with an average reading and math level of third grade? What can be done about this? Here are a few suggestions for APS:

1. APS must begin to hold students accountable for their academic success. If a student fails, hold them back, no social promotion and no exceptions.

2. There should be mandatory after-school and summer reading programs for elementary students who are failing, have failed, or need extra support because they are English-language learners or they have learning disabilities.

3. No regular education student should be allowed to enter middle or high school reading any less then one grade level behind where they should be.

4. We must raise expectations for all students, especially special education students. Every year I have more and more students enter my classroom with modifications for education. Many of these students can function at a much higher level but do not because they know that in this current system they are not required to do so.

5. We must require mandatory tutoring in middle and high school for students that are failing any class. Academics should come before any other after-school activity.

6. We should attach a grade to the Criterion based Reference Test (CRT). Too often teachers hear, "Why should we try on this test? It's not for a grade!" Which is true— the only ones who worry about how the students do are the teachers and those who place a value on this test.

And finally, all students and their parents should be held accountable for student behavior to reduce discipline problems and in turn reduce repeat offenses. APS is afraid of lawsuits, but truly, if anything in education is going to change, APS needs to get tough and raise its expectations for students in its district.

I expect any student who walks into my class to do their best and to work hard. If they fail, it is their fault, not mine. I do my part by creating interesting and challenging activities, and I expect my students to do their part and apply themselves. Students earn their grades just like adults earn their paychecks. Nothing worthwhile in life is without hard work!

On June 20, 2006, mid-school teacher Nancy Brown wrote, in a letter to the editor:

As a middle school teacher, I can predict to a high degree which of my sixth-grade students will not get a high school diploma -- students who get all or mostly F’s on their report cards.

By the time they reach high school, they will have fallen behind in their academic and study skills. They are choosing to be left behind. Students generally are not retained in middle school. Indeed, for a student to be retained, complicated and convoluted process involving standardized test scores is use in the Albuquerque Public Schools. Report-card grades don’t count.

A student can fail all classes and be promoted in school. I presently have several students who received solid F’s on their third-quarter report cards. They don’t care. Their parents don’t care. They and their parents know that they will move on to the next grade regardless of their GPA. There is no incentive for them to do their work or even behave in class.

Middle schools need to be accredited. In this way, grades will matter because students will have to earn credits to go on to the next grade. This will cost money, but it will be well worth it.

A Teacher's Letter to the Editor
On February 5, 2008, the Albuquerque Journal published this letter:

My school, Creative Education Preparatory institute #1, tends to attract students who have not succeeded elsewhere, and a very common problem with many is a lack of fundamental math skills going back to the early elementary grades.

I am a math teacher, and I'm talking about an inability to perform multiplication, division, addition and subtraction with any kind of consistent accuracy. There is in many cases a complete lack of knowledge of fractions, percents, ratios, word problems, etc. The average layman not affiliated with a school system, I'm sure, has no idea how pervasive, sad, and frightening this problem is.

The number one problem is that most students have become apprehensive about anything at all that involves numbers as they have not had opportunities over the years to develop and hone their mental skills. Why? Calculator usage, primarily. They have been taught that it is OK to depend on calculators to do the simplest tasks. Adding eight-plus-five for many is a task for a calculator to handle as is subtracting 10 from 22 or multiplying seven times seven -- all problems that come easily to people of other generations. Many of these kids have actually devolved to the point where they have no confidence in their own brains.

I try to totally wean my students from all calculator usage, and an integral part of that is continually stressing the importance of knowing the multiplication tables.

Let me say this in the strongest way I can -- knowing these tables up to 10 times 10 (and preferably up to 12 times 12) -- is a critically important part of existence in a civilized society. It is a necessary precursor to understanding fractions. The two subjects together (multiplication and fractions) are necessary precursors to high school math and beyond.

Common sense tells me that calculator usage is a severe detriment to improving ones brain. I suspect that Everyday Math and similar approaches will eventually be discarded in favor of truly rigorous curricula. Instead of "same-old", "timeless" might be a better word.

KEN ANDERSON
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CLICK HERE to read the complete plan in its present form.

CLICK HERE to read suggested solutions to the promotion problem.
CLICK HERE to read suggested solutions to the discipline problem.
CLICK HERE to read suggested solutions to the teacher problem.
CLICK HERE to read suggested solutions to the ‘new ideas’ problem.
CLICK HERE to read about other problems which have been suggested as being important.
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