LOOKING BACK … STARING FORWARD

I began teaching in California, in the Fremont Unified School District in 1974. At that time I was a Special Education Teacher working with Learning Handicapped Students. There was no collective bargaining for teachers. There were no Individualized Educational Plans for special education students or “504 plans” for regular students. Mainstreaming had not yet become popular and Prop. 13 was only an idea. I was fortunate to be working for a Principal who was not only an instructional team leader; but he was also an excellent plant manager. In other words, he not only knew what we should be teaching; but how to teach, and he also made sure we had sufficient supplies: including paper, pencils, TP and light bulbs … Thank You Mr. E !!!

In those mid 70’s years some students who were in special education classes were able to successfully return to regular education classes because we were able to remediate their learning difficulties. There were few students with severe behavior problems. This is not the situation today. Special education students seem to be career special ed. students with little chance of ever returning to regular education and students with behavior problems are in all our classes. By the end of the 70’s regular ed. teachers were teaching more and more South East Asia immigrants with limited English ability; but who had a strong desire to learn and make America their new home. We were successfully teaching this diverse population without the benefit or alleged need of CLAD training and certification.

Of course change was in the wind. Apple Computer had placed a single Apple IIe in every California school and most bit from the apple and fell under its spell. Prop. 13 was now a reality and with reduced school funding, limited resources went to buy the coveted computers and the necessary software. In many cases the need and use of computers was created after the purchases were made.

The winds of change continued to blow and blow stronger. The Leave It To Beaver neighborhood in which my school was located was also changing. We began to see more students with behavior problems. Dyslexic students were being replaced by the Hyperactive and then Attention Deficit Syndrome students. Learning Handicapped Classes were becoming the dumping ground for students with behavior problems. Students who were truly learning handicapped were now being kept in the regular classes with the idea that monitoring them while they were being mainstreamed would meet their needs. Consequently, this put added stress and work on regular teachers and students.

At this time those who should have been administering schools abdicated their power to the state legislature, the courts and other special interest groups. With this abdication came a focus on cost and efficiency. Since the Legislature has tunnel vision and only sees things in terms of numbers (votes, dollars, poll results, statistics) standardized testing became popular. Test results were all important. Over the years schools, students and teachers have had to deal with a Pandora’s Box of tests: CAP, CLAS, STAR and now CAHSEE, the high school exit exam. These tests produce numbers and it is numbers that elected officials relate to. Of course, for graduating college bound high school seniors it is the SAT that is most important and the test that they most relate to.

This preoccupation with testing has caused education to suffer. Many educators would like to see mandated testing just go away; but are powerless to effect a change. The distraction of testing consumes more and more of our instructional time. One could ask what the CTA and NEA have done about this intrusive testing and if an answer is discovered, by all means, please share it.

A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Unprecedented Look at School System, begins with “The vexing decline of California’s school system – its difficulty retaining teachers, maintaining schools and helping all students succeed – has been variously blamed on Proposition 13’s tax cap and on an influx of low-income and non-English-speaking students over the past 25 years”. This sentence packs quite a punch and needs consideration.

First, California’s school system is described as “declining”. Yes, buildings need updating (modernization) and equipment needs to be replaced; but is this decline? We still have qualified and dedicated teachers and an energetic and diverse student body. Is there a decline here? However; when California’s students’ test scores are compared to other states we do show a decline. When we compare school expenditures per student on a state by state basis, we most definitely show a decline. Maybe it is true that you get what you pay for. The same legislature that wants to see excellent test results wants these results on a low budget, economy plan educational budget. Dream on !

Teacher retention is another area of concern. New teachers are subjected to a barrage of methodology courses that have little to do with the real problems of diverse student populations and the difficulties of classroom management. Veteran teachers are subjected to a mind numbing array of in service days and activities and most recently the demand to be CLAD certified. Sadly, there seems to be little concern for what we teach; but a rabid concern for how we teach. Having been educated in a Parochial School through eighth grade and then by the Jesuits in high school, college and graduate school, this preoccupation with methodology rather than course content has always puzzled and amused me.

Consider providing new teachers with the support they need so they will continue in their chosen career as teachers. Review and examine all continuing education programs that new teachers must take to keep and/or renew their credentials for not only need but appropriateness. Listen to what veteran teachers have to say about what is working and what needs change and/or improvement. Veteran teachers continue to be an ignored and untapped educational resource. Lastly, both the legislature and the courts need to back off and stop micro-managing schools. Their decisions and unfunded mandates are not always educationally sound or even possible.

Finally, there is a layer of non-teaching educational interests: School Boards, School Administrators, NEA, CTA and AFT, elected officials on the local, state and federal level and various educational advocacy groups who exert tremendous pressure on the system. All seem to have their own agenda and their agendas and their pressure do not always have positive results. It is important to remember that everything that takes place at school is secondary to students’ education. The business of education is in fact education. If everyone involved could recognize their role in the process and not interfere with the responsibilities of others, then California may see a return to its halcyon days of educational leadership rather than continually playing catch-up and trying to avoid last place.

With California’s ever increasing cost of real estate and the frequency with which California homes are bought and sold, the effects of Prop 13 have long since been mitigated. And of course, teachers have been successfully working with non English and limited English speaking students for decades. It is only recently, with the absurd demands placed on the school system by legislative and judicial know-it-all’s, that problems in teaching the English language learners have become severe. These same legislators who are elected using multi-lingual ballot information packets demand that the children of this state be tested in English only! Their motto seems to be “Don’t do as we do; but do as we say”.

So where do we go from here? Well, as yet another round of studies are done resulting in reports on the problems with California’s schools and probably offering suggestions for improvement, I will offer some suggestions and observations based on almost 35 years teaching in the system. First, and foremost, schools must be viewed as places of learning and not labs to test the latest educational and social theories. Students who are chronic behavior problems must be relocated to facilities that can deal with their special needs. Public schools are not designed to be detention facilities or mental health clinics for special needs students. The desire and need of the majority of students to learn in a safe learning environment must be supported and maintained. Return to serving real food items at lunch and immediately stop selling items more commonly sold at amusement parks. Maybe more traditional lunch items will result in a return to more traditional and acceptable student behavior not only at lunch … but all day.

Consider controls and restrictions on the use of ALL electronic devices on school grounds. Ipods, Iphones, cell phones and most other electronic devices continue to be a constant source of distraction and interruption on school grounds. Parents need to be continuously reminded that they are responsible for their student’s attire, attendance, behavior and achievement. They seem to be out of the loop.

Finally, the increasing preoccupation with cultural relevancy is undermining the effectiveness of our schools. While it may be helpful to recognize the diversity of our student population this diversity should not compromise the fact that American schools should be focusing on the English language and literature, American customs and culture and United States history. The current multi-cultural global view of our identity seems to be causing an identity crisis. We are one nation not the United Nations.

When I first started my teaching career I was fortunate to have heard a speaker identify one of education’s absurd expectations; specifically, that as educators we expect all children to be school ready at age five and then graduate at age eighteen. In spite of this expectation countless numbers of students do not meet this expectation. Today we now expect all students to be college bound after graduation from high school. Again many students are not only not college bound; but they are not even graduating from high school. The one curriculum fits all approach that we now have is cheating a significant number of our students of a meaningful education.

Seems we have a problem ………………… Can we fix it ????