The Hollowing Out of Education

A disturbing and damaging trend is now afoot in America. Little by little, incrementally, the integrity of our schools is being hollowed out.

In an effort to pander to the powers-that-be, such as state and federal departments of education, schools are in danger of placing their scores above their students. So much stress is placed on test scores, NJ DOE report cards, rankings and the like, that the danger of placing these metrics ahead of authentic student improvement has reached critical levels.

The subtlety with which these changes are enacted is also alarming. The rhetoric is thick, and the charm practically oozes off of some of these initiatives. For example, there has been an enormous increase in AP testing. At first blush, this appears to be a great idea, but if we delve beneath the surface, the waters get decidedly murkier. Students are being encouraged to enter AP classes at lower and lower ages. I have seen, for example, freshmen in high school who are already enrolled in AP classes. College Board itself appears to discourage such practices:

 Student performance on AP Exams illustrate that in many cases AP courses are best positioned as part of a student’s 11th and 12th grade academic experience...AP courses are rarely offered in 9th grade, and exam results show that, for the most part, 9th grade students are not sufficiently prepared to participate in a college-level course (http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/Appropriate-Grade-Levels-for-AP-Courses.pdf).

AP classes are rigorous and when a student is properly prepared, they provide an exceptional opportunity to experience a college-like educational experience while still in a high school setting. However, by virtue of the fact that they are so rigorous, it is very important for us as community and school members to ensure that the student is ready, lest they should take the class and have a negative educational experience since they are unprepared for the rigors of the curriculum.

Another issue surrounding the incredible expansion of AP classes and testing is the impact of underprepared students on the overall quality of the AP education. Top-notch AP students have reported dissatisfaction with the pace and preparation that some of their AP teachers are providing to them, based on the fact that the teacher is slowing down to include all learners. Teachers report that they are covering less and less, owing to behavioral disruptions and a growing number of underprepared learners.

Of course, every student who enters AP is another potential AP test taker, and we all know how testing companies love test takers, right??

Still not convinced? Perhaps another example is apt.

In my school, there is a serious cutting issue. Some students cut so much that they are in danger of losing their credits. How should a caring, concerned staff confront such an injurious behavior?

Well, the answer is really quite simple, if we follow the numbers. Simply stop counting cuts.

What?! If you felt a spark of outrage and horror flare up inside of you, then perhaps you feel a little like us many days. For tragically, this is how systems sometimes safeguard themselves to the deficit of the learners.

Cutting class is an educationally damaging behavior. If a student is not present, they are not getting an effective education, and the cumulative effects of chronic cutting can be severe. What's more, there are state laws which regulate attendance, and schools that look the other way on cutting and attendance issues are in danger of violating state law. However, this is exactly the trend that I witness in my school.

The same technique has been applied blanketly on issues such as behavior, attendance, and even grades. It seems that some schools have figured out that the easiest way to make problems go away is to ignore them. If only we had figured this out sooner...

Ok. Perhaps I'm being harsh, but I actually believe in the value of education, and of creating as authentic, rigorous, and rewarding an educational experience as possible for all of our learners. I am less interested in how the numbers measure up, and more interested in creating authentic learning opportunities for our students everyday. And this is why I write this- not as an attempt to incriminate schools, though in some cases I find the behavior of certain administrators reprehensible- but rather because I believe that much of this number magic has been spawned by program like NCLB, RTTT, school report cards, and other ranking systems which have placed schools in a hyper-competitive environment, desperate for survival.

I KNOW that authentic reform is possible, even in urban areas, and I KNOW that it definitely does not take the opening of a charter school to do it. I know this because I have seen strong leaders with good rapport with students, staff, and community members do it. Unfortunately, they are hard to come by and I suppose that authentic reform isn't always as flashy or fresh as the latest educational fad. Still worse, it doesn't put wads of money in the pockets of the corporate reformers.

Still, for the sake of our students, I hope that we will all take a step back from the hyper-competitive environment in which we are placing our schools, and rather than threaten, punish, or even close them, seek new, creative, and research-based ways to aid our ailing schools.