There
is currently a lot of focus on the New Orleans Charter schools as an example of
the successful charter movement in this country. Along with the shift to Common
Core Standards, there are a lot of changes in place in education that can and
are having effects on the children that they were meant to help. In the Article,
“The Great New Orleans Charter Tryout”, some of these effects have been noticed by those outside of the charter
movement. Students who are trained to believe that they are “going to college”
are showing a deep lack of success which is being attributed to the way the
schools are run, teachers are told to teach, and students are made to feel.
In
the last three years I have seen some saddening effects of this movement.
Having taught in kindergarten, sixth, seventh and ninth grade, I have had a
perspective that many administrators, teachers and especially lawmakers have
not. Children who entered kindergarten with no preschool learning had to be
brought “up to speed” to try to close the achievement gap that would
undoubtedly open in reading. However, by the end of the year, 2/3 of the
students did not meet the end of the year goal. The achievement gap opened.
During
this year I was trained to use the Doug Lemov “Teach like a Champion” behavior
management system. This system is chocked full of positive enforcement mantras,
chorus style responses, non-verbal hand signals, visual behavior management
systems, and chapters of recommended classroom procedures. Teachers were
evaluated solely on their ability to follow this system. Yet, by the end of the
year, children had not met kindergarten learning goals.
Both
that year and the following, teachers were told to use “small group
instruction” to be able to take lower performing students and give them more
individually directed learning and teaching time. The concept is designed to
keep lower level students in their primary classes and to get them close to
grade level or, in some cases, able to pass the LEAP/ iLEAP tests.
While
many may say that small group instruction is ideal, or a wonderful way for
students to get the extra help that they need, doing so in the now kindergarten
through eighth grade schools that pervade New Orleans leaves children
unprepared for the high school stage of their education. A dependency on
teacher assistance is leaving students unable to apply skills, new or
previously learned, on their own.
There
are many charter high schools in New Orleans, however only a few of them
continue the KIPP style of learning environment, and even then, as the article
above mentions, the students are still not succeeding. The documentary
“Rebirth: New Orleans”, takes note that many high schools students are having
just as hard of a time despite the efforts of the charter movement.
My
current students, freshman estimated to graduate in 2017, are struggling to
acclimate to the rigors of high school. The freshman aren’t the only ones;
discussion across grade levels have revealed that many of the students struggle
to read, write, comprehend and apply skills that they have learned and used
year after year. Students complain that high school teachers “don’t teach”
whenever they are expected to work independently. Many students are entering
high school reading as low as a fourth grade level. Others are walking through
the doors of high school with absolutely no self-discipline, little
self-motivation, and very unrealistic goals for their futures.
My current school draws students from all over the city with varying
academic grades. It has a long-standing reputation of success and is one of few
well-rounded high schools in New Orleans (complete with a state champion
football team, state champion band, cheerleaders, dance teams and countless
extracurricular clubs). Many students come from schools who are failing (but
whose grades may have improved based upon the change in grading scales.
Information about how this change has affected the lowest and highest
performing schools can be found here: http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2013/10/school_performance_improves_ac.html
) despite their high reputations. Many others come from top performing public
and private schools. This varied
academic background and mix of reputable school names leaves the ninth grade
students with wildly variant knowledge and behavior expectations. Those who
have come from private and KIPP style charters have the hardest time adjusting.
Most of the charter school students feel abandoned, that their teachers don’t
care about them, and that they can’t succeed because their teachers are setting
them up for failure by not telling them what is the right answer or checking
their work for correctness before it is turned in. These are the same students
who often boldly proclaim that they are going to prestigious colleges like
Yale, yet turn in as little as 50% of their work.
This encourages me to wonder if these schools are actually serving their
students. The children are told that they are going to college (at many
schools, this is a mantra that is repeated daily, even teaching kindergarteners
what year they will graduate) yet the academic practices are leaving the
children with almost no critical thinking skills, little ability to problem
solve, and so little self confidence that they cannot trust their own thoughts
as correct.
The transition to Common Core Curriculum is also garnering attention
around the country (see http://www.nationalreview.com/article/347973/two-moms-vs-common-core and http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-assessments/new-york-principal-speaks-out-on-ridiculous-common-core-test-for-1st-graders/
). Parents, students and educators are questioning the validity of the standards.
Many have acknowledge that the standards have basically come out of thin air,
have not been tested, and require teachers to change HOW they teach in order to
try to get students to think more critically. The language is complex and vague
all at the same time. The speaking and listening standard for kindergarten is “Confirm understanding of a text read aloud
or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering
questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not
understood.” Many believe that these
standards and the language within them is more of a means to get the next
generation to be capable of little more than holding menial jobs. While I do
not agree that this is the case, I do agree that this supposed transition to
critical thinking is made up; students will not transition to thinking more
critically or creatively because the standards do not specifically identify a
way to teach children to think. Instead,
the charter schools, coupled with a half-witted set of curriculum, are leaving
students less able to think and problem solve.
The students themselves comment on their feelings during their
transition into high school. Doug Lemov and similar types of management systems
focus upon positive reinforcement for students. On its own, it is good to positively
support correct work and hard work but, coupled with an environment where
teachers are asked to coddle students who are not succeeding, avoid addressing
students who struggle, and tell all students that they are going to college
(despite the student’s individual aspiration), students feel like they cannot
be successful anymore and that high school is too hard. Many others feel that
high school is supposed to be the time that they stop having to work so hard,
or are free from the rigid expectations of their K-8 schools. This response to burnout coupled with
below-level reading and math abilities is getting students off the path to
success.
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