Policy & Reform

Debates rage on about the quality of our public school system in the United States, with a wide variety of opinions on the matter range from “our schools are broken” to “our schools are the best in the world.” In truth as with most things, the actuality of things lies somewhere in the middle. One unifying concern among critics of the public school system is that, at its core, it is antiquated and fails to properly prepare students for the rigors of higher education or the job market.

So, hypothetically, what would happen if we decided to blow apart the public school system and start from scratch? What would schools look like? How would a core curriculum set itself up? What would the face of education look like if we wiped all vestiges of the old system off the map and replaced it?

A student-centered school

One K-8 public school in San Diego, California has taken on this challenge on a micro-scale. The mission of Poway Unified School District’s 39th school, Design 39 Campus is to create an environment less predicated on the systemic aspects of other public schools and much more focused on creating a nurturing environment for students and teachers alike. Using research done on schools around the United States, guidance from educational leaders, and the thoughts of local residents, the school is thinking outside of the box by giving students more say in their school days, giving teachers more power to make decisions on lesson plans, and even has erased the concept of a principal’s office.

There’s also a huge predication on technology and the role it plays in both leisure and education for students. Proponents of this argument that we can take some of the traditions and existing knowledge base from our current public school system, but retool them and rethink them to be malleable to new developments in technology and how information is accessed. With the proliferation of smartphones, keeping education up to speed with what students are seeing daily in that arena could help to increase student engagement across the board.

Other ideas to push public schools into the future

Another way to look at things when it comes to the idea of starting our school system from scratch is to focus the natural evolution already happening in public schools and pushing ahead of the curve. A key aspect is the belief of many that traditional education’s current hierarchy of top-down, do-what-you’re-told teaching heavy on texts and reading is already primed for an overhaul.

Rather than building new schools in the image of old schools which utilized this approach, new schools could be on the cutting edge and embrace innovation in all of its myriad forms. In short, teachers and administration members of these new public schools would be tasked with quickly adapting to trends in  learning and learning efficiency, bucking the current bureaucratic slowness of changing lesson plans and directions in favor of a more fluid approach which takes students’ concerns and performance into account with much more efficiency and systemic innovation.

A primary role of education is to prepare students for the real world, which means both for college and a job. However, it often does not prepare students as much as it’s supposed to, but does that mean it’s meaningless? Should education only be there to prepare students for jobs?

How Does School Prepare Students for a Job?

It is said that the intent of public education is to prepare students for a job so that they can contribute to the economy and create a strong workforce in the future. But how are schools supposed to accomplish this?

An important aspect of schools that prepares students for future jobs is the ability to meet deadlines. Some teachers are more lenient about this than others, but strict deadlines enforce students to finish work in a timely manner, which is what would be expected in the real world.

Schools also enforce critical thinking and teamwork in their classes, which are also valuable skills for any job. Even if school projects don’t seem like an ideal way to prepare students for society, it teaches them to work with and get along with those around them, which is important when entering the workforce.

Also, punctuality is an important part of both school and the real world. Students need to make it to class on time or else they could get downgraded or have to go to detention. In reality, if you are late for a job often, then you could end up getting fired, so this is an important skill for students to learn.

What Other Benefits Does Education Serve?

Even though there are many qualities that prepare students for a future job, there are other benefits to education than just that. Education is made for more than just learning because it is also a way for students to experience new things and absorb new information.

If students just stayed at home all the time instead of attending school, then they would only learn what their family and those close to them had to teach them. At school, they can learn things from lots of different teachers and students, so it teaches them to better think for themselves by being exposed to a variety of thoughts and opinions.

Not everything taught in school will be used in the future, but it allows them to think for themselves and be introduced to a variety of new topics. School is so much more than students moving on to a job that pays well, but it is about them living a good life, and they can learn a lot about what they like and dislike through their education experience.

Conclusion

While education is a great opportunity to introduce students to jobs in the real world, it is ultimately so much more than that. Even if education doesn’t lead to a job right away, it is not meaningless because through the process, the students learn new skills and topics, making their knowledge and talents more diverse. The most important part of education is the experience and the journey, not necessarily what comes immediately after.

Being a teacher is hard work, but unfortunately, many teachers don’t get paid enough for what they do. The pay for an average teacher greatly varies based on which state you are in though, so which states pay teachers the most and the least?

The Average Teacher Salary

The salary of a teacher varies greatly based on experience and location, but overall the average salary of a teacher is lower than it should be. For new teachers, their salary is typically less than $40,000 a year. However, for all teachers combined, the median salary is about an average of around $60,477 for the 2017-2018 school year.

Each state has its own average, which varies based on which article or study you look at, but these averages by state can range anywhere from $40,000 to $85,000.

Here’s how the states ranked during the 2017-2018 school year:

1. New York: $83,585
2. California: $81,126
3. Massachusetts: $79,710
4. District of Columbia: $76,486
5. Connecticut: $73,113
6. New Jersey: $69,917
7. Maryland: $69,761
8. Alaska: $69,474
9. Pennsylvania: $67,398
10. Illinois: $66,778
11. Rhode Island: $66,758
12. Oregon: $63,143
13. Michigan: $62,702
14. Delaware: $60,484
15. Wyoming: $58,578
16. Vermont: $58,572
17. Ohio: $58,000
18. New Hampshire: $57,833
19. Hawaii: $57,866
20. Nevada: $57,812
21. Minnesota: $57,782
22. Iowa: $56,790
23. Georgia: $56,329
24. Wisconsin: $55,895
25. Washington: $55,175
26. North Dakota: $54,421
27. Indiana: $54,846
28. Nebraska: $53,473
29. Texas: $53,167
30. Kentucky: $52,952
31. Montana: $52,776
32. Colorado: $52,389
33. Maine: $51,663
34. Virginia: $51,265
35. South Carolina, $51,027
36. Tennessee: $50,900
37. North Carolina: $50,861
38. Kansas: $50,403
39. Louisiana: $50,256
40. Alabama: $50,239
41. Idaho: $49,225
42. Missouri: $49,208
43. Arkansas: $49,017
44. South Dakota: $47,944
45. New Mexico: $47,839
46. Florida: $47,721
47. Arizona: $47,746
48. Utah: $47,604
49. Oklahoma: $45,678
50. West Virginia: $45,642
51. Mississippi: $43,107

Schools are supposed to help students grow in knowledge and prepare for the real world, but unfortunately, one aspect that takes away from these goals is the school schedule. Most schools are scheduled in a way that harms students more than helps them.

What is the Typical School Schedule?

Every school is slightly different, but for the most part, elementary schools run from 8:30 to either 3 or 3:30, and middle schools and high schools are typically from 7:30 to either 2 or 2:30. Each of these schedules includes a lunch break that is 30 minutes to an hour, and elementary schools usually have some type of recess break, but then the rest of the day is filled with classes. The school times may also vary based on the state.

The typical school year runs from the beginning of September to May or June, and classes run Monday through Friday. Each school has its own breaks that typically center around major holidays, and those are generally posted before the school year even starts.

School Starts Too Early

Most schools start their school day extremely early, generally between 7:30 and 8:30, which means that many kids need to be getting up unnaturally early just to catch the bus and make it to class on time. Even though many schools have pushed back their start times slightly, it is still much earlier than it should be for students.

By waking up that early every day for school, the sleep schedule of students is disrupted, which makes it harder to focus for their first classes, especially since they are used to sleeping in late on weekends. Plus, most jobs in the real world start at around 9:00, so why wouldn’t we prepare students for this instead of having them wake up exhausted each day?

School Ends Before the Workday

Also, schools typically end a few hours before the typical workday is over. This means that many parents will not be home in time to watch their kids, which can be difficult for families with young children. Because if this early end time for schools, parents either need to find a sitter for their kids after school or find somewhere for them to stay until they get home from work. Therefore, not only does the current school schedule harm students, but it can also be difficult for parents to work around it.

What Should the Ideal School Schedule Be?

Ideally, there should always be a later start time, closer to around 8:30. This would give students some extra time to sleep in, and it would still allow parents to get them ready for school on time before the workday. Then, the school day should end closer to 5 so that kids will be able to get home around the same time as their parents. However, this would lengthen the school day a bit, so instead of having classes for the entirety of the day, they could add in extra creative activities, such as sports, arts, and music in between core classes to keep students engaged.

Conclusion

Even though there is a more ideal way of doing things, it is unlikely that the school schedules will change anytime soon. Unfortunately, it is just a routine that students need to get used to, even if it is a bit early for their natural sleep schedule. It is possible that some schools might be willing to make adjustments if enough attention is brought to it, but it is never a guarantee.

Many of us may find it odd that many people who are in education leadership have no real experience in the classroom, which is a valid concern. If we thought about other sectors where leaders are present, such as the Supreme Court, we know those who sit on that bench have direct experience in the courtroom. Our leaders in education are making crucial decisions that substantially affect those in the classroom – the teachers and the students. And it’s inside the classroom that the bulk of the work is happening.

Teachers are on the frontline of student interaction and are also held responsible for the success (and failures) that students experience. Teachers have valuable input on what works, what doesn’t, what it’s like to work with families, parents, what it’s like to continuously come up with engaging activities while managing other things, such as behavior, meeting learning outcomes, relationship building, etc. This is the type of input and information that educational leaders should have to make proper, informed decisions.

A teacher wrote an open letter to policymakers in education, investors, and other decision-makers, outlined how being in the classroom, even for a day, can provide so much clarity and direction for the people in these leadership positions.

“Bottom line, I wish you spent more time in the classroom. Because that’s the key—being there to watch how students respond reveals the profound difference between the standard, meat-and-potato curriculum that regularly fills their pails and the harder-to-find great stuff that lights the fire of the lucky few who are taught with it. Then you’d see the massive business opportunity to fill this market void.”

Though this teacher is encouraging our leaders to spend more time in the classroom, it would then follow that seeking out the voice of our teachers in education reform makes a lot of sense. An author, Jim Lobdell, points out in the open letter, “If you had that firsthand experience of this enormously daunting task (teaching), I’m convinced your perspective on how to “disrupt” education would change profoundly. In education, clarity is found in the eyes of students in front of you, not from 30,000 feet”. Why aren’t we looking to seek insight from those who are on the ground, completing the actual work that we measure?

These top-down decisions have not been proven to be successful in the past, but the collective wisdom of teachers can be beneficial to enhance and progress educational reform positively and efficiently.

The Teacher Union Reform Network (TURN), a coalition of about thirty teachers’ union workers, have come up with four beautiful, creative ways to look at education reform that addresses issues at its core, rather than addressing issues at the 30,000-foot view. These pillars are:

1. If we want schools to prepare students to be career- and college-ready, thoughtful citizens, and reflective human beings, then schools should be safe, learner-centered, and well-resourced to serve the needs of each student.
2. If teachers are the most important in-school determinant of student learning, then teaching must be recognized as a real profession.
3. If America needs to tap into the talents of all students, irrespective of their background, then educational excellence must be inclusive, and education redesign must be accompanied by changes in other aspects of students’ lives.
4. If all education policy must ultimately be about enhancing opportunities for students to learn, then collective bargaining (and other forms of collaborative decision-making) between teachers and management should always aim to advance student learning.”

These if-then statements are a practical framework for changing our perspectives on educational reform and target the deeper issues that manifest into the barriers we are seeing in our educational system today. Incorporating these pillars into discussions regarding educational reform would be a wise decision for our educational leaders.  

Every year in America, we see another teacher cheating scandal receiving national attention. The most famous scandal of the last decade occurred in Atlanta. In 2008, an AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) investigation found evidence that five elementary schools, including one in Atlanta, cheated on the state Criterion-Referenced Competency Test.

In many of these cases, student’s test scores went from among the bottom to among the best over one year. The odds of students making such a leap were less than 1 in a billion. Because of the jump in test scores, Beverly Hall was named the National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators, which applauded her for the districts rising test scores and graduation rates. The group called Atlanta “a model of urban school reform.” However, as we would later find out, this was the result of widespread cheating in the district.

Why do teachers cheat in the first place?

So why do teachers decide to help students cheat on standardized tests? For one, our testing culture pressures teachers to perform or else. If their students do not show growth, they might be the next person on the chopping block and consequently out of a job. Also, many districts have a system of merit-based pay, where teachers can earn bonuses if their students perform well on state tests. In some systems, bonuses are based on overall student growth in individual schools, which entices widespread corruption and cheating. Also, without explicitly saying so, many principals and superintendents empower and reward dishonesty. Teachers who show a supposed ability to help students grow academically are tapped for principalships. Principals whose schools meet adequate yearly progress are next in line for assistant superintendent positions or cushy jobs at consulting firms or the state department of education.

What happens to teachers that report cheating?

Most teachers in American K-12 schools are hardworking, noble professionals that don’t condone cheating. If they find out that their colleagues are doing something unethical like cheating on standardized tests, they are the first to blow the whistle. Just like in the Atlanta cheating scandal, teachers and administrators who report fraud or other improprieties are subject to retaliation, threats, and intimidation. Even if their district investigates their claims, it is in the district’s best interest to suppress any supporting evidence that they find. Because of this, many teachers are deciding to keep their mouth shut, out of fear of retaliation and possibly being fired.

When teachers cheat, students lose

I spent 7 years in the K-12 system, and I can tell you that decisions are usually based on how they will affect adults, not children. Teachers who cheat on standardized exams are not concerned about student growth, they are only worried about their financial and career growth. When student’s test scores reveal that they are proficient, it signals to their parents that their child is doing well academically, which gives the student and their parents a false sense of security. When they find out that their child’s scores were falsified, frustration, and anger ensue. Also, when they move to a new teacher and grade level, their test scores paint a false picture of what they can do academically, which can have negative consequences for their intellectual development. At the end of the day, students lose and will never see their academic potential realized during their K-12 career.

Conclusion

35 educators implicated in the Atlanta teacher scandal were indicted, and 21 of them took plea deals. This left 13 educators to stand trial (one defendant, Beverly Hall, passed away while awaiting trial). The jury returned guilty verdicts for conspiracy and other felony charges for 11 of the defendants. Only former teacher Dessa Curb walked away without being convicted of any wrongdoing.

Hopefully, their fate will be a deterrent for teachers who are considering helping students cheat on standardized exams. We need teachers in the classroom, not in prison.

Homeschooling, unschooling and other unconventional routes to educating children aren’t new trends, nor are they nearly as radical as our modern culture would have us believe.

Much like mindfulness practices and other education strategies that we consider to be “nontraditional,” unschooling is gaining popularity as an alternative to the K-12, highly structured, standardized, state-mandated educational philosophy that’s embraced across the United States.

The Story of Unschooling

Unschooling, sometimes considered a subset of homeschooling, was given its name in the 1970s by author and educator, John Holt. A trailblazer in youth rights theory, Holt saw no distinction between learning and living, and although he felt it unnecessary to label this “natural” way of education intertwined with everyday life, this idea became known as “unschooling” essentially because no better term existed to describe it.

Unschooling embraces children’s natural curiosity and motivation to learn, allowing students to guide their learning experience through activities of their choice. This undirected, organic approach operates under the belief that children learn better, retain an interest in learning, and receive a more meaningful education through daily experiential life lessons, as opposed to structured, teacher-led school curricula.

With no conventional grades or pass/fail ratings issued, unschooled children aren’t pressured to conform to societal norms and state-determined standards. Instead, to summarize some of Holt’s ideas in his book How Children Fail, standardized testing reinforces a sense of defeatism, teaching children to fear failure and the potential of being wrong. Thus, Holt argues that teacher-led schools squash creativity in lieu of fishing for the “right” answers without giving regard to innovation and alternative solutions.

Another major limitation of conventional schooling is that it cannot keep up with the evolution of jobs. According to the World Economic Forum, it’s predicted that 65% of today’s students will end up in a career that doesn’t currently exist. Because unschooling relies on harnessing curiosity and creating lifelong self-motivated learners, unschooled children may have higher capacities to adapt to the changing work landscape, in comparison to traditionally educated children who are taught to depend on a flawed, dogmatic system of learning.

Going back to the idea of names and Holt’s discontent with the need to label such a natural process as unschooling, perhaps his ideas are actually more traditional than the teacher-centered alternative. The belief in children’s need for traditional or conventional education, in its earliest form, didn’t arise until around the 16^th century. Even then, it very slowly gained popularity over the next 300 years. Before the spread of formal, mandated education, children were self-educated in the ways of unschooling for thousands of years, making the period encasing teacher-led education a mere blip in the overall timespan of human learning. Flash forward to today and we see an education system plagued by the pressure of cutthroat competition, a phenomenon that would have been completely unthinkable by early formal education proponents.

So, What Do We Do Now?

Admittedly, no form of education is without its limitations, as the biggest concerns with unschooling arise in the unschooled child’s ability to integrate into a society that revolves around conventional learning. And, of course, further complications arise in terms of the equity and privilege surrounding the ability to homeschool or unschool children, as many working, single, and/or low-income parents are virtually denied the option of renouncing conventional education.

However, purely based on the principles of unschooling and the benefits it can have for kids, it provides a fresh perspective on education and instills values that conventional schools simply can’t teach. In case you’re wondering, unschooling is also completely legal in all 50 states, due to its classification as a subset of homeschooling.

Do you unschool your children, or have you considered it? We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.