Education
Hooray! My oldest daughter just won her school's spelling bee. (I'm nervous about spelling errors on this entry, so as not to reveal from which parent she gets her ability.) I look at her and her siblings, their friends, and the good people who make up the community around me, and I would be hard pressed to adequately express my gratitude for our education system. We live in a blessed time in a blessed part of the world.
Could our system do better? Should it have more choice for kids who struggle in the public system and would benefit from alternatives? Should it be subject to reform, including rigorous accountability requirements? Yes, yes, and yes. I don't mean to marry complacency to praise, but we are doing some things right, and my hat is off to the dedicated people who contribute to the system.
This morning I met with leaders of the state AARP and encouraged them to work with me in developing an effective volunteer program for K-5. As I wrote in my entry of March 25, 2005, and as the Tooele School District is proving, if we have good readers by the fifth grade, we are that much further down the road to success. Because of our State's unique demographics -- huge birth rate and miniscule amount of property tax (76% of the land does not contribute to the property tax system, because of government ownership) -- coupled with our extremely high taxes, we need to look hard for innovative ways to improve our schools. I look at the schools in my corner of the state, and the ones whose results significantly defy their demographics are the ones that have effective volunteer programs (reliable and coordinated).
If we were to train volunteers (effectiveness and reliability) and teachers (delegation and coordination) within the framework of an organized volunteer system, including some dads who might just want to kick a red rubber ball a mile in the air during recess to relieve a teacher, we would make a dent in reducing the learner to instructor ratio -- at least at critical times during the day or week.
Yesterday, my daughter's third-grade teacher asked my wife to take aside a group of 5 students struggling with math and help them conquer a specific concept. With the small ratio of 1:5, they got it. Meanwhile, the teacher successfully taught a different subject to the smaller-than-usual group she worked with.
This isn't anything new at all. This is simply broadening the positive impact of something that is working in a few schools. For good examples in Washington County, see Sunset Elementary and Washington Elementary.
Could our system do better? Should it have more choice for kids who struggle in the public system and would benefit from alternatives? Should it be subject to reform, including rigorous accountability requirements? Yes, yes, and yes. I don't mean to marry complacency to praise, but we are doing some things right, and my hat is off to the dedicated people who contribute to the system.
This morning I met with leaders of the state AARP and encouraged them to work with me in developing an effective volunteer program for K-5. As I wrote in my entry of March 25, 2005, and as the Tooele School District is proving, if we have good readers by the fifth grade, we are that much further down the road to success. Because of our State's unique demographics -- huge birth rate and miniscule amount of property tax (76% of the land does not contribute to the property tax system, because of government ownership) -- coupled with our extremely high taxes, we need to look hard for innovative ways to improve our schools. I look at the schools in my corner of the state, and the ones whose results significantly defy their demographics are the ones that have effective volunteer programs (reliable and coordinated).
If we were to train volunteers (effectiveness and reliability) and teachers (delegation and coordination) within the framework of an organized volunteer system, including some dads who might just want to kick a red rubber ball a mile in the air during recess to relieve a teacher, we would make a dent in reducing the learner to instructor ratio -- at least at critical times during the day or week.
Yesterday, my daughter's third-grade teacher asked my wife to take aside a group of 5 students struggling with math and help them conquer a specific concept. With the small ratio of 1:5, they got it. Meanwhile, the teacher successfully taught a different subject to the smaller-than-usual group she worked with.
This isn't anything new at all. This is simply broadening the positive impact of something that is working in a few schools. For good examples in Washington County, see Sunset Elementary and Washington Elementary.
posted by steve u. at 4/14/2005
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1 Comments:
With all due respect, I am sure you have a great school. And from what you describe you probably do.
But I don't think that the issue is so much children with who need special help. While the volunteer program that you propose would be effective, and should be put into place, I feel that it is putting a small bandage on a large wound.
The bigger issue is that we have incompetent leadership in our schools. The leadership (of certain districts) appears to have more of a mindset of every child should be made the same. Thus, the higher acheivers are brought down to make teaching a class of multiple skill levels easier. We need ability specific classrooms brought back into the schools.
"R"
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