We recently wrote about the impending use of letter grades to designate how well schools are doing. Check here and here.
We’re doing this because of a bill sponsored and passed in 2012 by Rep. Terri Collins of Decatur. And we’re doing it in spite of mounting evidence that such systems are of little value..
We’ve already had a number of committee meetings trying to determine how you accurately come up with a single letter grade that honestly represents all that happens in a school.
Now we are launching a series of work sessions around the state later this month to keep on hashing this over. Meetings will be held in Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, Mobile and Wetumpka. So we are spending more time and more money just to please a politician.
Oklahoma launched an A-F system several years ago. And even the Republican state superintendent of education there, Joy Hofmeister, says it is “not valid or reliable, not meaningful, not useful.” You can listen to her on this news broadcast from KFOR in Oklahoma city.
Oklahoma educator Rob Miller tells the story of Howe Public Schools in eastern Oklahoma, a small rural system often cited for its successes. In fact, then state superintendent Janet Barresi visited Howe in early 2013. She told the state board of education that, “Howe is truly at the forefront of the most dynamic learning in the state. Howe students are going to be the leading entrepreneurs of the future. All schools in Oklahoma can achieve this same level of innovation.”
When A-F grades were released that fall, Howe received an F.
Why are we going through this senseless exercise if not for the simple reason of trying once again to convince the public that we have an abundance of bad schools. Find me a single school superintendent in the state who thinks this will benefit their schools or their students and I will write you a check for $100.
Besides, we are already claiming that the bottom six percent of all public schools are failing because that’s what the Alabama Accountability Act dictates. So all we are really doing is piling on.
And here’s the kicker. While the accountability act identifies schools as “failing,” it makes absolutely no accommodation to help them. Same is true of the A-F bill. We are supposed to give financial rewards to high performing schools, but not lift a finger to help those obviously struggling.
Long ago I learned something that went about like this, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” But apparently that does not include kids in our public schools.
On terricollins.org, Rep. Collins states that one of her top priorities is to “Improve public education so our children can compete and succeed”. How does this bill improve education? It appears to me that some of our legislators believe grading schools and teachers will somehow improve education in our state. All this does is discourage the very people (teachers, administrators) who work every day all year long to help our children succeed. Improvement in education can be better accomplished when we can bring about changes in a child’s home life and attitudes toward education. And, of course, give educators the money to hire enough teachers and the purchase the resources we need.
Can we get drugs out of our children’s homes and away from parents who don’t provide the basic necessities, like food, for their children? Can we force parents to care for their children in such a way that they are ready to learn when they come to school each day? These are some issues we as teachers face every day.
Why not start with something that can be changed like the attitude of some in our state government toward education? And continue the change by providing enough money and resources to give our children the best education we can. While this is being done tackle those social issues that hinder children from coming to school ready and eager to learn instead of being hungry and worried about what will happen to them after school. These issues are not easily solved and can not be changed overnight but they are the issues I believe we should be spending our time and money on instead of finding ways to discourage educators in our state.
Go ahead and grade education and teachers if it makes you feel good about yourself. It certainly doesn’t improve education and help our children to compete and succeed.