Reader Commentary

What's wrong with our school system... and, some ideas for fixing it.
Without attacking individuals... teachers, administrators, or school board... there are some obvious problems that need to be addressed. Why is it that so many of our students are not learning at an acceptable level? We are graduating hundreds of kids, from high school, whose basic skills are at an elementary level. Why is this happening? There are many possible reasons, but, in very general terms, the whole system simply doesn't know how to make it better. Administrators and teachers are still stuck in the mode that calls for teaching what they think should be taught... to class-sized groups, without the inclination, skills, or technical support to address the needs of each, and every, individual student. Kids are passed along, from grade to grade, without learning the academic content and skills to handle the challenges of their promotion. Preparation for teachers, and school administrators, is far behind times... in this age of advancing technology. Through the use of computers, curriculum can be organized in such a way as to facilitate accountable management of all elements of the curriculum, and 'get the right stuff, to the right kid, at the right time'. Constant monitoring of each child's progress, as he/she advances through all content and skills requirements, can now be more efficiently accomplished... and should be required in all schools. Curriculum must be expressed in a precise manner, with steps (objectives) arranged in hierarchical order, and with support alternatives and testing provided for each of those objectives. All children must be expected to successfully complete each objective, before moving on to the next. Cumulative files on students must be made readily available, via computer, to teachers, and should contain much more information about each student's learning history. Standardized test results are in those files, and are necessary, but so is information about teaching strategies, materials, and controls in the learning environment that preceding teachers have used effectively for each student. Create a 'learning file' for each student, and make that file available (with suitable clearance requirements), to the student's teachers, administrators, and parents. Teachers should be expected to update the file on a regular basis... at least once per week... and input each student's progress on each learning objective. With clearly-stated, behavioral objectives, arranged hierarchically, for all content and skills areas of the curriculum, there would no longer be a need for the classic lesson plan... administrators could monitor the progress of students, and evaluate each teacher's professional performance... by turning on a computer. Lest we forget... the primary role of the public school is to provide academic learning for all children. Parents should be expected to provide guidance for their children, in the acquisition of social understandings. Such concepts as ethnic and life-style sensitivities may be addressed, incidentally, in the school setting... but with the understanding that it is a basic right of families to interpret social (and religious) issues, and to pass on those beliefs to their children. When academics is the focus of schooling, and every child must progress to the maximum limits of his capabilities, they also mature in their understandings of the human experience... and positive, historical values become the ruling influence in their lives.