English Curriculum at Middle School

I'm sorry to hear about your Father. I'm in a similar situation with my Mother. We could do this via email.  

First, let me clarify the testing aspect. I am one of the few parents who likes to know how well my student is doing by viewing the standardized test scores. My concern is rooted in something that happened several years ago. I felt that my daughter wasn’t learning and I requested test results every time she took an assessment (I found out about the 10-20 min. computerized tests from my daughter when she came home asking me what words/math questions meant). I requested and received her evaluation scores. Each time her I viewed her scores her percentile dropped. It was around that time I got involved.  The following year, when the teacher differentiated the class by ability, her assessment scores always went up.  The state test scores mirrored the 20 min. assessment scores. Whereas, I don’t like many things about the state tests, I do believe we can learn what is missing from the student’s education.  

With that said, I noticed that last year’s Middle School state test scores weren't that great. I’m told that many of the better students at Middle School opted out in protest. I don’t know about the other district elementary schools, but last year at L Elementary there were more 5^th grade students who scored level 4 than they did when they were in 4^th grade - same students, higher scores.

I know that in my daughter’s 5^th grade class last year, she came home with short stories and writing assignments several times a week. These were not graded on the “ridiculous rubric” the Middle School teachers are forced to track. Students didn’t get detention or suspension if they didn’t do the work. It was simply thinking and writing practice. It was the teacher telling the students they will do well on the state test if they did their work. About 20% of her class did not take the state test, but I’m sure everyone who did take the test scored higher than the previous year, giving them a personal best. IMO these simple consistent assignments, that don’t count, make students think and write better. I’ve heard of teachers/classrooms that have a quote on the blackboard and the students are supposed to write freely for ten minutes about the quote – not graded on a rubric -- but sometimes shared with classmates as something to think about.

My Concern
I don’t believe my daughter is on track to perform as well as she did last year on the state test. I believe it’s partially rooted in the curriculum - the artificial rubric, the speed the material is being covered, and the lack of writing in class. I’m also concerned the class has students that read on very different levels. It’s very slow. The higher-level readers will not be able to compete with students in schools that do differentiate classes. In fact, I think the mixed environment we have now will lower the scores of higher-level reader while the slower learner scores will go up. That’s what I meant by the comment. I believe that closing the achievement gap by slowing down the fast learners is not how our English department should operate.  Our focus should be on personal best.

If you think we need to meet, let me know. Otherwise just take these thoughts into consideration when putting together the curriculum. I don’t want to see my daughter’s standardized test scores go down. I feel it’s going to happen unless a change is made.

Take care of your father.

Regards,

Backpack Full of Cash

Public School Problems

Last night my friend invited me to a screening of “Backpack Full of Cash”, a documentary vilifying charter school and school-for-profit education models. The film did convince me that certain charter schools, schools-for-profit or vouchers don’t always work just as public schools don’t always work. By the end of the film viewers were supposed to love the teachers union. The film used the turnaround in NJ’s Union City School district to make a point about how working together with teachers, public schools can be made into a shining example of how to educate our children. The most telling point of the film was the audience reaction when Governor Chris Christie says that the Teachers Union is what is killing public schools in America. The audience sighs. I want to applaud his honesty and wish he would run for president.

But let’s get back to Union City, NJ. The turnaround to becoming a great school happened during Gov. Christie’s tenure. How did this high poverty school district get so smart? It started because court decision required the state to infuse poor school districts with cash.  But if you look at other NJ low –income districts that got money, they still perform poorly.  Money doesn’t solve the public school education problems. In the book “Improbable Scholars” by David Kirp goes into the explanation of how Union City achieved this status. They adopted a consistent curriculum across classrooms with a focus on early reading and vocabulary. It is for this and other reasons I support the common core.  Union City used best practices, tests as diagnostic tools rather than to punish students, and every teacher got a mentor. Tests used measured critical thinking not rote memorization.

So now my daughter is in 6^th grade. She did brilliantly in 4^th and 5^th grade at public school so I hoped middle school would continue the trend. I lobbied for certain teachers in 4^th and 5^th grade, but knew little about 6^th grade and thought I'd just go with the flow once I got her placed in 7th grade math (no 6th grade accelerated). 

The first week of school she comes home and makes cartoons of what happened in school. It’s prison. It’s memorized this and takes a test. It’s awful. I speak to the principal and ask him to ease up on teacher’s threatening students with detention for every little infraction. The policy is don’t talk and do what you are told or you will get detention. Joking around with your best friend a bit too loudly – in school suspension and you are not to attend classes and must miss the review for the midterm.

Within a few months my daughter came home dejected. She lost interest in everything extracurricular. Her primary focus is how not to make the teacher’s mad. No going to the bathroom. No asking clarification on subject matter. Do your rote homework, and only her homework. She loved playing in the orchestra and where as in 5^th grade she played the cello and violin, she despised the policies of the new orchestra teacher she did not want to pursue any additional time with the music teacher.

I thought it would get better, but it got worse.  They took a student who loved-to-learn and consistently tested in the 99^th percentile on standardized tests and turned her into a mind-numbing bob.  It’s an educationally known fact that students who are on the bottom of the bell curve often need something that public school can’t provide. We are looking at private schools.