An Ed. op ed--never published

I wrote this in Oct '00--it's still pretty good, needs editing, oh well. Ryan

I just attended the Oregon Science Teachers Conference this last Friday and learned about some great teaching in engaged, active science in Oregon. It is so exciting to come away from these meetings convinced that some very good things are happening in our state. We know that students who engage in teacher lead inquiry learn not only the underlying content but also the process of science. They, perhaps more importantly, learn life-long skills that will serve them as members of our communities.

On Saturday the Oregon Dept. of Education held a “Science Summit” to further support teachers in effective classroom practices as part of an ongoing conversation on science teaching and educational reforms to improve education in Oregon. I attended that administrator’s meetings. I work with a math and science enrichment program at Oregon State University, and we shared of concern that too many assessments focus on pencil and paper, multiple-choice tests. We strongly supported the idea of “real world” assessments that require students to produce a body of work that demonstrates their learning. I also know that these forms of assessment both give us a clear of idea of a student’s work but are also fully integrated into their learning and give teachers needed feedback on the efficacy of their teaching. This is a win-win situation.

In science we should ask students to develop a question, design research to explore this area of interest, and produce a collection of products from their own research and experiments to show the depth of their understanding. I was so enthused and wished that all Oregonians could understand how wonderful this model of education is for teachers, students and parents. Then I found in my mail a brochure on education from George Bush.

George Bush is lying about education reforms in Texas and here’s why. He and his supporters are in favor of public funding of private schools and decreasing the state support for public schools. We see these lies in the stories of “inefficiency and waste” in public schools. We hear of overpaid teachers and low test scores. This agenda started with Ronald Reagan and the refuted “A Nation at Risk” telling us we are going to educational hell in a hand basket.

Here’s the lie. When asked about their children’s public school a large majority of parents give their schools and teachers an A or B, pretty good grades. When asked about schools in general they see public schools as failing. So from their own personal observation, experience they make one choice but where do they get the information about the later view of education in general? They get it from the onslaught of negative information about public education from a biased group with a national agenda. They get it from the media who, with out questioning the motive, report as fact material from conservative consultants whose vested interest is the dismantling of public education. We see this misinformation in our own state! For example we hear about test scores dropping. In most areas of content tested and at a variety of ages according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores are basically the same as they have been for thirty years. A few areas have decreased a little and more have increased a little. So over more than thirty year teachers are doing a pretty good job and this fits with our personal observation.

Oh I know, some people say that test scores should be constantly rising. Is this sensible? Aren’t kids pretty much the same year in and year out? For example in Texas they have a statewide system of education, talk about local control, which requires a multiple guess test and Bush is making a big deal of rising scores. Of course they rise, for a few years, as teachers drop everything else to teach to the test or lose their jobs. These students are not learning science, writing, learning to think, they are taking year-long test preparation classes. These tests designed to give a few in the state ammunition to close low scoring schools and fire teachers. If this is your vision for public instruction then vote for George Bush because he will require this nationally of all states to get federal money. Oh and by the way, this federal money was used to improve teacher’s teaching through Eisenhower grants and to pay a small part of special education. He proposes giving block grants and closing the Dept. of Education, something his national education advisor finally admitted to on the news the other night.

Bush also makes that point that minority tests scores are going up as well. This is a national issue. We have invested money in improving the test scores of all populations and while national tests stay pretty much the same if we are focus, for example, on select groups within a population we see populations that scores less well than the overall group. We know that for many programs like head start, early reading programs improve the readiness of children for school. We also know that increased expectations for all students increase test scores. Multiple-choice annual assessments do not improve teaching. Teacher training, small class sizes, improved school buildings do improve education.

If our goal is to bring every student's achievement to the same level then we need to seriously increase school funding, improve teacher’s professional development; focus on schools that need building maintenance. We should ignore the naysayers whose agenda is to undermine public education. We should work to invest in public education so that education is equally available for all students. As if our future depends on it.