Visiting another state always reminds me how good my own county’s education system is. In my role as College Board consultant, I have visited West Virginia, New York, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, and the southern part of Virginia. In every single venue, there are hurdles teachers must overcome in order to do their jobs, and in some places those hurdles are formidable. With every workshop I conduct, I return to Fairfax County, Virginia with renewed appreciation for our school system.
Last Friday, my Advanced Placement workshop drew 28 public and private school teachers from the Ft. Lauderdale region. They ranged from new teachers to one in her 60’s who had been plucked from retirement to start an AP program in a struggling school. Their AP class sizes ranged from 6 (in a private school) to 25 in the public schools, and I applaud Florida for its class size amendment limiting high school classes to 25 students. The teachers told me that before the class cap, even AP classrooms sometimes exceeded 40 students.
But the Florida state law I have no wish to see emulated is the one that “grades” schools on an A to F scale based on FCAT (Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test) scores, and then publishes those grades in the newspaper. Teachers in my workshop bemoaned the public address announcement that theirs was now labeled a “D” or “F” school. How demoralizing that is for teachers and students!
To add to that insult, money is withheld from low-performing schools, so the teacher in last week’s workshop who taught in a “double (two years running) F” school had neither books nor technology for her Advanced Placement students. How can anyone be expected to improve the school’s standing without proper materials? The “failure” becomes a vicious circle.
In Virginia, I have never been a huge proponent of the Standards of Learning (SOL) tests and the nervousness with which every principal anticipates the possibility of not making “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) in improving school scores. But at least the state doesn’t label schools a particular grade and publish that in the newspaper. Who wants to move into a neighborhood with an “F” high school? Not making the AYP in one subgroup is not as devastating a judgment as a grade label. Some of Fairfax County’s best schools have failed to make AYP in a given year and have bounced back the following year.
The miracle is that no matter where my workshops take me, I find AP teachers to be dedicated, bright, and enthusiastic about their individual programs. That teachers can transcend demoralizing situations year after year is remarkable. In Florida, teachers shared lessons and teaching techniques and waxed eloquent about the secrets to their student successes. The teachers in “F” schools shared ways they circumvent limitations (like ordering used books online) in order to give students the school experience they deserve.
And so the national army of teachers soldiers on. I am glad to have spent my career in Virginia, but teachers everywhere are resilient and creative. Tests are hurdles we deal with because no teacher, student, or school wants to be labeled a failure.
What Kids Are Reading
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre, data from libraries, and data from booksellers. The information below is based on a teacher survey taken by the National Education Association in 2007. They list educators’ choices for the top 100 children’s books. Future columns will include more from that list.
NEA’s Top Ten Books for Children
1. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
2. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
3. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
4. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
5. Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
6. I Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
7. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
8. Oh! The Places You Will Go by Dr. Seuss
9. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
10. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
