This Week In Education

Education is a frequent topic in this space because it is so colossally important to America’s future and has been so catastrophically mismanaged for so long.
In “Quality Counts 2019,” the annual ranking of state education systems, New Jersey received a grade of B+, the highest in the nation. New Hampshire, at #5, earned a B.
How does a B translate in academic performance? According to the most recent testing results on the NH DOE website, 59% of NH students were proficient in grade-level English and only 48% were proficient in math. Imagine the proficiency of students in New Mexico, dead-last in the nation with a D.
I read about this year’s rankings on the website “Education Week.” Along with “The 74” (a non-profit backed by Gates Foundation money; the name refers to the 74 million children in the US), “Education Week” is my main source for “opposing views” on education issues. After seeing the disheartening “Quality Counts” report, I highlighted a week’s worth of articles on both websites to see if it would help shed light on why vast resources dedicated to public education aren’t buying us much learning
But first, to those who insist we aren’t spending enough: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, America spends 35% more per pupil than the average of the 37 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Nationally, NH ranks 10th for per-pupil spending.
With low student proficiency and higher-than-average school spending in mind, what issues were concerning to members of our education community? A few representative topics, followed by my comments:
•The Push to Get More Teachers of Color in Special Education Classrooms. “[We want to] ensure that every child has a profession-ready teacher…who also reflects our demographics in America.”
(How about just focusing on getting the best, regardless of race?)
•Teacher Education Needs to Acknowledge ‘Whiteness.’ “The majority of teachers are still far less racially and ethnically diverse than their students. Most curricula still do not extend beyond the dominant Western canon.” (How about treating each student as an individual instead of a racial statistic, and teaching our common national inheritance?)
•How Do You Respond to a Teacher Who Says, ‘I Don’t See Color’? The author is “deeply troubled that the ideology of colorblindness is being used by educators as a justifiable response…”
(Do they even teach MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech in teacher prep programs?)
•Americans Know More About Civics, But Numbers Still ‘Dismally’ Low. “A quarter of U.S. adults can name only one of the three branches of government and more than a fifth can’t name any.”
(How many of these adults have a high school diploma?)
•U.S. Students and Teachers Top Global Peers for Time Spent in School in OECD Study. “U.S. teachers and principals are among the highest paid of all participating countries…”
(Yet for all that time and money, our students test at middle of the pack compared to their foreign peers.)
•‘Should Grades Be Based on Classwork?’ And Other Questions We Should Stop Asking. “The question [is] how to stop grading. Fortunately, more teachers are doing just that in order to create classrooms that help students of all backgrounds and ability levels…”
(The real question is, why in hell do you believe that’s going to prepare students for life in our competitive world?)
•What the New Reading Wars Get Wrong. “Over the past three decades, the so-called “reading wars” have raged on among educators, scholars, and policymakers.”
(Still debating phonics vs. whole-word, while 21% of US adults read below the 5th grade level and 19% of high school graduates can’t read.)
•Parent Who Criticized His Son’s Math Program Is Sued by Curriculum Company. “Other parents have expressed concerns about the curriculum and say the lawsuit against Dillard has bigger implications.”
(I wrote about the “math wars” more than a decade ago. Looks like the enemy has gone nuclear.)
My review turned up lots of articles on social justice and student political activism, social service mission-creep, justifications for hyper racial- and gender-sensitivity, woe-is-me professional whinging, and calls to throw more money into the maw of the insatiable beast. Decidedly lacking were insights for improving student performance in the basic competencies.
While “Big Ed” fails millions of “the 74” every year, it stands at the schoolhouse steps blocking the path of parents and students seeking better education opportunities. Public education advocates fight hard to preserve their domain and avoid competition, even in the face of low and stagnant proficiency scores. Alternatives are treated as cancers rather than potential cures.
Meanwhile, a headline this week: “NYC says 1.1M students can skip school for climate strike protest.” Well, why not? They won’t be missing much.

Ken Gorrell welcomes your comments at kengorrell@gmail.com