Fixing failing schools
Published August 28, 2015
By Tom Campbell
by Tom Campbell, Executive Producer and Moderator, NC SPIN, August 28, 2015.
North Carolina has been talking for years about fixing failing schools, but so far it is mostly talk. It isn’t easy to discuss some of the underlying issues involved without sounding accusatory, discriminatory or harsh, but for the sake of all our children we must cut through the Gordian knot we have created.
Most failing schools have a preponderance of students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, frequently single parent homes where the parent either isn’t able or willing to provide the encouragement needed for the child’s success in school. This often becomes a discussion stopper because schools can’t fix socioeconomic problems or force parents to do what is needed for their child’s success.
These children come to school unprepared and remain behind, unable to perform grade level work. Too many are minorities, making race the elephant in the room. No matter how well-intentioned diversity and racial parity have become almost as important as the education children receive.
Mainstreaming children already unable to perform grade level work merely continues the pattern of failure for them and presents a serious dilemma for educators. Does the teacher devote a disproportionate amount of time and instruction to helping these children, making it difficult to devote sufficient attention to those at or above grade level? Does she try to be Superteacher, attempting to divide time between those below as well as those at or above grade level? The outcome isn’t usually satisfactory to anyone and the teacher gets worn out trying. Or perhaps the teacher, largely evaluated by class test scores, focuses primarily on those students who can assimilate and learn. That just perpetuates the cycle of failure for those who need the most help.
Parents might value efforts for diversity, but they recognize their primary responsibility is to ensure their child gets a world-class education. Often parents become frustrated with what they consider insufficient challenges for their child to excel and vote with their feet, moving to charter or private schools. This prophesies further failure, as public schools become increasingly populated with average or under-performing students.
Just as Alexander the Great slashed the legendary Gordian knot with a sword, we need to stop fiddling with the rope and cut through excuses and inaction.
After dallying with Halifax County Schools since 2009, the State Board of Education finally stepped in to take over financial controls, but just controlling finances won’t fix their problems. More drastic action is called for.
Representative Rob Bryan’s solution is to establish a pilot project to force five of our worst performing schools to either close or be taken over by successful charter schools. Based on models in Tennessee and New Orleans this might have promise but results are inconclusive.
Let’s look at the problem from another viewpoint. Instead of concentrating on the whole school, why not place our focus on each child, where it belongs? We should devote our full attention to what will provide each with the highest and best education they can attain. Children who can and do achieve the most should be put in classes where they can move rapidly. Conversely, those children who need the most help will be put in classrooms where they get more specialized attention to help them succeed to higher levels.
It’s time for honest conversation and more action so as to stop failing our children.
August 28, 2015 at 11:02 am
Richard L Bunce says:
Government education funding is attached to the student (backpack funding) and the parent(s) decide which school system is best for their child. Traditional government schools lost their way with decades of emphasis on social engineering and not what their customers (students, parents, post secondary education institutions, employers) want and need.
August 28, 2015 at 11:11 am
Verla Insko says:
The elephant in the room isn't race; it's poverty.
Sen. Jeff Tarte got the correct answer when he asked all the UNC system chancellors what legislators needed to do to ensure students would succeed in college. He got the same answer from every chancellor: early childhood education.
This isn't rocket science. Research proves it works. Other countries have been doing this for years because they know it's less expensive over time and because it's the right thing to do. It is mind It is ming boggling that we keep debating how to fix failing schools.
Fix the problem where it starts. Make sure every NC child has access to high quality, developmentally appropriate pre-school child care and eduction: Smart Start, PreK - for every 4 year old, chid care subsidy, a star rating system for child care centers.
Then, pay K-12 teachers enough that we can attract our best college graduates into teaching.
August 29, 2015 at 10:37 am
Richard L Bunce says:
Putting more taxpayer dollars into failed government programs is not going to fix the failed government programs. NC Pre-K program uses vouchers for private and even religion affiliated preschools... sounds like a good idea for K-12.
August 28, 2015 at 11:49 am
John Clark says:
Good article in at least raising the sword above the Gordian Knot. I've forwarded it to members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board. Carry on.
August 29, 2015 at 4:05 am
Glenn Silver says:
This is a thought provoking article but it offers nothing new in this very important debate. What differed for me and many of my classmates who began attending a segregated Halifax County school system in a society in which we were blatantly treated as second class citizens and public school students today? I assert that the primary difference was that our parents, though not as educated as we are, placed more emphasis on instilling in us an inherent value of education and being lifelong learners. We excelled in academics not because we came from upper class, highly educated families but because we came from families that created a home environment that promoted learning and from parents who saw themselves as ultimately responsible for our education and partnered with the school system to get us that education. This is not just my subjective view but one supported by research, most notably, by Reginald M. Clark in Family Life and School Achievement: Why Poor Black Children Succeed or Fail (http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo3638132.html).
Although 32 years old this book is very timely and practically useful in untying what Mr. Campbell calls 'the Gordian knot' of unequal education in our state. I, and others, have developed and secured grant funding for countless programs based on Mr. Clark's research, and if we are to improve public education in our state, I strongly suggest that our local school systems do the same. The accomplishments of our generation and the empirical research of Mr. Clark and others supports this view and the future of our children, our nation, and the world depend on it.
August 31, 2015 at 12:19 am
Tom Hauck says:
Thank you for your column and particularly the final paragraph.
There are public and charter schools that teach every white, black, Hispanic, poor, not-poor child and Karin Chenoweth has written books highlighting such schools. Try "HOW it's being done -- Urgent lessons from unexpected schools".
We keep hearing that poor kids cannot learn because their parents do not have the time or do not have books in the house or do not help them with their homework and on and on. A school that has the mission to teach every child will overcome all of those excuses.
We should not accept any excuse for failure. Teaching every child is very hard work but poor and even homeless kids are being taught in some schools in other states.
More than half of the North Carolina high school graduates require remedial work during their first year of college. We should not be accepting these woeful results.
