What makes for failing schools?

Much Is written In the literature about failing schools. What makes for failing schools as compared to those labeled as being proficient or excellent? Teachers and administrators In schools need to work in the direction of all schools being worthy. Each pupil need to have the best education possible. The future of a child depends, in part, in having received the best possible schooling.

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The Failing School

Failing schools are generally located in poverty areas. In fact, it might be safe to say that 100% of failing schools are in low income areas where the number of children on free and reduced price lunches rise upward to 75%. The chances are the surrounding home areas of these children is unsafe with periodic gun battles, drug dealing, prostitution, burned out buildings, among other hostile factors. In the educational literature, the following are listed in low income school districts:

1. inadequately prepared teachers for classroom teaching.

2. outdated, unattractive textbooks.

3. lack of being up to date on computer services.

4. poor quality school facilities with broken windows, toilets which do not flush, and minimal janitorial supplies and equipment.

5. principals who tend to lack leadership abilities (Ediger and Rao, 2003, Chapter Twenty).

The amount of money spent on pupils in low income districts inadequately compare with those of higher income areas. And yet, The same yard stick will be used to compare low with high income area schools. Each state in the union has developed their own state mandated test. The level of difficulty in mandated tests from state to state varies much when test results are reported. There are governors in states who believe that low and high income students should do equally well on mandated tests. Good teaching, these governors believe, will help students from low income areas catch up in achievement with those of more favorable regions. Beyond good teaching, the following also are to assist pupils to catch up with the top achievers:

1. summer school

2. tutoring services

3. a longer school day

4. a longer school year

5. one-on-one tutoring during the school day, such as in Reading Recovery.

Since all pupils are to take the same state mandated test, the following questions arise:

1. how will mentally retarded pupils be appraised when state mandated test results come back to the teacher, principal, and school?

2. how will pupils' test results be interpreted from those where English is not spoken at home and the individual is very limited in English language usage?

3. what allowances will be made for handicapped pupils who have impaired vision, deficient eye/hand coordination, and impaired hearing? (Ediger and Rao, 2003, Chapter Fourteen).

The achievement gap between and among the races has been a mystery. There is nothing inherent which would make for one race doing better in academic achievement than the other. There are no genetic factors which would make for differences in achievement. Singham (2003) wrote.

   "No student is ever a blank slate. They
   all come with preconceptions, and a
   teacher needs to learn what the specific
   preconceptions are for a particular topic
   and, instead of ignoring them, know how
   to use these preconceptions to teach
   students more effectively.

   The important point is that all these
   measures are good for all students. The
   worst thing about much of the current
   discussion on how to eliminate the
   achievement gap is that little focuses
   on what should be done with minority
   students. This has the effect of making it
   look as if it is a minority problem.

   Such thinking has many unfortunate
   effects, apart from the facet that the
   discussions of the topic invariably have
   jarring overtones of patronization and
   condescension toward the minority
   community. First, many in the majority
   community disengage from the discussion,
   feeling that all is not their problem.
   Second, the discussion becomes
   divisive and is framed as competition
   for resources, with whatever is given to
   solve the "minority problem" being that
   much is taken away from teaching white
   children. Third, seeing the achievement
   gap as a minority problem breeds the suspicion
   that to narrow the gap involving
   to "dumb down" the curriculum so that
   equality is achieved by reaching some
   lowest common denominator. Finally,
   the whole enterprise of focusing on the
   gap as a minority problem tends to ignore
   the serious matter of the educational
   underachiever of many white students
   as well."

One test may not determine how much a pupil has learned. To be sure, in high sakes testing, a pupil who failed the state mandated test may take it over again. Thus, if a pupil failed the state mandated test for high school graduation may be offered one or more times to retake the test in order to receive a passing score. Not having a high school diploma almost dooms a person from worthwhile employment. An alternative option might be to pass the GED, thus receiving an alternate high school diploma. The following questions arise at this point:

1. should one test determine a pupil's future?

2. are tests that valid and reliable to be given so much weight in ascertaining what a pupil has learned?

3. do tests favor one group of students as compared to the others, such as verbal intelligences as compared to those with musical abilities?

4. should a variety of techniques be used to determine pupil achievement, than taking one test alone?

5. should pupil achievement also be based on work done daily in the classroom as compared to a state mandated test? (Ediger and Rao, 2003, Chapter Six).

Are the above named factors involved when talking about failing schools? To be sure, pupils born into low income homes have limited choices in being high achievers. Low income homes have fewer reading materials. Parents tend not to read to themselves nor to their offspring. The model of learning is lacking too frequently. Trips to zoos, circuses, nature reserves, and travel in general, may be very limited. It does take money to buy the good things in life.

Not all poverty homes, by any means, are negative in helping pupils to learn. It is amazing how resilient selected parents and children can be when coming from places of adversity.

Securing Good Teachers for Low Income Area Schools

Certainly, one problem in having poverty level pupils achieve more optimally is to obtain quality teachers for schools in poorer areas. What are selected inducements which may be provided to good teachers to work in low income area schools?

Looking at poverty alone is frightening to selected individuals. Our daughter is one who shudders when looking at poverty situations. When delivering Meals on Wheels, she has gone along and sees homes of poverty. She truly feels for poor or low income people. But she has a difficult time to look at poverty situations. She finds it difficult to discuss situations Involving poverty. The author has assisted in distributing clothing with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to Palestinian Arabs on the West Bank in the Middle East. When doing this, he truly saw hopelessness in all of its dimensions. A refugee camp has nothing to offer its inhabitants in terms of comfort. The desert conditions near Jericho, an oasis, with its sandy conditions and no sanitary facilities makes abject poverty a reality. The author also taught school in Jericho in which pupils from these two camps, Aqaba Jaber to the south, and Ein Sultein to the north came to learn. The students worked hard and behaved well in class. Without mandated tests, the author felt the students achieved much in spite of extreme adversity in being refugees.

It takes positive feelings toward the unfortunate in wanting to assist them. The low income areas in the US is no exception. Recruiting good teachers and sustaining their employment is important. There need to be incentives which make it worthwhile to teach in a low Income area. The following are given as suggestions:

1. offer to pay 20 per cent of indebtedness accumulated when going through a four or five year program of teacher education. This assumes the total bill is five thousand dollars or more. For each school year taught, 20% would continue to be deducted. If It is less than two years, perhaps fifty per cent may be paid for teaching each of two years in a low income school. The assumption here is that the teacher will teach well during that time. Each school may determine their own "forgiveness" formula.

2. provide an assistant in the classroom who works well with the regular teacher in the public school.

3. offer mentor assistance if the regular teacher desires it.

4. aide service should be adequate to assist working with behaviorally disruptive pupils. A classroom setting should be one in which the teacher may teach and pupils may learn in an effective manner.

5. conduct inservice education which is practical and worthwhile. Teachers lead busy lives and should have time for personal endeavors and relaxation. Too much inservice education robs the teacher of necessary time to live a fulfilling life. Too little inservice education stultifies teacher growth and development.

Schools need to work for adequate teacher salaries regardless of times of prosperity or lack thereof. Legislatures do foolish things by voting for tax breaks when there is a budget surplus and then immediately start cutting school funding when unemployment rates bring in less money into the educational coffers. Each state needs to approve a plan whereby the state needs to keep a certain amount of money on hand which is adequate to fund education over the years, thus weakening the hold of the budget cutters.

Spicher (2003) wrote the following pertaining to a letter written by Jim Wallis, of the Call to Renewal to President George W. Bush:

   "The poor are suffering, and without
   serious changes in the policies in your
   administration, they will suffer more.
   The letter made it clear what we at Call
   to Renewal ... were against:

   1. an oversized military budget and tax
   cuts that benefit mainly the wealthy;
   and

   2. an unjust domestic budget that slashes
   social services and hurts people in
   poverty;

The letter made it clear what we were for:

1. A Temporary Assistance for Needy Families reauthorizations this summer that makes reducing poverty its goal, not just decreasing welfare rolls;

2. Supports such as child care, housing, health care and education that assist low Income people from welfare to meaningful, sustainable work;

3. Tax relief for low income families."

Low income parents must also be assisted to use the school system to the best possible. Pertaining to the role of teachers in assisting low income parents, Smith and Piper (2002) wrote:

   "Primary grade teachers can fulfill several
   important roles In adult literacy. The
   first role is to help low literate parents to
   understand how they are critical agents
   in their child's educational attainment
   and achievement. A second role is to
   help low literate parents understand
   how schools work and what teachers can
   expect of them, so that they can learn
   to operate in conjunction with schools
   for the benefit of their children. Yet, a
   third and far less acknowledged role is
   for teachers to complement and support
   adult educators who work directly with
   low literate parents. Clearly, however,
   primary teachers must first become
   cognizant of the issues that are pertinent
   to adult literacy. As Pat, the reading specialist
   learned, adult literacy is important
   to know about in her work as a primary
   grade teacher."

University Admission

Admission to universities can be quite limited for those of low income homes. The money is not there for pupils of low income to attend a university in times, especially, of increasingly high costs. Affirmative action programs have been frowned upon by the US Supreme Court. Student aid in the form of scholarships are not numerous in number to benefit low income pupils. The following criteria are useful for admission to universities:

1. high school grade point average (GPA)

2. ACT or SAT scores

3. recommendations written by former teachers, ministers, school administrators, among others.

4. awards and honors received.

5. employment record.

Numbers one and two above receive the most weight. There are questions which might be raised about each of the above named criteria:

1. should improved grades toward the end count more in the high school years, especially if a student is more goal centered and putting forth more effort into his/her studies than formerly?

2. should motivation be an important factor for university admittance, especially if it can be measured?

Should personality items, such as honesty, kindness, humanness, and tolerance, receive priority together with academic abilities in being accepted for university admission?

There are difficulties involved in determining criteria for admitting students to university study. Do tests truly measure objectively what a good university student should be like? A recent development has been to have prospective students write a paper to indicate competency in written work, which is vital in the area of communication. A very salient question pertains to how a motivated student who lacks money and is not able to secure a worthy scholarship might enroll in a university. There is much hidden talent in society which does not have the opportunity to reveal abilities possessed to be recognized. How might the talents of these individuals be discovered and rewarded with university instruction? Are there other kinds of Institutions in society than university instruction which should be available to high school graduates? The following examples are provided whereby high school graduates might be accepted for training other than at the university level:

1. learning a trade such as plumbing, carpentering, electrician, carpet laying, air conditioning, and heating.

2. working as a veterinarian's helper, hair dressers, barbers, waitresses in well paying positions, among others.

Conclusion

Understanding induction as an acculturation process means recognizing that working conditions and school culture powerfully influence the character, quality, and outcome of new teacher's early years on the job. Even the best induction programs cannot compensate for an unhealthy school culture, a, competitive teacher culture, or an appropriate teaching assignment.

If we take seriously the influential role of school organization and culture on new teachers' stance toward students and their teaching ideology and practice, we ensure that beginning teachers have easy access to appropriate resources, on site guidance and coaching, and regular opportunities to work on problems of teaching and learning with experienced, committed teachers. And if we take teaching seriously as the learning profession, we will foster new teacher learning in a strong professional culture and promote teacher learning across all experience levels. When we meet their learning needs, new teachers can reach their full potential--not only by staying in the profession but also improving learning for students (Felman Nemser, 2003).

References

Felman--Nemser, S. (2003). What New Teachers Need to Learn. Educational Leadership, 60 (8), 29.

Ediger, M. & Rao, D.B. (2003). Elementary Curriculum. New Delhi, India: Discovery Publishing House, Chapter Twenty.

Ediger, M. & Rao, D. B. (2003). Language Arts Curriculum. New Delhi, India: Discovery Publishing House, Chapter Fourteen.

Ediger, M. & Bhaskara, D.R. (2003). Improving School Administration. New Delhi, India: Discovery Publishing House, Chapter Six.

Singham, M. (2003). The Achievement Gap: Myths and Reality. Phi Delta Kappan, 84 (8), 586- 587.

Smith, H. C. & Piper, L. (2003). Primary Grade Educators and Adult Literacy: Some Strategies for Assisting Low Income Parents. The Reading Teacher; 56 (2)q 157.

Spicher, B. (2003). Tax Cuts and Chandeliers. Mennonite Weekly Review, June 23, 2003, p 7.

Dr. Marlow Ediger. Professor Emeritus, 201 W. 22nd, Box 417, North Newton, KS. 67117