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One Thing
Remains…
Andrea Townsend
Director Administrative & Pupil Personnel Services
Greenville City Schools
It seems we can hardly pick up a newspaper, watch a news program or a
political ad without hearing about upcoming or proposed changes in our
education system. As a school district, we have spent a great
deal of time combing through the almost daily updates regarding changes
in policy and practice for Ohio’s public educational system. Some
of the latest buzz words we are hearing a lot about are Third Grade
Reading Guarantee, New Learning Standards, State Assessments and
Teacher Evaluation System. The list seems to go on and on.
It is easy to be overwhelmed by all that is going on in education these
days, but if we look closely a pattern can be seen. This pattern
can be summed up nicely in a quote from the Appendix of Ohio’s New
Learning Standards, “At the same time, all students must have the
opportunity to learn and meet the same high standards if they are to
access the knowledge and skills necessary in their post–high school
lives.” All of Ohio’s children deserve to be taught what they
need to be able to succeed in our society, the very best preparation
for life that we can give them.
There is a big shift in our public education system to accommodate the
pattern in policy coming from state mandates. If we summarize
where Ohio is in terms of public education, it is worrisome. In
Ohio we have dramatically changed our state wide assessments twice in
two years. Assessment demands are the highest we have seen and
the funding has flat lined. These changes do not seem to be
making a positive impact. According to the Washington Post, Ohio
has dropped from 5th to 23rd in the last five years and we have jumped
to 9th in highest achievement gap. It is easy to point fingers of
blame on standards, testing, politicians or legislatures, but one thing
remains… All of Ohio’s children deserve to be taught what they need to
be able to succeed in our society.
There has been a lot of discussion about standards lately. In
Ohio, the learning standards are designed to help ensure that all
students are college and career ready no later than the end of high
school. It is important for all of our high school graduates to
have what skills and knowledge they need to be able to enter the
workforce in such a way that they could earn a living or pursue an
education without the need for remediation. These are basic
expectations of a public school system. Unfortunately, not all of
Ohio’s graduates possess the skills that they need for the work force
or college. Despite the fact that Ohio is seeing a drop in the
number of High School graduates that require remedial coursework in
college, The Ohio Department of Education reports that statewide 32% of
graduates continue to require remediation. Almost one third of
our high school graduates are not prepared for college. This could be
the result of a poor set of standards or too much testing, but one
thing remains… All of Ohio’s children deserve to be taught what they
need to be able to succeed in our society.
Our legislatures have been speaking often about the need for better
legislation in public education. We heard about safe harbor,
dismissal of the PARCC assessment, and a reauthorization of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) with less testing and
more local controls. The newest version of ESEA continues to call for
shrinking the gap between the achievement of all students and the
achievement of subgroups representing learners diverse in ethnicity,
socio-economic status, and or learning abilities. This country is
founded on the belief that everyone has certain basic rights such as
the pursuit of happiness. Ensuring that all students have access
to the curriculum that prepares them for the opportunities of their
choice demonstrates our belief in the basic tenants of our
government. Despite this, however, we see some of the largest
subgroup gaps nationwide, right here in Ohio. This could be the
result of poor legislation or high stakes testing, but one thing
remains… All of Ohio’s children deserve to be taught what they need to
be able to succeed in our society.
As you hear, read, or talk about the state of public education in Ohio
these days, I hope you choose to focus on that one thing that remains…
Ohio’s children. All of our children deserve the best education,
the best opportunities to learn, the best teachers and the best
resources. If we choose to focus our time and tax-payer monies on
mandates without funding, legislation without impact, and leadership
that does not impact change, we are choosing not to focus on the one,
most important thing that remains… All of Ohio’s children deserve to be
taught what they need to be able to succeed in our society.
I propose we begin to teach all of our children to succeed in our
society. I am sure you are aware that life can be
challenging. Why not start now designing opportunities for all
children to learn to solve problems, resolve conflicts, and engage in
challenging work? Our current system of segregating the
subgroups and providing interventions instead of high quality
instruction, is not closing the gap, thus perpetuating the cycle of
disenfranchisement. According to The Ohio Department of
Education, “Every student should succeed in learning. When a group or
groups of students are not succeeding, educators need to review why and
make changes.” The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) statute and implementing regulations emphasize the requirement
to educate children with disabilities in regular classes with their
nondisabled peers: "While the Act and regulations recognize that IEP
teams must make individualized decisions about the special education
... IDEA’s strong preference that, to the maximum extent appropriate,
children with disabilities be educated in regular classes with their
nondisabled peers with appropriate supplementary aids and services."
If the one thing remaining is the only thing that really matters, then
it is time to redesign instruction for the benefit of all
learners. It is time to focus our attention on the real work of
public education… preparing learners to succeed in our society.
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