United States school reform model - Essay Example

United s School Reform Model Public schools in the United s are long overdue for reform. The pedagogy, governance, and organization are archaic, as are the methods of teaching and day to day operations. Yet it is no small task to overhaul a system that has been in place for well over one hundred years. There have been several attempts to change the way schools were run, yet each one has failed, or has affected change on only a few schools. Few would argue that America's public schools are no longer meeting the needs of the families they serve, much less reaching their potential as ideal environments for children to grow and learn in. Schools are essential to society, but they must grow and change to meet the needs of the people that reside within that society. To change schools, it is necessary to look at change to the way schools are run, both at a micro and a macro level or organization. It is necessary to look at how the school should interact within the community, and how it should create its' own community. And finally, it is necessary to look at the pedagogy, and how it works and is assessed within the schools. Current school government is convoluted, and is micro-managed at far too many levels. Each school has government, then each district, then each county, each state, each region, and finally, on a country-wide level. This overabundance of government comes also with very little organization. Tyack looks at governance as a definite place of difficulty in education. Citing the New York City schools as an example, he points out that when control is de-centralized, people demand centralized governance; yet when the governance is centralized, the people want governance back at the local level. When it returns, the cycle repeats itself (Tyack 76-77). It is clear that governance of schools needs to be clear about hierarchy of power, and also with regard to who is in charge of what areas of education. Because American's are an ever changing population characterized by the constant shifting and movement of groups from one area to another, it stands to reason that public schools should be run on a country wide level, and not on a state run level. Goodlad, author of A Place Called School, recommends similar changes, only at a state level. He explains "State officials, including the governor, should be held accountable for articulating a comprehensive, consistent set of educational goals for schools (Goodlad 275). He suggests that it is not reasonable, nor logical to place the blame for not following educational mandates upon schools; that it is the responsibility of the state to pass on these new mandates, and to ensure that the schools are funded for the changes (Goodlad 274). His recommendations are reasonable, although they do not account for the need to maintain standards country-wide, which would be better served by one organization rather than several. By limiting governance to one major organization, all schools would be subject to the same rules and tests, allowing children to move from school to school with regular uniformity. Health codes and nutrition could also be met at a federal level, ensuring the health of America's children over the long term. Clearly, in addition to federal level government there needs to be local organization also, to provide support and to ensure all schools are accounted for. This can be met by having state level governance, removing the need for district level altogether. With-in schools, current governance allows for the handling of discipline and day to day operations. The principal of each school should have power over the daily operations of the school, but should also be a part of the staffing decisions and possibly a member of a state advisory board, that would help suggest curriculum or other changes to a state committee. School governance needs to take into account American Society, and the changes that take place yearly. Community involvement is also a necessary component of school success. Goodlad suggests that in changing America's schools, it is of great importance to encourage parents to have a say in how the school is run (Goodlad 272). While this, in the short term, will be a positive choice, in the long term it calls for constant change and revisions. The parents of today's children will quickly move on and a new generation will have their own input. While parents definitely need to help with some areas of schooling (fund-raising, field trips), the organization of a community school should field suggestions not just from parents, but from the entire served community, including those without school-age children. Not only does this improve the pool from which quality suggestions can be drawn, it also allows those who support (but do not use) the schools to be a part of the continuing dialogue of school improvement. For example, a community might vote against putting in a pool at the local high school because it is too expensive. But when asked, the community would consider doing fundraisers and paying some for the pool, especially if they were allowed to also use the pool. It is a mutually beneficial relationship because each party has received what it needs: the school received its' pool and the community paid less and is able to get use out of the money they did pay. The school a community is based in must be allowed to contribute to the school, or they will not feel connected to the school. As for the pedagogy and assessment, it becomes necessary to look at what is of absolute necessity, what is of minor necessity, and what is no longer necessary. Students today need to be educated in a way that allows them to enter the world prepared to succeed. Dewey looked heavily at children and curriculum, and concluded that "instead of seeing the educative as steadily and as a whole, we see conflicting terms. We get the case of the child vs. the curriculum; of the individual nature vs. social culture" (109). As Dewey suggests, current pedagogical approach requires the separation of each subject from another, and then the further departmentalizing of that information. Children, however, are more inclined to learn on a whole experience and personal experience model, allowing them to integrate what they know with what they have learned, and use it across all subject areas (Dewey 109). It becomes necessary to look at how subjects are taught, and to consider that it may be best to remove the barriers between subjects, and teach a concept as a whole. As an example, look at the concept of nutrition. Educationally, it is taught as a separate subject, with different terminology and ideas than any other subject. Because it is separate, it is harder for children to generalize this information across what they have learned. However, if nutrition is used as a subject to teach all areas, English, math, science, etc., the child is able to see a distinct connection between what they learn, and are able to use more complex ideas to expand what they have learned. The pedagogy must meet the needs of the child, and not the reverse. For assessment, there is honestly no easy answer. While tests have long been used for college admissions, assessment of intelligence and now even to assess the ability to graduate from high school, there is no test that is not flawed. Most tests contain bias, of class, race, gender, or other bias. Additionally, assessment of children is not necessarily an assessment of the quality of the schools. Children vary in ability, in test taking skill, and in comfort in testing. Goodlad suggests something similar that teachers will be called upon to assure students involvement in all the modes of learning, not just listening, reading texts, and taking quizzes. They must take the lead in revealing and appraising the variety of teaching styles, learning modes, and curricula being experienced so that subsequent revisions provide a broad exposure to each student. (339) He suggests that it is not primarily the students being assessed, but the way that they are being taught. While testing helps teachers to understand the current abilities of the children they are teaching, it is no more than an assessment of how successfully integrated the material has been. Therefore, for actual child assessment it is better to restrict testing to placement, and to use personal assessments by the child of how they feel they have done, along with teacher and parent assessments of the growth of the child to place them academically. Schools, especially public schools, have grown with society, although not growing to meet the needs of society. Schools today need a massive overhaul in structure, function, and curriculum to meet the needs of the modern family. Governance needs to be limited, and moved to a country-wide level to support the shifting population and need for uniformity among schools. School level government needs to have clear understanding of the power they have been awarded, and be able to make suggestions via a panel to the country as a whole. Community needs to be involved in local decisions, to create a sense of school ownership and responsibility. Curriculum needs to meet the needs of the children, by reconnecting subjects; rather then further dividing them into different areas. Finally, assessment needs to be done in a way that meets the child's best interests, and not be about school performance, but about the child's performance. Assessment needs to be about performance in the ability to learn, not in what has been learned, as that is an assessment of the teaching style. By making these changes, American schools will be better able to meet the needs of the people and the communities that they serve, and will move more successfully into the 21st century. Works Cited Dewey, John. The School and Society & The Child and the Curriculum. Minneola, NY: Dover Publishing, Inc., 2001. Goodlad, John I. A Place Called School. 2nd. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Tyack, David, and Larry Cuban. Tinkering Toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995. Read More