A guest post by Wayne Winsley
The
far-reaching and (depending upon who you ask) controversial decision of
Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher ordered
the state of Connecticut to come up with a new funding formula for public
schools, devise clear standards for both the elementary and high school levels,
overhaul the state’s system of evaluating teachers, principals and
superintendents, and change the way Connecticut funds special education
services.
All well and good from the policy side, but let us not forget the other end of the equation. Any real education reform must take the actual students into account.
All well and good from the policy side, but let us not forget the other end of the equation. Any real education reform must take the actual students into account.
This court case was
launched over 11 years ago. Many of the students who were in school at that
time have been pushed through the educational system and we are still paying to
feed them either via welfare system or the penal system.
What about the students
who are in our schools right now?
What are we doing to help
them do better?
As a teacher, (I’m a
middle school history teacher), I can say with certainty that whether a school
is rich, poor, or in between, there is no “policy” that can make a child study
if he or she doesn’t want to.
The dropout rate cannot
be substantially reduced without giving students a compelling reason to stick
with their education.
Raising student
achievement cannot be accomplished without students who are motivated to
achieve.
To close the achievement
gap, we have to pull from both sides.
Governor. Dannel P. Malloy says, "We know that
to improve outcomes for all Connecticut
students and to close persistent achievement gaps, we need to challenge the
status quo and take bold action.” I agree 100 percent. It is time to take action
to save the students that are currently struggling in too many of our schools.
While the politicians and lawyers bicker about what needs to
be done and how to pay for it, we must throw a lifeline to our children that
are sinking right now.
As Judge Moukawsher pointed out, Connecticut’s poorest schools are posting results worse than the poorest schools of 40 other states and is no better than the other nine.
Our children deserve better.
To close the achievement gap we must work from both ends. We must give our students the tools to achieve AND we must increase our students desire to achieve.
Wayne Winsley is Executive Director of BraveEnoughToFail.org, an educational nonprofit that provides motivational programming and scholarships to in-need schools. He is also a history teacher at Faith Preparatory Academy in New Milford. Visit Wayne's web site, here.
There is one factor missing from Wayne's assessment; the parent factor.
ReplyDeleteWayne says, "student achievement cannot be accomplished without students who are motivated to achieve". He is quite correct.
But with few exceptions, behind every motivated student is a motivating parent. It is parents who first stimulate and encourage a child's desire to learn.
Uninvolved, disinterested parents lead to uninvolved, disinterested students and a self-perpetuating circle of failure continues its seemingly endless cycle.
Perhaps Wayne will address parental involvement and influence in a future guest post.