On Education, It’s Finally Time To Act
One of the main reasons that Louisiana has never realized its full potential, both in economic growth and quality of life for our citizens, has been due to the state’s traditionally poor public education system. Though great strides and improvements have been made over the last decade, the state still ranks 47th in the nation for student academic achievement. Recently, letter grades were assigned to public schools, and 44 percent received either a “D” or “F” grade, in a system using a relatively low standard. The data clearly show that the system serves some, but not all, students. Many citizens have given up on public schools and bailed out of the system, often leaving only those who cannot afford other options in failing schools. Too many of those students face limited opportunities for the future.
An alliance of education reform supporters has been working for some time to re-create the focus of public education. Their goal is to transform an inefficient and outdated model of providing education into a delivery system that can meet the needs of students, parents, and employers. Their mission is driven by the simple idea: students’ needs come first.
Gov. Bobby Jindal has recently embarked on meetings with stakeholders to listen to ideas about how schools can be transformed to maximize the potential of students. On January 17, the governor addressed the annual meeting of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) and unveiled his “Education Reform Plan to Empower Parents, Teachers and School Leaders.”
His remarks were enthusiastically received. When the legislative session begins on March 12, legislators will be considering the most ambitious education reform plan proposed in the nation. It encompasses additional school choices for parents in a number of creative ways: revamping teacher salary structures so excellent teachers can be rewarded; making teacher tenure an earned benefit as opposed to receiving it just because the teacher has been on the job for three years; local school district governance changes that give superintendents flexibility in hiring and firing; allowing principals to choose their own staffs; and restructuring early childhood programs to streamline operations so more children can be enrolled. It’s a complicated, multi-faceted plan which, if fully enacted and implemented with fidelity, could change our state forever. The only way out of poverty is education, and the governor is handing the Legislature an opportunity to make a sea change in the direction of our state.
It won’t be easy. Nothing worth doing ever is. Opponents who are concerned with protecting adult jobs and benefits at any cost are already spreading fear and misinformation. One of their main targets is the provision that, after three years of being rated as an ineffective teacher (with assistance for improvement provided during that interval), a teacher could be dismissed. Is it not fair to ask that teachers, after receiving mandatory courses for improvement and substantial remediation, achieve basic skill levels after three years? Good teachers, who have to pick up the slack for the poor performing ones, should cheer this legislation.
Legislators will soon be asked to make difficult votes. Almost every legislator runs on a platform of improving public education. They now have a chance to actually do it. They can embrace their part in changing Louisiana’s history, or join the status quo forces who equate education reform only with the amount of money spent. It’s time to act.
For a fact sheet on the governor’s proposal, go to www.gov.state.la.us.
When I graduated from college, I taught Algebra for one year. Following that year, I worked in software development for 40 years. For the past 10 years, I have been a Math Mentor in one of the local schools. Although my experience level is not as much as professional teachers, I have made a few conclusions based on the experience that I have.
The one thing that I think is the most important is discipline in the classroom. When there are no disruptions in a class, then learning can occur. Poor discipline robs the rest of the students in the class of the opportunity to learn.
The other major issue is that students do not learn at the same pace and that some students need extra help so the teacher can understand how that student learns. This issue can make a teacher be rated poor because the teacher may have a group of students that is not able to learn as much or as fast as better students.
Vouchers can give poorer students the opportunity to go to a better school, but if they are already disadvantaged because of their previous experience in poorer schools, they may become frustrated in a new environment that contains students that have a better experience.
Schools need to move disruptive students to special classes that focus on their problems.
Lesson plans need to focus on the current ability of each student and recruit mentors from our universities and communities to give poorer students more one on one help.
Success should be based on where the student was at the beginning of the school year compared to where the student is at the end of the school year.
Like Mr. Sherrill, I have been in the classrooms teaching over a span of more than 50 years. In 1959 discipline was not an issue nor much of a problem, a time when “Sir” was used by students most often. I taught again at the high school level during graduate school (mid sixties) and discipline was much shakier as we “Progressed” through the John Dewey and the hippy generation just prior to my teaching in College. After retiring in 1991 I substituted in a small Mid-west community and discipline was on its ear in some instances almost total chaos. These kids were brought into this world by the Hippy Generation and there is little respect for teachers today, not necessarily by school kids but by parents. This is where the problem is and it is not going to change in government/union run schools.
I believe, as do many, the voucher system is the only way to end the nonsense going on in schools today. Schools are a total failure and the government should get out of this business (and all other businesses) and a voucher system might just do it.
Why do you think Home Schoolers exist today and why do you know that home schooled children do much better than government run and union run schools?
I has been our experience also, that home schooler children do much better than public schoolers in the classes we teach from our home (music, piano, voice).
Louisiana Education Reforms by Repub Governor Jindal
New LA policy of working with parents of At Risk Students to check homework assignments daily on the Internet have prevented lying students from telling their parents they have no homework and have alerted the parents to when the students have test.
New LA policy of allowing failing students to retake only the courses that they fail instead of failing them for the whole year and requiring them to take every course over is really a great idea that allows At Risk Students to catch up with their original class and graduate on time.
New LA policy of allowing at risk students to take multiple courses every Summer is also a great idea that allows at risk students to catch up with their original class and graduate on time.
All of these policies have produced significantly higher graduation rates in Louisiana.
There is something about the lines of understanding below that are relaxed and not united with what life knows when it is doing what it can continue to do.
“It’s a complicated”
“Multi-faceted plan”
“The only way out of poverty is education”
There is understandings that places areas of life into experiences with states of perpetual change. Some activity places call this integration with entropy. What the Governor does and says is directly related to what is being seen by the life that will understand whole truth with him forever. Whole truth is knowledge and an experience that is undeniable. The Governor and the life interested in seeing him can know completely about how life comes to full knowing pertaining to their continuable interest. Life moving around within perfectly arranged continuable interests are seeing and knowing instantaneously about what they see and are knowing about what they are doing while saying. These areas of life use themselves understanding images and vocabulary as one. This life and their activity is added to again and again as it can be understood completely and used with infatuation. This is appreciation and it is an experience that is always happening. This area can participate and a “little something extra” happens again and again. As a territory you could say that you “deserve” to experience Lagniappe and not only talk about it partially while imploding with pressure and then being caused to break downs by way of life that can not continue what it is understanding integrating with life saying what is not interesting and can not be added to seamlessly.
Stephen Taylor
It will take ten to fifiteen years to see the results of major changes in our academic system!! There is no way the state government will leave a good system alone long enough to see improvements of this magnitude. The basic level of dysfunction and lack of education found within the existing Department of Education will prevent most of the success sought. Change cannot be implemented if resistance persists within any department.
It’s about time that throughout the whole nation, we should realize that education took a backseat to help students that lack the interest and the knowledge to comprehend what the teacher was trying to teach. This brought the level of education down for most every one. l think the discipline should be ranked very high in a class room. Also at a young age a student should be able to train on job and if successful, receive their diploma with others. This program led myself to a good job, from there to Supervisor of the largest typewriter and calculator company in the nation, also owner of my own company and a great retirement. Also during this time receiving an electromechanical engineer associate degree. I’m not bragging, let’s not waste their young life, mine started in my junior year with my mind set on something I would be successful in. Mel Scott
Thank you for being the Governor you are.
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