Category: Education (Page 4 of 7)

B is Below Grade Level

What one change in public education would you implement to improve the quality of education?

Teachers say, “Get better parents.”  That’s true, but not helpful.  We teach the students we have.  Public schools are a condensed version of the community.  If the community is dysfunctional, the children of the community aren’t likely to be much better.

This article touches on the problem.  Many schools were doing a decent job before Covid, but the lock down screwed up many students.  The tempting solution was for administrators to ask that teachers “show grace”.  To normal people, that means lower the standards.

“Rosie” averaged an 83 in core classes and tested more than two months above grade level in fifth grade in 2019. She was absent three days. In 2022, Rosie was 10 months below grade level in math and reading and absent 10 days. She averaged an 83.

Most parents care more about grades than they do about education.   Weak administrators push for teachers to lower standards because few parents will object.

For decades at North Royalton, the policy was that every AP student was required to take the AP test.  Nobody compiles the stats, but after talking to AP teachers from all over the country, that policy is not wide spread.  An AP teacher’s average AP score is inflated if the downer cows don’t finish.

Most of my colleagues at North Royalton expected a student’s AP score to roughly correspond to their final grade.  It might go up or down a point, but a ‘D’ student doesn’t get a 5, and an ‘A’ student doesn’t get a 2.

In elementary school, there are several mandated tests.  A student reading well below grade level should not be getting an ‘A’ in a reading class.

How can a parent determine if a school has high academic standards?

Ask about the class average.  Even in an AP class filled with smart kids, the class average should be about 80%.  Yeah, I know.  We say a ‘C’ is average, but nobody believes that. 

Remedial classes are tougher.  The failing students are really failing.  They may not do anything, so have a 25% in the class.  There may be a lot of them.  A decent class average would only count the students who are actually sentient.

Somebody is having an exciting day.  This is in North Olmsted, across from St. Richards.

Twice in the last week, I’ve been asked about former students without the former student being present.  As a seasoned professional, these situations are not awkward.

The first time, I was at a game night with a bunch of guys of recent acquaintance.  Art mentioned that  his nephew had been in my class.  The name rang no bells in my head.  While Art was saying that his nephew had enjoyed my class, recollection was dawning.  I recall the name and may recall the kid.  

This is where being a professional comes in.  I made no effort to describe the student pictured in my mind, and just said, yeah, I think so, but I’d have to see a photo.  Implying that I’m good with faces, not so good with names.

The second time, I was at a garage sale on my street.  A woman of my vintage said that I looked familiar.  I gave her a brief rundown, and she said, “That’s it.  My daughter had you at Normandy.”

The daughter is now 42 years old, but I recalled her immediately.  She had striking blue eyes like her mum, had a calm and imperturbable manner and was taking three science classes at the same time.  

Mom was amazed at my impression of a wizened old teacher who fondly remembers every one of his former students.  As we talked, she went on to mention a few other students, who I again recalled with clarity and a few anecdotes.  Why did this go so well?

The daughter and friends were all high-flyers.  Well-mannered, handsome, smart, congenial and motivated.  That’s part of it.  The other part is that I’d only been teaching for a few years, so had only taught a few hundred students.  By the time I’d had the previously mentioned nephew, I’d had four or five times more students.  Nearly a couple of thousand. 

Seniors often ask if I will miss them after they graduate.  This is going to sound bad.  I tell them, “Honestly, by the 4th of July, I won’t even remember Mrs. Yappel’s name, and she’s right next door.  I will miss you in the Fall, when the new students come in.  They will be all mopey, boring and dumb, like you guys were when you came in.  That’s when I will miss you terribly.”

Over the summer, I don’t have any reason to remember them, so those memory cells all go dormant.  When I retired, I thought those memory cells were dying off.  Talking to that mom, we talked about a few staff members that I hadn’t seen or thought about in 20 years.  Most of it came back. 

Memory seems to work like that when we get old.  My mother, at 90 years old, recalled many stories from her childhood, but wasn’t great on more current events.  Perhaps when we are young, events seem more intense and important.  As we get older, nothing is as shocking, so not worth committing to memory.

Kriste Smith gets $10k for North Royalton

Schools that work well, do so because they have a few teachers like Kriste.  North Royalton tends to have a lot of them, even though the administration doesn’t know or care. 

During my last year at Royalton, Kriste and I powered walked around the school during our 10th period free time.  Superficially, I have almost nothing in common with Kriste, but we could talk for hours.  She feels the same duty to her students, and is deeply committed to North Royalton.

Kriste was a counselor for years, but when the opportunity presented itself, she moved back to the classroom to teach business classes.  As she built up the program, she was continually blocked by administration in her efforts to get books and resources to improve the student experience.  There were times when she was on the verge of tears because of the callous way the administration ignored her requests.

Administrators like to think that they have a vision for the school, and just need to manipulate the puppets to make it a reality.  It doesn’t work that way.  A good administration sees the teaching staff as talent, that can be nurtured and developed.  Kriste Smith is an indefatigable teacher with a huge heart.  No teacher gets everything they want, but Kriste always deserves to be heard and a smart administrator would help her in any way possible.

I haven’t talked to Kriste about this grant, but it looks like the administration wasn’t giving her the support she needed to do the best for her students.  She looked for other avenues to get there.