The A+ Activist

Now let me ask you this… Can we afford to let them down?

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), by the time 2010 comes around (two short years away as we are half way through this one), there will be 50 million kids in public elementary and secondary schools.

It’s a landmark number for our nation.

It should be a wakeup call for our federal and state governments to get on the ball and make sure every student has the tools it needs to succeed.

I am not holding my breath are you?

I’ve read so much this week in terms of funding education and budget cuts and teacher layoffs that it’s enough to make you sick, or at least seriously nauseated. I have a son who is almost two and a half; guess where he will be in three short years? Yup, you guessed it.

School districts have a lot to get prepared for in two years if they want to make sure that every child has what they need. If today’s layoffs and news of budget cuts and funding issues are a sign of things to come then I fear for the children who are not only in the public school systems right now but also on their way there. The money that has been spent on preschool programs and early learning programs will all be for nothing if the schools can’t keep up what those programs started.

Let me just throw some points I’ve already touched on here at The A+ Activist:

1. We lose quality teachers every year because of budget cuts.

2.Schools are closing or being being crammed together because of the lack of funding.

3. Our children already fall behind greatly in the areas of Math, Reading and Science compared to other nations.

Oh and did I forget to mention that those numbers? The 50 million? It will continue to climb to at least 54 million by 2017… That’s when my eight year old daughter graduates.

Anyone ready to be sick now?

When it comes to schools that is.

It seems that some schools are already doing what I’ve been thinking for years.

They are taking the initiative and creating smaller high schools so that the kids don’t actually get left behind. While it doesn’t necessarily improve the grades as much as they would have hoped, it does get the kids in the classroom. You can read the full story here .

I like this. I think this should have been going on for years and not in just inner cities where it’s easy for a kid to slip through and get lost unnoticed. No this is something that speaks to a school’s overall success. Not just the success of academics. There is much more to school than academics. Kids need to know that if they have problems, people will be there and be able to help them. In a graduating class of over 400 students like mine was, how many do you think got lost along the way?

Time and time again studies have shown that smaller schools, smaller classes directly contribute to the success of a student. Teachers are able to devote more one on one time to students who need it, problems and issues can be identified faster and acted on as well too.

What’s more is that the schools that are doing this, aren’t waiting for Uncle Sam to get involved and lend a hand with the the pocketbook. They apparently know exactly how much Big Brother is really concerned about a few inner city kids not getting the education they deserve.

Picture this if you will: February is the shortest month of the school year. In my district it is also one of the month’s where kids have the most days off due to teacher inservice days, and holidays like President’s Day and MLK Day. If you combine those missed days of learning with the number of days their teacher is missing from the classroom, how much do you think they are actually learning?

Not much and in January, msnbc.com confirmed my thoughts with this article .

Are you mad yet? If not you should be and here’s why:

The article discusses the fact that many of the substitutes employed to cover those teacher abcenses aren’t the most qualified for the job. In fact some states don’t even require a college degree. The more difficult the subject (like Trigonometry), the less likely you are to find someone qualified to teach it.

What’s more is the the schools don’t even expect the substitutes to teach the children, they only expect them to follow the lesson plans. Excuse me if I see something wrong with this, but I thought most lesson plans involved instruction on the subjects covered. If a substitute teacher isn’t qualified to teach a subject, how can they be expected to understand and follow the lesson plans if kids have questions.

I’m not suggesting that our teachers don’t deserve time off during the year but I think the administrators and school districts owe it to our children to at least supply them with qualified instructors. I know… hard to do with such tight budgets. I mean if they can’t meet a budget to keep from laying off teachers, how do they bring in substitutes educated enough to teach the hard stuff? Just a thought.

What we need is more backing from the Federal Government (in my opinion). If the government is going to put such mandates on our public schools like the No Child Left Behind Act (big disappointment btw), then they should at least make sure the schools have the tools they need to make sure that NO CHILD IS LEFT BEHIND.

We all bribe our kids from time to time. Don’t lie. You do it, I do it - even educated bees and fleas do it (ok maybe not but I’ve always needed to work that into a conversation).

My point is this: With all the bribery we are doing, is it absolutely necessary for schools to do it too? A study out of Standford University found that by creating incentives for kids to do things like read, come to school, behave, get good grades and so on. The rewards vary from cash, mp3 players, and other gifts. The study was done after charter schools realized that many public K-12 school districts already do this with some success.

Our school does something with what is called the Accelerated Reader Program. In which kids read approved books for points, take quizzes on them and then at the end of the grading period or year, the points are totaled and those kids are rewarded. I don’t necessarily have a problem with it because at my house we pay for good grades… and I will explain the pros and cons of that in a different post. However…

First of all, these are things that kids are supposed to be doing anyway? I mean, is school so bad that they have to pay them to come to school in the first place? And if so, How are they involving the parents in the reward systems? To pay kids to behave, (I think) sends the message that “as long as you’re good, we’ll keep doling out the prizes. But slip up and we take that gift away.” Kids have bad days. I know that in the case where there are children who are “prone” to behavior issues, the idea of gifting them into behaving well seems good but what happens when the kids are out of school and are no longer required to deliver such monetary or valuable praise in the form of gifts? What do those kids do then?

I think that if schools are going to offer such incentives (and perhaps they do, I can’t speak for all schools) but if they do offer pay for grades and incentives to do the basic things students are expected to do in school to begin with, there has to be a teaching value that goes along with it and parents should be heavily involved in it.

The sad fact is that over time, kids expect to be rewarded for their “goodness” and without those rewards they may feel like since they aren’t being praised in a tangible way, there is no point in doing what is expected of them. They come to find that the real world doesn’t work that way. Millions of people get up, go to work, behave all day long and they aren’t rewarded. Housewives and moms do the work of ten people in a day and there is little to no reward beyond a hug or kiss from those around them (if it’s a good day and her loved ones noticed she cleaned/washed/cooked).

Too many rewards, I believe set the kids up to expect them and they will be disappointed when they get into the real world. They will have jobs that are virtually thankless though they do what is expected and required - day in and day out.

How do we prepare them for that?

On May 17th, 1954, the Supreme court outlawed segregation in schools, and Ms. Zelma Henderson was one of the plaintiffs responsible for the history making event.

Zelma passed away on Tuesday, May 20th. You can read the story here , but beyond helping to end segregation, Henderson was also one of the few parents in her time who was a real life ACTIVIST for her children’s education. She knew what was best for them and she fought to get it.

That’s what this blog is all about; fighting for what you believe is best for your child’s education. The red tape has gotten thicker but the goal is still the same: To make the people in charge of your child’s education do their job.

I had an interesting conversation with another mom this past week. We were discussing the schools and how politically correct (or incorrect depending on how jaded you are), things have gotten in schools. Her view on educators and schools is that they work for HER. I believe that to a point, she is absolutely right. We can’t vote every teacher and administrator in and out of the system if we don’t like them - that would make them the ultimate employee to our kids’ educations BUT we do have the right and the responsibility to make sure they do the job that they were brought in to do - if they don’t do it, we have the right and the responsibility to make sure they GET IT RIGHT.

Henderson recognized that fact in 1954 and she fought to make sure the teachers and administrators were going to teach her children.

In honor of Zelma Henderson and all the parents of Brown v. Board, I ask you: How will you fight for your child’s education today?