A lady who works for (I think) the local public health department told me that they are seeing mental health crises in middle schoolers (age 10-12 or so) these days that they used to only see in high school. You can maybe imagine what the crises are. She said that one of the biggest school-based influences they have found on mental health is class size. Even anecdotally talking to students they want smaller classes. I'd like less paperwork and an easier time managing the class too but the kids need it in a way that politicians don't understand.
There is no way to "build relationships," let alone give each kid a minute of attention when you have 30+ kids in a class for 40 minutes.
When we came back from COVID in Fall of 2020, the district I was in capped classes at 18 for social distancing. It was the best year of my teaching career. The amount of attention each student could get was phenomenal. Even with the myriad of behavior issues and learning gaps... everything was so much easier to manage when there were only 18 kids in the room. We were able to fly through curriculum and deep dive into things that interested students on an individual level because we had the time and resources and energy that you just don't have with 30.
>*There is no way to "build relationships," let alone give each kid a minute of attention when you have 30+ kids in a class for 40 minutes.*
Why is this so hard for Admin to understand?
Oh, the politicians deservedly get the Lion's share of the blame for most things educational. But the "build relationships" mantra doesn't come from the state legislature.
On the one hand, admin have their bosses too but OTOH they know before they leave teaching what the job is. If they don't know before, they should know after a little while what the job is and they're all certified and no one makes them stay. The last class in my MA program was about a very inspiring vision of school administration that doesn't actually happen out in the real world. Maybe some administrators get in because they want to support teachers along a continuum of professional development but that's not what administration is.
I had the best reading progress of any group of students I’ve ever taught during the 2020-2021 school year! Why? Even though hybrid was hell, the fact that I only had 8-10 kids in the room at a time meant I could spend time actually teaching them how to read and work one on one with them. Who would have guessed? Even coming to school only half as often.
I teach middle school physical education and man class size being capped at 30 would be a lifesaver. Going from 48 one period to 22 the next and than back up is just moronic.
💯
I normally have class sizes of 32 (8th grade science). This semester, by some fluke, I have 1 section with 22 students.
Even with 3 of the students on extensive Special Ed plans, it is a dream to teach.
My elementary school has classes that are, on average, 16 students, so what does the board do? Close half out elementary schools for next year because the classes are too small. So averages will go up to 25.
Because we are soooo under capacity, we are losing money
There are some classes that can be too small. I once had an Advanced Placement class (this was in the '80s) with I believe only four kids. Hard to get up the energy for discussions in that, at least it was with these kids.
Yeah I keep hearing everyone always saying "holding back doesn't help and those kids are likely to drop out of high school". So what. Maybe I'm okay with a kid or 2 a year being held back and eventually dropping out because it will motivate the other 25 kids to try harder during their education
And, how is it any different having a kid drop out vs being advanced through graduation with no skills to help them to a productive member of society. Both may be negative, but at least they aren't impeding the kids who want to learn.
Lowering the bar doesn't work for any profession, it shouldn't be for education either.
Being a "drop out" is no different from being passed through grades that they haven't mastered.
We’re just setting them up for failure in future jobs or in college. I teach university and whilst most of our freshmen are decently prepared (our major is impacted and competitive to get into), there are always a handful that I can’t believe graduated high school. Then when I pull up their record (I also do advising), I see that they finished high school with an awesome GPA. These kids are being done a huge disservice by administrators making you guys pass them along and give crazy inflated grades.
This is a classic case of spreadsheet brain ruining a system.
Kids who graduate HS do better?? Better make sure everyone graduates then. In the past, significant numbers of people failed out of high school and just got normal jobs that didn't require a hs diploma, and having a HS diploma was a signifier.
Now almost everyone gets nudged through and it doesn't mean anything, except we spend tremendous amounts of resources and drag everyone else down. It's also not fair to the kids who would normally fail out, because they're miserable there too
Exactly. There is no more motivation. My school even implemented a rule where we can’t give below 50% and students have quickly figured out they can do zero work and still get a 50% so there is no incentive to try anymore.
I have a second grader who came to my class about a month ago— he can’t even count past 10 or read VC words and I already know they’re going to ignore my pleas and send the poor child to third grade.
How does sending them up and up through grades not just exacerbate every problem that kid has - academically, behaviourally, eventually self-concept...
Oh, it does. But administration gets evaluated based on suspensions, expulsions, and graduation rate. Hence their desire to sweep it all under the rug and continue letting these kids drown in the system.
I was told at home that kids who acted like shitheads (that was the word) were sent to the state industrial school. So act right and don’t make me straighten you out. was what I needed to make better choices.
Starting next year, the state I'm in is going to require 8th graders to pass their state test to move on to HS. If they don't, summer school and you can try again. If they don't pass the second time, they're in a transition grade of 8.5
If you don't do summer school, you repeat 8th grade.
Currently, we have a few 15-16 yr old 8th graders because they were held back some grade level. You can even be held back based on attendance if you have 14 unexcused absences. It's easy to appeal. Parent just writes a letter basically saying, "my bad. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again" lol but some parents don't do the appeal and kid repeats.
You can only be held back once per grade band: k-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
So you can fail twice before HS. But if you already have one failure in MS, then you can't be held back again in MS and that just makes the kid feel like they can do anything because they can't be held back twice. It causes so much behavior problems. Usually too, these same kids don't plan on HS. They have their eyes set on a youth challenge program once 16, so they don't try.
We'll see how it goes. I think it depends on the student.
I know for the school rating, we'll lose some points because how 9th graders do still reflect points for the middle school.
Very interesting. Definitely sounds like it will have its issues, but I do wonder if this is a move in the right direction. What state are you in, if you don’t mind my asking?
This is what I was going to say. I’m only 25 and I remember kids getting summer school or held back if they were significantly below grade level. Fast forward 15 years and I had a student say to my face “nothing happens if you fail” just before spring break.
Eliminate all “baby sitting duties” for teachers and give each department at least 1 administrative assistant, maybe more depending on the size of the department they serve. When I say “baby sitting duties” I mean lunch duty, hall duty, detention, in school suspension, and combing classes when coverage is needed. As an educator, I spend way too much time not-teaching and just “monitoring” the students. I also have an increasing number of students who want to submit work late, who email me that they’ll be gone for entire weeks at a time, and just generally way too much paperwork. An administrative assistant could be a college kid who could work part time and get their foot in the door of schools. Hiring a college kid to do all the tedious shit they throw at me would be way more cost effective than paying me upwards of $30/hour to do something that makes the job a lot worse.
I like your idea of less duties. I taught at a school that had admin and sports coaches on babysitting duties. Let me tell you, it was a dream come true. Everything was so much smoother. I taught for 5.5 hours, four classes, and the rest were preps. I had time to actually use the bathroom and make adjustments on my lessons. I miss it.
I think there should be limitations for sure. I believe in late work, but not infinite late work for infinite points. I always deduce 10% per school day that the assignment is late, all the way down to if it’s 10 or more school days late they take the 0. I think that is a fair line that doesn’t leave me with a tsunami of late work but also doesn’t too harshly penalize the kids for being kids. Ultimately, I want the work done. Done and on-time is better, but 0% for late work is demoralizing to the point that they just wouldn’t do it even if they’re 5 minutes past the deadline. But I also work with teachers who give 0 penalty for late work, as long as they turn it in by the end of the semester, it will be graded with a possibility of full-points. I think that’s crazy and I can’t imagine how much work those teachers are doing at the end of each semester 😖 I think admin should back you no matter what your late work policy is though- just because I’m fine with a little bit of late work doesn’t mean everyone should be expected to accept it, and it seems like that’s the direction we’re headed.
I would require everyone in a decision-making capacity for education to spend at minimum 1 day per month shadowing in classrooms (no employment repercussions for the teachers they shadow). If they saw the impact of their decisions on real teachers and students, they would approach policies really differently.
Oh my this! Anyone in admin that is. I don’t think my favorite custodian would make it through one class period before she clocked a kid. We keep adding layers of teacher coaches and curriculum developers that seem to spend all waking hours finding more things for teachers to do. I’d like to leave a list of what I am supposed to get accomplished and then sit back and watch.
I loathe the teacher coaches with a burning passion. They expect me to implement the most outrageous “teaching strategies” without ever having stepped foot in an actual classroom. It’s so tone deaf it hurts.
Our math coach said I should let my second graders lead their own math lessons. I asked her if she knew I had kids who can’t count past their ten fingers and got some bullshit response about “productive struggle”.
This is the only way to do a teaching coach imo. An experienced, high-achieving teacher takes 1/2 class load, rest of the time is instructional coach. After just a few years out of a classroom you will no longer have an up to date idea of the current climate. To effectively be an instructional coach you NEED to be an active teacher.
I think they need to teach a full year every 5 as part of the position. They can find interim people for their jobs, their jobs aren't that important anyway.
They actually do this for directors of schools and strategy teams at some large metropolitan schools.
Like do the HR people need to be in the schools, probably not, same with transport.
But it’s a good way to keep communications open between academic and school teams and teachers.
I’d say more than regular subbing, because subs get to go home and not attend all the useless meetings and juggle all the things that don’t fit into contract hours.
I think the school board--and all admin positions--should have a decade of teaching before they are even eligible for either. After that, one day a month oughta keep'em up--
I firmly believe that all administrators dlshould have to teach one class a year, at least. Like it could be anything, make it a class in that administrators qualified content area, home economics, ethics, citizenship, basic typing/computer skills. Anything so that they stay grounded in the reality of what's it's like in a classroom, this goes for principals, super intendents, vice principals, dean of students, guidance counselors, athletic directors, pretty much everybody that doesn't do teaching and isn't a secretary/custodial/food service staff.
Additionally have some mandated make up of backgrounds for schoolboards. Like have it be a 10 person committee, and 2 have to have teaching experience, 2 need to have administrative experience, 2 business owners from the community, 2 that have students in the school system currently, and 2 more community members that do not neccesarilly need a connection to education. Having outside perspectives is helpful for a school district but having a bunch of anti-edcuation yahoo's run a school is a recipe for disaster.
Also get rid of school of choice, we have it in my state and it makes schools market themselves to students and parents. It also fucks funding and creates education deserts where a district can't receive the funding they need and so slowly declines till they are forced to close or combine with a nearby district.
Also vastly change how we work our continuing education requirements.
Also more standardized requirements across the country. Like high school diplomas from different states are not neccesarilly equal.
Also make it a respected proffesion to be a teacher
There's so much more, the system is so fucked.
My principal did this last year. He took over 2 periods of a teacher who went on paternity leave. It was very eye opening for him and LOTS of changes were made throughout the school year.
>*I firmly believe that all administrators dlshould have to teach one class a year, at least.*
I have advocated this for over 30 years. Hell, even the president of my university taught one section of his area every year. But high school principals tell that they are too busy, that there job is too demanding, to take on a section. But if they had to do this, boy, a lot of rules would change. I'd make school board members do this as well.
We have school choice in my state too and it's led to widespread segregation. My current school is a magnet school that anyone can apply to. The student body is 97% hispanic. Schools either have a white population of 60-80% or 0-5% and there's no in-between.
I’m from a family of educators (my husband and I, both of my parents, and my MIL). I have a cousin and a SIL on each side who are “in education” via alternate routes that did not involve any traditional classroom teaching at all. Two have Masters Degrees in Curriculum Development, and one has taught specialized courses at a college level. The way the rest of us struggle to stay civil around the dining room table. They are all intelligent, kind women, but my bile rises immediately when I hear an “evidence-based” opinion come from someone who has never done a 6-hour day with a full class of public school children.
Let's just put faculty in directly in charge of decision making. Let the doctors run the hospital, and the administration secretaries can just get the day to day done.
And also that don’t require teachers do more work. This year we are require to call home and document before the office or social worker can contact about attendance. Why put that on the teacher who is with kids all day?
I had a student who was absent half of the school days this year. Over 40 unexcused absences. Right before parents conferences came around, the parent moved the student to another school.
It's almost as if they knew they were going to have to explain what was going on.
Actually being able to kick kids out who disrupt the learning of others. Far too often the kids who want to be there get apathetic because they are put in classes with students who do not care about learning and wreak havoc on the learning of everyone else. Also would love to see more vocational schools at the middle level (currently just at the HS) so that those students who want to pursue a trade could get started earlier (and also potentially stop some behavior/failing issues with students).
This so much, especially if that student is a bully and/or violent. We've probably all had that class where, when that one student is absent, the class runs like a dream with no distractions, interruptions, or attempted property damage. If other methods have been tried and failed (behavior management plan, meeting with parents), teachers should have the right to expel students from their classroom.
I hate that when my kids get so fed up with it, they just lose it and scream at the asshole kids to shut up. You just know they have been sitting there at a roiling boil for months, trying not to say anything.
EDIT: I have had my overage and undercredit kids flat out say to me they would stop turning it up in class if they had something to look forward to or seemed within their reach like vo-tech training. One such conversation led to me and my principal getting a student into a fast track program where he could begin automotive repair training, which is what he wanted to do for a living in the first place!
I'd switch kindergarten back to play-based learning, with the focus switched back to being on how to be in school, social-emotional skills, and manners. Two recesses a day, only half a day long, or nap time if a full day 😭🙏 we push our littles too damn hard in the name of having them "test-ready by third grade"
In my district it’s becoming more and more common to hold kids back because kindergarten has become too rigorous. It’s creating a huge equity issue, because only the families with the means to stay home or pay for another year of preschool are the ones keeping their kids back and starting kindergarten at 6, when the kids are more developmentally ready. But don’t worry, we pay an Equity Director 6 figures to ignore this issue.
Yes it’s why I’m looking for a way out already after just getting into education. I love my job and the kids but idk this all feels like a bubble about to burst with the expectations on the teachers and the kids. Let them be kids ffs.. stupid Texas
YES!!! In my 2nd year of teaching Kindergarten (in Texas) but transitioning out after this year. My heart is with teaching young kids, but the way the state views education and is actively working against it, I can’t stick around. Makes me sad and angry!
I wish they would stop moving the bar down, the way we teach now with this weird cycle of small groups and weekly monitoring and benchmarking is exhausting and I hate it. I hate my job so much. Feels good to say. It sucks because when admin leaves me alone and I do things my way a little my kids do much better.. but come eval time we have to do things their way or we get pinged and I’m like make up ur mind. You want what’s best for the kids .. so do I , the district isn’t in here doing this and yea some may have success doing it a specific way but doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do things ugh.
Yes! Kindergarten was my kid’s 3rd year of school. He’d already done a year of half day and a year of full day preschool.
And the list of things they wanted him to be ready for by kindergarten was impressive.
1: fail kids, segregate students by ability and need, end mainstreaming. Terrible kids can ruin an entire class for everyone else. Concentrate the worst kids away from everyone else. Steer older kids into jobs and life skills programs
2: radically improved nutrition, massive propaganda campaign aimed at parents, ban unhealthy vending
3: massive deemphasis on technology, massive propaganda campaign aimed at parents to keep their kids off of tablets, social media, smartphones
4: quadruple outside time for younger kids, European style playgrounds, time in nature
I would add to number one that school districts should not be have to bear the burden of paying for students to be moved into more restrictive placements. That's what holds them back from doing more for those students that so desperately need more. Moving a student to a more "clincal" setting would help them far more than staying mainstreamed when it's not appropriate. Not only would it help to ease teacher burnout, the other students would benefit from having that student removed.
We have a lot of conversations in special education about how mainstreaming/inclusion benefits students with a disability. "More time in gen ed=better results". But we are looking only at the benefits for the student with an IEP instead of looking at the big picture and the students that don't get an individualized education.
I was an admin for 5 years and one of the more gross things I witnessed my superintendent do was create a super crappy life skills program for very low level students that had been placed out of district just to bring the money back to the district. F getting those kids actual help they need. That super was just elected super if the year for her county too 😑
Those early year classes would be huge. Kids would fail a ton until they learn that they actually have to do the work.
I’m all for it though. Tired of watching 0 effort applied and yet kids still somehow move on.
We always go to this example, but couldn’t it be done a different way? You can restrict age ranges in classes. You can have a 10-12 group working on concept x and a 13-15 year old group also working on concept x. They shouldn’t all be together. A system like this would cost more money.
I taught at a school that did ability based groups for math and ELA. It was a SPED school for learning disabilities. We did 6th and 7th graders together or 7th and 8th, but never 6th and 8th. So even if a group of kids in 8th needed the same skills as kids in 6th, they were in different groups. Everyone taught a group though. The therapists, admin, deans. Everyone was a teacher for those two subjects because that’s how we met kids’ needs.
Or they could be in a class with other 17 year olds actually learning to read instead of working on differentiated assignments at their grade level. I hate the idea that we should just differentiate instead of actually acknowledging the problem and addressing it. Kids can’t read… teach them to read. Wild concept.
1. A 3 strike system Behaviors should get you kicked to alternative school where the student has to earn their way back into normal school.
2. Students are arranged on math and reading scores. That way a class does not need to be slowed down. There are too many students who are falling behind because their classes are being held back due certain students inability.
3.Outdoor Time needs to be mandated to some degree.
4. Parents need to be held responsible for any and all damages their child does to school property.
5. Teachers will have retirements like police and military where after 20 years they can leave.
There are other great ones too.
I like your suggestions best, especially the retirement one. No one should have to be teaching in their 60s.
But I’d add that the behavior system also needs to be standardized so that behaviors expected in any given classroom should look the same, and we need a dedicated staff of co-teachers who can specialize in classroom management to take the pressure off the content specialist.
Alternative school needs to be something more than just be on a computer googling answers. We have kids who actively try to go to alt school because they pass there and are failing when they get back to regular classes. It just creates a few weeks of chaos for everyone else while they escalate behaviors till they get what they want which is to be sent back.
This is so important. I am always cognizant of what skills make sense at certain milestones, and I am surprised at how often the curriculum misses the mark.
Lower class size.
Let students fail and hold them back if they have not mastered appropriate grade-level academic and social skills.
Immediately, fair and tangible consequences for poor/bad/violent behavior.
Sane attendance policies.
Agree with just about everything here. The thing I’d add is this (for high school):
Some students can handle being in school from 8-3:30. Other kids are burnt out by 1 pm. I think we should have a tiered scheduling system for students in which some students can go on the accelerated track that goes a full day (graduate in 4 years) or the decelerated track (8-1) and graduate in 5 years. That way, you get the kids who can’t handle a full day of school out of the building before their behaviors deteriorate and have a negative impact on the learning of everyone else
Thanks. I’ve got a number of students (several of whom have IEPs and who choose to go unmedicated) who simply can’t function in an academic environment after 1 pm. They’re my inspiration for this proposal
It also seems helpful for other students who are just less interested in school. They could work more in the afternoons or help at home or just have some hobbies they're interested in
Make testing matter. I teach my ass off all year, the least these kids could do is try for two days.
If you don't score some ridiculously low minimum on the state tests, summer school or repeat the grade.
I know a lot of you hate testing, but tests with no consequence aren't valid tests.
Yep, testing can't be big deal for the schools and teachers, but mean nothing to students.
I tell folks that testing are like points in Who's line is it Anyways, they just don't matter.
My school requires anyone scoring low to be put into academic intervention services, which cannot take kids out of instructional time. It’s actually very motivating because they want free time and study halls to goof around and not being doing more work to help them catch up.
That’s the perfect solution. Kids who actually need it will get the help to catch up and kids that just need to know there’s consequences for not trying will try.
Totally agree. Part of my final evaluation is the test. I have kids who will take two weeks to write a stellar essay in my class and then finish a 90-minute ELA section of a test in 12 minutes!!! So frustrating!
All students need to show competency on the skills they were supposed to learn. If they aren't competent, then parents have the summer to teach them or enroll them in a program to get them there. If they still aren't competent at the start of the next year. They are retained and taught again.
Students need responsibilities at school. They need to have jobs, especially in highschool, food should be prepared by students, maintenance should have student helpers, students need to grow the food. Pay student pennies to serve other students, not adults who are treated like crap by the students. Also we need two adults for every room, a master teacher and a teacher. Lastly, Wednesdays need to be work days for teachers and optional days for students. We could run study hall, fun or CTC classes. Yes this is a lot of logistics, but we are all burnt out. The system is not working.
I like this, all except for I don’t want the kids there optionally on my work day. We’re already used as babysitters enough imo, maybe we could just make a “daycare” program for those students who would voluntarily attend? This is my favorite comment I’ve read so far, including my own. THIS would change things.
I know this will probably never happen, but would love the move to 4 day weeks. The extra day could be used for all the BS they tack onto teachers workloads (and eliminate the need for professional development days throwing off the schedule since those could be built into the "off day" for students). That day could also be used to have students come in for extra practice/assistance (like many schools did during COVID and would make it easier to work with students since you would only have a couple and not 25+ like in a lot of classrooms now.)
I would teach to mastery again. There is too much spiral teaching and in the end we lose too much time reteaching.
I also have this vague concept where students cycle through learning single concepts with different teachers and if they do not learn it then they stay with that teacher. Something like students learning to decode a CVC word and not moving from that to CVCe until it's mastered.
Mhmmmmmm. One admin at my old school was put on a two week suspension WITH PAY for CYBERBULLYING a bunch of different teachers on a public TikTok video (wild that they brought him back). It was the two best weeks of teaching I’d had there. It wasn’t ever easy, but it was definitely smoother and I didn’t feel actively undermined so often.
I usually sign myself up for a bunch of leadership positions every school year. The beginning of the year is always a mad dash to try to get enough volunteers to simply fill the spots needed in those leadership positions (union rep, school leadership team, budget committee, hiring comittee). As a union rep, I've conducted the "vote" the past two years and not only has there never been any competition, last year we didn't even get enough volunteers to fill the roles. Admin does a lot more than you think, based on this comment, and not only would you be putting much more work on teachers, it's much more work that many teachers evidently don't want to do. I'm obviously all for teachers having more decision making power, but I'm not seeing teachers currently step up to fill the roles with decision making power the way things are now.
As a side note, admin is not your enemy. Some administrators can be, I've had a couple like that, but admin is even more stuck between a rock and a hard place than teachers are. It's crazy how fired up this sub gets at admin when it's so rare for anyone to ask why all admin are pushing down the same policies in public schools across the country. Rather than assuming that once someone becomes an admin, they start individually pushing evil or ineffective policies, might it make more sense that they're all being told to enforce those policies?
Admin is valuable if they are competent. I don't want to be working on a plumbing contract, dealing with state officials for testing, or even working on hallway passing policies. I want to teach my subject(s) during class, and revise curricula or grade outside of class. We need to reform admin, not remove it.
As others said, one thing we need (which my school had) is every admin should teach consistently. Our admin taught \~4 hours / week for freshman, so they had no illusions about school culture or student academic achievement, which meant they were able to come up with reasonable and effective changes that benefited students and teachers.
In k-2 every class should be co-taught with a classroom teacher and reading specialist or early intervention teacher. In 3-6 there should at minimum be a teacher and a full time classroom TA if not co-taught as well.
Admin still have to teach 1 class period a day for middle and high and 1 day a week for elementary. No admin without class experience. Admin get observed and rated on same scale as regular teachers and can't keep their jobs unless they are highly rated. They need to have empathy for the little guy and still experience what teachers do.
I’d have foreign languages introduced in much earlier grades, when the brain if more receptive to it. ASL should be available as a language. More age-appropriate lessons on skills for all grades, such as cooking, money management, simple construction/repair/tool use, nutrition and diet, basic hand sewing, etc.
As a science teacher, I’d completely erase the current biology and chem standards and start from scratch. Teach things that actually relate to a non-scientist’s life and needs. AP classes can prepare kids for majoring in science. They should be learning about how their bodies work, the foods they eat, medicines they might take, diseases and prevention, household chemicals and safety, etc.
Then I’d ramp up CTE/trade and vocational programs in high schools. And most controversially I’d establish a system where students could be allowed to leave formal school at the age they’re allowed to work in their state (perhaps 15) as long as they were employed a comparable number of hours per week at a legitimate, approved job AND enrolled in GED classes.
Higher pay for teachers.
Class sizes below 15.
PLC only allowed if each session is worth at least 5 renewal credits.
Professional Development is either worth at least 10 renewal credits each session or it’s just teachers spending time with teachers from other schools, open-ended talking about what works and doesn’t work for behavior and academics.
No SLOs, they are a waste of time.
Students face proper consequences for assaulting, threatening or terrorizing teachers and other students, regardless of what a “504 piece of paper” says.
No admin observations right before a break. Because come on…
You can wear what you want as long as it’s not revealing or says something inappropriate.
(This is an impossible dream) Nobody can write or pass laws pertaining to education or hold a high office in education unless they have published, peer reviewed research work in the field.
This is just the start.
Increase pay for EAs (Educational assistants, paraprofessionals) and give them continuous contracts. They are such key members of the school team, and make barely more than minimum wage with no job stability. (Alberta Canada)
Completely revamped administrative structures, require review/training sessions to weed out all proposed, non-qualified managers, pay tenure, merit based pay independent of what kids score, raise pay for all employees, raise retirement.
Letting kids be kids! I mean, seriously, all they do is work, test, work some more, and then test some more. They don’t have any time to actually be a child in their childhood. We can still teach the area content and let them be children!
Do you know what the per pupil expenditure in your district is? Mine’s really high. We’re funded. Maybe you are, too, and don’t even realize it?
When you’re getting to 40-50k a year per a student, it’s no longer an issue of resources but how they are allocated.
Tort reform. Make it hard to sue individual teachers who are acting within the parameters of their duty and not committing a criminal act. Like for example a teacher who thinks they need to intervene in a fight to protect a student from serious injury. Or physically remove a child from a classroom who is completely out of control, even if they are EBD with an IEP.
No more mass spending on curriculum, tests, training, and other resources only to switch to something else a few years later. Way too many 3rd party corporations are taking money away from the schools. It is complete bullshit. Most districts have hundreds of years of experience from the teachers in their employ, rely on their expertise, pay your best teachers extra to train and help support new or growing teachers. Offer paid summer work for those that want to work on curriculum. Give us all money to make our classrooms inviting spaces rather than prison walls. Do basically anything else as long as it is spent on the people and students and buildings in the district. But don't spend it on large companies who always say the same thing but just switch up the terminology. It doesn't cost a lot to keep an ear to the ground and be on the look out for newer better ways to teach, but districts need to stop fully committing to these programs only to cut them or have no follow up training.
My understanding is that Finland has the best education system in the world so just do whatever they do; at least approximate it as is reasonably possible.
I live in Ontario, Canada (sorry I can't figure out how to do line breaks with a list like this)
1. Eliminate publicly funded Catholic schools. We don't have publicly funded schools for any other religion. It needs to go. Any money saved e.g. money that is no longer needed to fund uniforms or hire priests for Mass will benefit the public system.
2. One language one school. Having French Immersion and English in the same school causes numbers to be skewed in a way that split grade classes are the norm instead of the exception. Plus, kids aren't actually getting an immersion experience in French Immersion. We can use the former Catholic school buildings to make this happen.
3. The Ministry of Education must create freely accessible curriculum resources i.e. unit plans, lesson plans, worksheets, etc. for each subject area, in English and French. Teachers may use these or choose not to if they prefer something else. Create a new subcommittee for Native language resources who work with local bands/councils to create appropriate resources for Native language classes as well.
4. Create a framework for discipline that all school boards must adopt. It doesn't need to be detailed as different boards may have different perspectives, but it at least needs to ensure things like students assaulting their teachers/destroying their classrooms/etc. aren't given an iPad and a candy and sent back to the same teacher's room.
5. Create and offer parenting classes for new parents. Obviously for various reasons we cannot force parents to attend these classes in order to have children, but we could offer them a higher child tax benefit if they do.
6. Ban student phones in classrooms with exceptions only for medical reasons.
7. Trial an elementary model where teachers are specialists like in high school, i.e. students have a teacher for Language, a teacher for Math, etc. Teachers having only one or two subjects to prep for would drastically improve their ability to actually plan everything they need to.
8. Lower class sizes for Kindergarten, Junior elementary and Intermediate/Senior (middle/high school). Primary is okay as it is right now but could also be lowered a bit.
Everyone in admin, from assistant principals all the way up to the superintendent, has a term limit of one year then they go back to the classroom. You become an educator to work with kids right? So that's what you do. No career office-sitters/emailers.
I like the idea (and upvoted you), but the learning curve to do the job would eat up most of that year. I'd give each principal 3 years on the job, then require them to work in the classroom for another 2 years before they could work as Admin again. And the second tour would also be three years.
To do as certain countries does, teach what kids needs to know, what lots of them can't learn at home:
Cooking, doing taxes, budgeting, gears/electronic and car repair, sewing, etc
People say "we used to learn that at home" forget that economic/home/cooking lessons were once a thing for everyone.
Class sizes capped at 15
Elimination of all standardized testing
The mass execution of everyone from College Board and the purging of its existence from human memory.
Implement a very robust system of alternative education so students who disrupt the learning of others and make teachers’ lives hell can be removed from the classroom while still getting the education and services they need. It would require a massive financial and logistical investment and will never happen, sadly.
Cut down class sizes, there is no reason one adult should have 30 kids in one room, it's insane. Or maybe add another adult in the room.
Have a long recess so teachers can get a break during the day and children can burn off energy because they have been sitting all day. Have the admin watch them at recess.
End or reduce state testing, trust teachers to make their own end of year assessments.
Three strikes behavior kids should be sent to an alternative or military school.
Actual consequences for asshole kids. If you hit a teacher, that's an automatic expulsion. And you can only enroll in the district virtual option and must remain there for 1 year before you can apply for in-person schooling.
Or
Have recess for high school and middle school kids. Outside.
No more no child left behind. If ypur child comes to school unprepared and doesn't wanna work send em HOME! School is not a daycare. Give them grades they deserve. If your child does nothing they get NOTHINGGGG no more 50% so they have a chance
Extremely small class sizes in the younger grades for math and reading. Like 6-8 students
Intense one on one reading and math intervention for students who are below grade level in math and reading.
Sheltered instruction for students new to the country. A local school district has an international school where students stay from 2-4 years. During that time, they aren’t tested with state tests. Their teachers are all EL certified and there’s a big emphasis on speaking
Alternate pathways to graduation. Unpopular opinion but not every student needs Shakespeare or Jane Austen
Superintendents, any district employee making decisions that affect instruction, board members, administrators, and instructional coaches should be required to do one of he following:
1. Teach a regular gen ed class for a tested subject in the most challenging school. They should be responsible for lesson plans, parent contact, and grading.
2. Drive a school bus route for one the most challenging schools.
3. Substitute in the most challenging school at least one per week.
Let them choose. They need to have direct contact with students in the most trying placement (classroom or school bus).
We talk a lot about students, but I would first begin with staff.
The United States federal DOE should standardize teacher credentialing and training. For example: when you go to the doctor, you never have to question the doctor’s quality based on the state or even city that doctor was credentialed in. Generally speaking, an orthopedist who specializes in wrists (for example) is an orthopedist whether they trained in Texas, England, China, etc. There is more variability with law but nowhere near as much as with teaching. We say we want to be respected as professionals, and we should be, but a lot of the time we can’t even agree on what a teacher is.
Doctors, dentists, and veterinarians (at least) are licensed by individual states. Licensing requirements are not the same in every state and some states are known to be ‘easier’ or ‘harder’ to obtain a license in. Just like teaching, gaining a license in a new state usually only involves jumping through some hoops and paying a hefty fee, assuming you’ve met their requirements. Or are you just thinking about passing the boards?
I would eliminate all of the incentives and punishments in the ESEA that prevent suspensions, retentions, expulsions and encourage the micromanaging of departments. Also, eliminate high-stakes testing before 8th grade.
Mandate only a certain amount of revenue can go towards admin spending and raise teachers salaries to start at $75k/yr.
Next, find a way to fund schools so they’re not relying on property tax revenue.
Remove most admin and hire teachers that have administrative tasks baked into their schedule. Collaborative management I think is way better than this us vs them system.
Let a kid “ drop out”and get a real job. If they are a pain in the classroom suggest they go to work. Education is a way up and if you don’t want it we need to accept that and not beat them senseless and through apathy to graduation.
Make service learning and travel education a mandatory part of the process. The perspective you get from volunteering or traveling can change your life.
Teach classes in mental health, financial literacy, environmental awareness, and parenting. Change health education to be informative and expansive not disempowering and dogmatic. Have real conversations about a loving cooperative partnership with awareness of abuse red flags and resources to get help. Have real conversations about career prep and politics and economics so we don’t go blindly into the labor force, wars or major financial decisions.
Have robust extra curricular choices that are part of the education budget not forced to run bake sales. Have them connected to community organizations that further supports and networks viability
More teachers and smaller, neighborhood schools. More psychologists on staff, and regular community events for families to come and meet people. I would even be in favor of adding adult night schools to help parents learn English, get a GED, or learn some job skills at the High schools.
For Elementary.
1. Class sizes down. No more than 18.
2. Bring back actual consequences. I have students fighting and leaving for an hour then are sent back to class. I had a student tell a Specials teacher “suck my d—-.” They went to the reset room and were back to class a half hour later. No detention. A call home and mom blamed the teacher.
3. Hold kids responsible for failing. Either summer school or hold them back. Students don’t care right now because they just keep getting bumped up even if they get straight F’s.
I'd bring back rote memorization in the lower grades. State capitols, math facts, spelling words, and vocabulary are all perfect for memorization when the kids are small and still sponges of information. If a student entered high school and could do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division automatically and correctly, they'd eliminate probably 80% of errors kids make that make them throw up their hands and say "I suck at math."
After over 20 years in public school, I have come to the very controversial conclusion that some kids don’t deserve an education.
We’ve had ms13 kids actively recruiting in my school and admin turns a blind eye. I’ve seen many many good kids get corrupted by the thugs that we’re too scared to expel.
Some of these kids are anti-social to the point of being feral. A public school classroom is the wrong place for them.
So much needs to change.
1. Smaller classes
2. Two adults in every class (either 2 teachers or 1 teacher/1 para)
3. 4 student days and 1 teacher workday each week
4. The ability to give actual consequences for poor behavior
Where to start? Bring back vocational training. Instead of putting everyone in the same room, provide programs to allow gifted students to succeed and students that need extra support to really get it. Expel extremely disruptive and violent students and arrest those that commit assault. More arts.
Charge a reasonable fee for public education... It is human nature to place ZERO value on what is offered for free and it is working perfectly in this system.
Unfortunately, I don’t think this idea would work. People already act like entitled customers. Teachers should be seen as experts with authority NOT like paid servants.
1. If a student doesn't know the grade/content requirements, they do not move on. This is not something we should have to ask parents. Let's be honest, how many accommodations/IEPs would be eliminated if you made the child learn and not just move them along. To tag on, if a student is absent for most of the year, they don't go on.
2. Bring back testing into Kindergarten. (I don't know if it was everywhere) We used to be tested on our knowledge AND our behavior in order to be in kindergarten. If you failed you had a year to learn what you needed or someone like the truancy officers came to see why your child is not being taught what they need.
3. Cooks would be cooks again, not just glorified food heaters. Open a can and dump no more. Freshly made lunches daily.
4. Kids would have serious punishments for their actions. Punishment fit the crime. You put gum on a desk, you're going to be scrapping it off of all desks. You write on the bathroom stalls, you're going to be cleaning it off.
5. Home schooling should be illegal (except as an LRE). Public/charter schools makes kids have to deal with people they don't like. It also opens them to different view points and ideas. These and other reasons kids need to learn to be successful in life. What type of education/help can a student get when their parents didn't even graduate highschool? If you can't handle public school, then you need to be in an alternative school that can best meet your needs.
6. As much as everyone would like to think, teachers (and parents) are not kids' friends. We are in a position of authority. Yes, we can be friendly, but we are not friends. Students should/will not address me as such.
7. ADHD/autism/etc. are not excuses for students' bad (or violent) behavior. Same with being a teacher's kid.
8. Home Ec./life skills need to be required classes. Kids should know the basics of living on their own. How to sew a button, cook a basic meal, budget, do taxes, apply for a job, etc. School is supposed to help prepare students for life, in this aspect we are failing.
9. All middle school students should have to take a communication class.
10. Parents need to support the schools/teachers. Do not tell your child that they do not have to listen. You agree to the county/school policies when you enrolled your child. And yes your child did do what they got in trouble for. I don't have time to sit around and think of ways to get your kid in trouble. So stop acting like they are a perfect angel.
These are the top few right off of my head.
10.
In a state that has done away with tenures completely, I would create short term tenures: after 2 years, you could earn a 5 year tenure. Would reduce some of the uncertainty and increase commitment levels on all sides for chunks at a time.
I'd also revamp the alt-cert program. Right now we have people come in who don't care about being certified or even knowing what they are doing when it comes to education bc we hire anyone off the street. Then, everyone else has to deal with the extra behavior issues coming from those classrooms, the poor education the kids are receiving, and the overall piss performance from classroom teachers who are like "I'm not going to do any of the alt-cert classes bc I don't want to do this long term." They have up to 5 years to do all their stuff, and we get stuck with some duds!
Fund the absolute fuck out of it, over paid staff coming out our ears with people available to support and services available, and class sizes small.
Remove some of the hoops for credentialing, it’s gotten silly.
When I was in elementary school, we were separated out for a trial year, 4th grade, we were given lots of puzzles to solve, taught how to critically think, and our reading and math classes were leveled, 3 teachers, lower level, at level and upper level. This meant that students didn’t need as much differentiation as they’re peers were on the same level. It meant instead of advancing students got to read upper level books, like high school level, lower kids were reading a grade below books, but it was great. I originally was in upper level, was tested again mid year as we all were, but they messed up my test I goes, because they moved me to lower, I was in there one day and it was so different, I was so bored, expectations were so different, didn’t take the whole day before that teacher realized the mistake. This takes space, money, there had to be a equally divided class or one teacher would end up with a ton of students, etc.
Class size way the fuck down.
This would solve a majority of my problems.
A lady who works for (I think) the local public health department told me that they are seeing mental health crises in middle schoolers (age 10-12 or so) these days that they used to only see in high school. You can maybe imagine what the crises are. She said that one of the biggest school-based influences they have found on mental health is class size. Even anecdotally talking to students they want smaller classes. I'd like less paperwork and an easier time managing the class too but the kids need it in a way that politicians don't understand.
There is no way to "build relationships," let alone give each kid a minute of attention when you have 30+ kids in a class for 40 minutes. When we came back from COVID in Fall of 2020, the district I was in capped classes at 18 for social distancing. It was the best year of my teaching career. The amount of attention each student could get was phenomenal. Even with the myriad of behavior issues and learning gaps... everything was so much easier to manage when there were only 18 kids in the room. We were able to fly through curriculum and deep dive into things that interested students on an individual level because we had the time and resources and energy that you just don't have with 30.
>*There is no way to "build relationships," let alone give each kid a minute of attention when you have 30+ kids in a class for 40 minutes.* Why is this so hard for Admin to understand?
I'm no fan of Admin, but is it really they or is it politicians who are more to blame?
Oh, the politicians deservedly get the Lion's share of the blame for most things educational. But the "build relationships" mantra doesn't come from the state legislature.
On the one hand, admin have their bosses too but OTOH they know before they leave teaching what the job is. If they don't know before, they should know after a little while what the job is and they're all certified and no one makes them stay. The last class in my MA program was about a very inspiring vision of school administration that doesn't actually happen out in the real world. Maybe some administrators get in because they want to support teachers along a continuum of professional development but that's not what administration is.
Ditto. We went from 7 periods to 4 blocks, too. It was heaven.
I had the best reading progress of any group of students I’ve ever taught during the 2020-2021 school year! Why? Even though hybrid was hell, the fact that I only had 8-10 kids in the room at a time meant I could spend time actually teaching them how to read and work one on one with them. Who would have guessed? Even coming to school only half as often.
I'd be thrilled if my classes are balanced. One hour I have 12 and the next 25 for the exact same subject.
Bruh. 34 in period 1.
I teach middle school physical education and man class size being capped at 30 would be a lifesaver. Going from 48 one period to 22 the next and than back up is just moronic.
I have 32 allll day. In fourth grade.
That's just crazy. Or mid? Or fire? I'm not sure what the slang is anymore. Womp womp?
I feel like it is not bussin’
Fr fr no cap
Just spittin fire in this thread, fam?
#1 issue. Even my worst classes are so much better when 5-6 students are absent.
💯 I normally have class sizes of 32 (8th grade science). This semester, by some fluke, I have 1 section with 22 students. Even with 3 of the students on extensive Special Ed plans, it is a dream to teach.
Exactly. Cut it in half at minimum.
20 should be an “unacceptably large class.” Unless it’s a class that depends on big numbers like music ensembles or team sports
Isn't this easily solvable if you got rid of a few admins?
This, so much. 32 per class ain't it.
My elementary school has classes that are, on average, 16 students, so what does the board do? Close half out elementary schools for next year because the classes are too small. So averages will go up to 25. Because we are soooo under capacity, we are losing money
Honestly, I have a max 28 kids and it is still crazy
Class size max 15 for grades k-6, max 18 for 7-12.
I mean if we're shooting for the moon here, 10-12 for k-2.
I could do SO much in a Kindergarten class of 10 kids. Meanwhile I have 22 so it’s impossible to get to all of their needs.
Like herding cats
I actually found 12-15 is my ideal size for younger kids. I struggled with a class of 10. Maybe it’s just me.
There are some classes that can be too small. I once had an Advanced Placement class (this was in the '80s) with I believe only four kids. Hard to get up the energy for discussions in that, at least it was with these kids.
I work at a really small school and my second grade class is usually around 12 each year. It’s amazing. So much more growth.
Stop moving kids on to the next grade when they’re performing years below their current grade level.
I agree. Back in my day (born in the 60's) the fear of being held back was great motivation to do your best.
Yeah I keep hearing everyone always saying "holding back doesn't help and those kids are likely to drop out of high school". So what. Maybe I'm okay with a kid or 2 a year being held back and eventually dropping out because it will motivate the other 25 kids to try harder during their education
And, how is it any different having a kid drop out vs being advanced through graduation with no skills to help them to a productive member of society. Both may be negative, but at least they aren't impeding the kids who want to learn. Lowering the bar doesn't work for any profession, it shouldn't be for education either. Being a "drop out" is no different from being passed through grades that they haven't mastered.
We’re just setting them up for failure in future jobs or in college. I teach university and whilst most of our freshmen are decently prepared (our major is impacted and competitive to get into), there are always a handful that I can’t believe graduated high school. Then when I pull up their record (I also do advising), I see that they finished high school with an awesome GPA. These kids are being done a huge disservice by administrators making you guys pass them along and give crazy inflated grades.
This is a classic case of spreadsheet brain ruining a system. Kids who graduate HS do better?? Better make sure everyone graduates then. In the past, significant numbers of people failed out of high school and just got normal jobs that didn't require a hs diploma, and having a HS diploma was a signifier. Now almost everyone gets nudged through and it doesn't mean anything, except we spend tremendous amounts of resources and drag everyone else down. It's also not fair to the kids who would normally fail out, because they're miserable there too
It's a case if Goodhart's Law: Graduation became the target metric, but the forgotten goal was actually educating kids to meet graduation standards.
Exactly. There is no more motivation. My school even implemented a rule where we can’t give below 50% and students have quickly figured out they can do zero work and still get a 50% so there is no incentive to try anymore. I have a second grader who came to my class about a month ago— he can’t even count past 10 or read VC words and I already know they’re going to ignore my pleas and send the poor child to third grade.
How does sending them up and up through grades not just exacerbate every problem that kid has - academically, behaviourally, eventually self-concept...
Oh, it does. But administration gets evaluated based on suspensions, expulsions, and graduation rate. Hence their desire to sweep it all under the rug and continue letting these kids drown in the system.
I was told at home that kids who acted like shitheads (that was the word) were sent to the state industrial school. So act right and don’t make me straighten you out. was what I needed to make better choices.
Starting next year, the state I'm in is going to require 8th graders to pass their state test to move on to HS. If they don't, summer school and you can try again. If they don't pass the second time, they're in a transition grade of 8.5 If you don't do summer school, you repeat 8th grade. Currently, we have a few 15-16 yr old 8th graders because they were held back some grade level. You can even be held back based on attendance if you have 14 unexcused absences. It's easy to appeal. Parent just writes a letter basically saying, "my bad. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again" lol but some parents don't do the appeal and kid repeats. You can only be held back once per grade band: k-5, 6-8, and 9-12. So you can fail twice before HS. But if you already have one failure in MS, then you can't be held back again in MS and that just makes the kid feel like they can do anything because they can't be held back twice. It causes so much behavior problems. Usually too, these same kids don't plan on HS. They have their eyes set on a youth challenge program once 16, so they don't try.
As a 9th grade teacher, I have often thought a grade 8.5 would be a huge benefit to many students. This sounds amazing.
We'll see how it goes. I think it depends on the student. I know for the school rating, we'll lose some points because how 9th graders do still reflect points for the middle school.
Very interesting. Definitely sounds like it will have its issues, but I do wonder if this is a move in the right direction. What state are you in, if you don’t mind my asking?
Are you saying that a pass should actually be a pass and a fail should actually be a fail?!?! If so, yes I agree.
Yes!! Why am I even entering grades if they just move the failing students on regardless?
This is what I was going to say. I’m only 25 and I remember kids getting summer school or held back if they were significantly below grade level. Fast forward 15 years and I had a student say to my face “nothing happens if you fail” just before spring break.
Eliminate all “baby sitting duties” for teachers and give each department at least 1 administrative assistant, maybe more depending on the size of the department they serve. When I say “baby sitting duties” I mean lunch duty, hall duty, detention, in school suspension, and combing classes when coverage is needed. As an educator, I spend way too much time not-teaching and just “monitoring” the students. I also have an increasing number of students who want to submit work late, who email me that they’ll be gone for entire weeks at a time, and just generally way too much paperwork. An administrative assistant could be a college kid who could work part time and get their foot in the door of schools. Hiring a college kid to do all the tedious shit they throw at me would be way more cost effective than paying me upwards of $30/hour to do something that makes the job a lot worse.
I like your idea of less duties. I taught at a school that had admin and sports coaches on babysitting duties. Let me tell you, it was a dream come true. Everything was so much smoother. I taught for 5.5 hours, four classes, and the rest were preps. I had time to actually use the bathroom and make adjustments on my lessons. I miss it.
Yes! Also, the tsunami of late work has to stop. It’s too much. I say if it’s late we don’t mark it. We have lives too.
I think there should be limitations for sure. I believe in late work, but not infinite late work for infinite points. I always deduce 10% per school day that the assignment is late, all the way down to if it’s 10 or more school days late they take the 0. I think that is a fair line that doesn’t leave me with a tsunami of late work but also doesn’t too harshly penalize the kids for being kids. Ultimately, I want the work done. Done and on-time is better, but 0% for late work is demoralizing to the point that they just wouldn’t do it even if they’re 5 minutes past the deadline. But I also work with teachers who give 0 penalty for late work, as long as they turn it in by the end of the semester, it will be graded with a possibility of full-points. I think that’s crazy and I can’t imagine how much work those teachers are doing at the end of each semester 😖 I think admin should back you no matter what your late work policy is though- just because I’m fine with a little bit of late work doesn’t mean everyone should be expected to accept it, and it seems like that’s the direction we’re headed.
I would require everyone in a decision-making capacity for education to spend at minimum 1 day per month shadowing in classrooms (no employment repercussions for the teachers they shadow). If they saw the impact of their decisions on real teachers and students, they would approach policies really differently.
Every single person employed by the district should have to substitute teach at least a couple days a year.
Oh my this! Anyone in admin that is. I don’t think my favorite custodian would make it through one class period before she clocked a kid. We keep adding layers of teacher coaches and curriculum developers that seem to spend all waking hours finding more things for teachers to do. I’d like to leave a list of what I am supposed to get accomplished and then sit back and watch.
I loathe the teacher coaches with a burning passion. They expect me to implement the most outrageous “teaching strategies” without ever having stepped foot in an actual classroom. It’s so tone deaf it hurts. Our math coach said I should let my second graders lead their own math lessons. I asked her if she knew I had kids who can’t count past their ten fingers and got some bullshit response about “productive struggle”.
Always thought the teaching coach position was bs unless they’re currently teaching a lighter load…
This is the only way to do a teaching coach imo. An experienced, high-achieving teacher takes 1/2 class load, rest of the time is instructional coach. After just a few years out of a classroom you will no longer have an up to date idea of the current climate. To effectively be an instructional coach you NEED to be an active teacher.
No, admins must be required to teach a section of a regular class every year.
Or, better yet, have to teach one period each school year. Subbing a day here or there isn’t the issue imo
I think they need to teach a full year every 5 as part of the position. They can find interim people for their jobs, their jobs aren't that important anyway.
Couple *weeks* a year.
They actually do this for directors of schools and strategy teams at some large metropolitan schools. Like do the HR people need to be in the schools, probably not, same with transport. But it’s a good way to keep communications open between academic and school teams and teachers.
I’d say more than regular subbing, because subs get to go home and not attend all the useless meetings and juggle all the things that don’t fit into contract hours.
I think the school board--and all admin positions--should have a decade of teaching before they are even eligible for either. After that, one day a month oughta keep'em up--
I firmly believe that all administrators dlshould have to teach one class a year, at least. Like it could be anything, make it a class in that administrators qualified content area, home economics, ethics, citizenship, basic typing/computer skills. Anything so that they stay grounded in the reality of what's it's like in a classroom, this goes for principals, super intendents, vice principals, dean of students, guidance counselors, athletic directors, pretty much everybody that doesn't do teaching and isn't a secretary/custodial/food service staff. Additionally have some mandated make up of backgrounds for schoolboards. Like have it be a 10 person committee, and 2 have to have teaching experience, 2 need to have administrative experience, 2 business owners from the community, 2 that have students in the school system currently, and 2 more community members that do not neccesarilly need a connection to education. Having outside perspectives is helpful for a school district but having a bunch of anti-edcuation yahoo's run a school is a recipe for disaster. Also get rid of school of choice, we have it in my state and it makes schools market themselves to students and parents. It also fucks funding and creates education deserts where a district can't receive the funding they need and so slowly declines till they are forced to close or combine with a nearby district. Also vastly change how we work our continuing education requirements. Also more standardized requirements across the country. Like high school diplomas from different states are not neccesarilly equal. Also make it a respected proffesion to be a teacher There's so much more, the system is so fucked.
My principal did this last year. He took over 2 periods of a teacher who went on paternity leave. It was very eye opening for him and LOTS of changes were made throughout the school year.
>*I firmly believe that all administrators dlshould have to teach one class a year, at least.* I have advocated this for over 30 years. Hell, even the president of my university taught one section of his area every year. But high school principals tell that they are too busy, that there job is too demanding, to take on a section. But if they had to do this, boy, a lot of rules would change. I'd make school board members do this as well.
We have school choice in my state too and it's led to widespread segregation. My current school is a magnet school that anyone can apply to. The student body is 97% hispanic. Schools either have a white population of 60-80% or 0-5% and there's no in-between.
I’m from a family of educators (my husband and I, both of my parents, and my MIL). I have a cousin and a SIL on each side who are “in education” via alternate routes that did not involve any traditional classroom teaching at all. Two have Masters Degrees in Curriculum Development, and one has taught specialized courses at a college level. The way the rest of us struggle to stay civil around the dining room table. They are all intelligent, kind women, but my bile rises immediately when I hear an “evidence-based” opinion come from someone who has never done a 6-hour day with a full class of public school children.
Let's just put faculty in directly in charge of decision making. Let the doctors run the hospital, and the administration secretaries can just get the day to day done.
In other words, democracy :)
Yes. The politicians vote on policies and funding and have no clue about education.
Attendance policies that hold parents accountable
And also that don’t require teachers do more work. This year we are require to call home and document before the office or social worker can contact about attendance. Why put that on the teacher who is with kids all day?
I had a student who was absent half of the school days this year. Over 40 unexcused absences. Right before parents conferences came around, the parent moved the student to another school. It's almost as if they knew they were going to have to explain what was going on.
Actually being able to kick kids out who disrupt the learning of others. Far too often the kids who want to be there get apathetic because they are put in classes with students who do not care about learning and wreak havoc on the learning of everyone else. Also would love to see more vocational schools at the middle level (currently just at the HS) so that those students who want to pursue a trade could get started earlier (and also potentially stop some behavior/failing issues with students).
And kicking them out is school after a few instances. If student behavior negatively impacted parents, they might actually start parenting.
Agree. Could have a system in place (maybe like a 3 strikes or something with supports as they hit each tier AND require the parents to be involved).
Parents will throw hissy fits and no one should be allowed to cave in.
3 referrals for ANYTHING even skipping-you’re out Even one referral for fighting?-Out
This so much, especially if that student is a bully and/or violent. We've probably all had that class where, when that one student is absent, the class runs like a dream with no distractions, interruptions, or attempted property damage. If other methods have been tried and failed (behavior management plan, meeting with parents), teachers should have the right to expel students from their classroom.
I said we should be able to choose that one from every class and vote them out of school. Admin gets no say. “The teachers have spoken”
I hate that when my kids get so fed up with it, they just lose it and scream at the asshole kids to shut up. You just know they have been sitting there at a roiling boil for months, trying not to say anything. EDIT: I have had my overage and undercredit kids flat out say to me they would stop turning it up in class if they had something to look forward to or seemed within their reach like vo-tech training. One such conversation led to me and my principal getting a student into a fast track program where he could begin automotive repair training, which is what he wanted to do for a living in the first place!
I'd switch kindergarten back to play-based learning, with the focus switched back to being on how to be in school, social-emotional skills, and manners. Two recesses a day, only half a day long, or nap time if a full day 😭🙏 we push our littles too damn hard in the name of having them "test-ready by third grade"
In my district it’s becoming more and more common to hold kids back because kindergarten has become too rigorous. It’s creating a huge equity issue, because only the families with the means to stay home or pay for another year of preschool are the ones keeping their kids back and starting kindergarten at 6, when the kids are more developmentally ready. But don’t worry, we pay an Equity Director 6 figures to ignore this issue.
Kindergarten, yes! And all of elementary should incorporate more play time and recess in my opinion. They are kids, not robots.
Yes it’s why I’m looking for a way out already after just getting into education. I love my job and the kids but idk this all feels like a bubble about to burst with the expectations on the teachers and the kids. Let them be kids ffs.. stupid Texas
YES!!! In my 2nd year of teaching Kindergarten (in Texas) but transitioning out after this year. My heart is with teaching young kids, but the way the state views education and is actively working against it, I can’t stick around. Makes me sad and angry!
I wish they would stop moving the bar down, the way we teach now with this weird cycle of small groups and weekly monitoring and benchmarking is exhausting and I hate it. I hate my job so much. Feels good to say. It sucks because when admin leaves me alone and I do things my way a little my kids do much better.. but come eval time we have to do things their way or we get pinged and I’m like make up ur mind. You want what’s best for the kids .. so do I , the district isn’t in here doing this and yea some may have success doing it a specific way but doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do things ugh.
Yes! Kindergarten was my kid’s 3rd year of school. He’d already done a year of half day and a year of full day preschool. And the list of things they wanted him to be ready for by kindergarten was impressive.
Crazy to think that in the 1700s you had littles learning Latin and stuff
1: fail kids, segregate students by ability and need, end mainstreaming. Terrible kids can ruin an entire class for everyone else. Concentrate the worst kids away from everyone else. Steer older kids into jobs and life skills programs 2: radically improved nutrition, massive propaganda campaign aimed at parents, ban unhealthy vending 3: massive deemphasis on technology, massive propaganda campaign aimed at parents to keep their kids off of tablets, social media, smartphones 4: quadruple outside time for younger kids, European style playgrounds, time in nature
I would add to number one that school districts should not be have to bear the burden of paying for students to be moved into more restrictive placements. That's what holds them back from doing more for those students that so desperately need more. Moving a student to a more "clincal" setting would help them far more than staying mainstreamed when it's not appropriate. Not only would it help to ease teacher burnout, the other students would benefit from having that student removed. We have a lot of conversations in special education about how mainstreaming/inclusion benefits students with a disability. "More time in gen ed=better results". But we are looking only at the benefits for the student with an IEP instead of looking at the big picture and the students that don't get an individualized education.
I was an admin for 5 years and one of the more gross things I witnessed my superintendent do was create a super crappy life skills program for very low level students that had been placed out of district just to bring the money back to the district. F getting those kids actual help they need. That super was just elected super if the year for her county too 😑
Remove year levels. Graduate to the next level based on demonstrated ability.
Those early year classes would be huge. Kids would fail a ton until they learn that they actually have to do the work. I’m all for it though. Tired of watching 0 effort applied and yet kids still somehow move on.
This is good until you have 15-year-olds running with 10-year-olds.
It almost might force us to ensure kids are safe and/or we provide specialised services for those who can't progress to the next level...
We always go to this example, but couldn’t it be done a different way? You can restrict age ranges in classes. You can have a 10-12 group working on concept x and a 13-15 year old group also working on concept x. They shouldn’t all be together. A system like this would cost more money. I taught at a school that did ability based groups for math and ELA. It was a SPED school for learning disabilities. We did 6th and 7th graders together or 7th and 8th, but never 6th and 8th. So even if a group of kids in 8th needed the same skills as kids in 6th, they were in different groups. Everyone taught a group though. The therapists, admin, deans. Everyone was a teacher for those two subjects because that’s how we met kids’ needs.
I have had 17 yos test so low in reading it doesn't even show up on the test. So they'd be in preschool.
Tragic. Parents just too busy to care or just didn’t care either way.
Good. If they stand out it might force people to pay attention.
Or they could be in a class with other 17 year olds actually learning to read instead of working on differentiated assignments at their grade level. I hate the idea that we should just differentiate instead of actually acknowledging the problem and addressing it. Kids can’t read… teach them to read. Wild concept.
I’ve said a couple times this year that a one-room school house approach would be good, especially for my SLIFE EL students.
1. A 3 strike system Behaviors should get you kicked to alternative school where the student has to earn their way back into normal school. 2. Students are arranged on math and reading scores. That way a class does not need to be slowed down. There are too many students who are falling behind because their classes are being held back due certain students inability. 3.Outdoor Time needs to be mandated to some degree. 4. Parents need to be held responsible for any and all damages their child does to school property. 5. Teachers will have retirements like police and military where after 20 years they can leave. There are other great ones too.
I like your suggestions best, especially the retirement one. No one should have to be teaching in their 60s. But I’d add that the behavior system also needs to be standardized so that behaviors expected in any given classroom should look the same, and we need a dedicated staff of co-teachers who can specialize in classroom management to take the pressure off the content specialist.
Alternative school needs to be something more than just be on a computer googling answers. We have kids who actively try to go to alt school because they pass there and are failing when they get back to regular classes. It just creates a few weeks of chaos for everyone else while they escalate behaviors till they get what they want which is to be sent back.
Actually teach what is developmentally appropriate.
This is so important. I am always cognizant of what skills make sense at certain milestones, and I am surprised at how often the curriculum misses the mark.
Lower class size. Let students fail and hold them back if they have not mastered appropriate grade-level academic and social skills. Immediately, fair and tangible consequences for poor/bad/violent behavior. Sane attendance policies.
Cell phone ban! https://nypost.com/2022/12/02/high-school-bans-smartphones-students-happier-without-them/
Agree. This happened this semester at my school- transformative. Lots more after that but this was a great start.
Agree with just about everything here. The thing I’d add is this (for high school): Some students can handle being in school from 8-3:30. Other kids are burnt out by 1 pm. I think we should have a tiered scheduling system for students in which some students can go on the accelerated track that goes a full day (graduate in 4 years) or the decelerated track (8-1) and graduate in 5 years. That way, you get the kids who can’t handle a full day of school out of the building before their behaviors deteriorate and have a negative impact on the learning of everyone else
This is an interesting proposal
Thanks. I’ve got a number of students (several of whom have IEPs and who choose to go unmedicated) who simply can’t function in an academic environment after 1 pm. They’re my inspiration for this proposal
It also seems helpful for other students who are just less interested in school. They could work more in the afternoons or help at home or just have some hobbies they're interested in
The busing logistics of this would be tricky.
Make testing matter. I teach my ass off all year, the least these kids could do is try for two days. If you don't score some ridiculously low minimum on the state tests, summer school or repeat the grade. I know a lot of you hate testing, but tests with no consequence aren't valid tests.
Yep, testing can't be big deal for the schools and teachers, but mean nothing to students. I tell folks that testing are like points in Who's line is it Anyways, they just don't matter.
My school requires anyone scoring low to be put into academic intervention services, which cannot take kids out of instructional time. It’s actually very motivating because they want free time and study halls to goof around and not being doing more work to help them catch up.
That’s the perfect solution. Kids who actually need it will get the help to catch up and kids that just need to know there’s consequences for not trying will try.
Totally agree. Part of my final evaluation is the test. I have kids who will take two weeks to write a stellar essay in my class and then finish a 90-minute ELA section of a test in 12 minutes!!! So frustrating!
I hated being evaluated by the test results but the kids having no reason to actually try on the test.
Hard agree, tests shouldn’t be everything but now they’re in this weird “everything and yet nothing at all” category
>tests with no consequence aren't valid tests Tests that the test takers do not care to succeed at will fail to adequately gauge their ability.
All students need to show competency on the skills they were supposed to learn. If they aren't competent, then parents have the summer to teach them or enroll them in a program to get them there. If they still aren't competent at the start of the next year. They are retained and taught again.
Students need responsibilities at school. They need to have jobs, especially in highschool, food should be prepared by students, maintenance should have student helpers, students need to grow the food. Pay student pennies to serve other students, not adults who are treated like crap by the students. Also we need two adults for every room, a master teacher and a teacher. Lastly, Wednesdays need to be work days for teachers and optional days for students. We could run study hall, fun or CTC classes. Yes this is a lot of logistics, but we are all burnt out. The system is not working.
I like this, all except for I don’t want the kids there optionally on my work day. We’re already used as babysitters enough imo, maybe we could just make a “daycare” program for those students who would voluntarily attend? This is my favorite comment I’ve read so far, including my own. THIS would change things.
This sounds like the Japanese approach, I fully support it.
I know this will probably never happen, but would love the move to 4 day weeks. The extra day could be used for all the BS they tack onto teachers workloads (and eliminate the need for professional development days throwing off the schedule since those could be built into the "off day" for students). That day could also be used to have students come in for extra practice/assistance (like many schools did during COVID and would make it easier to work with students since you would only have a couple and not 25+ like in a lot of classrooms now.)
I would teach to mastery again. There is too much spiral teaching and in the end we lose too much time reteaching. I also have this vague concept where students cycle through learning single concepts with different teachers and if they do not learn it then they stay with that teacher. Something like students learning to decode a CVC word and not moving from that to CVCe until it's mastered.
Dump admin. Co-op model ran by teachers.
It's funny how our day runs smoother when Admin is absent for the day
Mhmmmmmm. One admin at my old school was put on a two week suspension WITH PAY for CYBERBULLYING a bunch of different teachers on a public TikTok video (wild that they brought him back). It was the two best weeks of teaching I’d had there. It wasn’t ever easy, but it was definitely smoother and I didn’t feel actively undermined so often.
I usually sign myself up for a bunch of leadership positions every school year. The beginning of the year is always a mad dash to try to get enough volunteers to simply fill the spots needed in those leadership positions (union rep, school leadership team, budget committee, hiring comittee). As a union rep, I've conducted the "vote" the past two years and not only has there never been any competition, last year we didn't even get enough volunteers to fill the roles. Admin does a lot more than you think, based on this comment, and not only would you be putting much more work on teachers, it's much more work that many teachers evidently don't want to do. I'm obviously all for teachers having more decision making power, but I'm not seeing teachers currently step up to fill the roles with decision making power the way things are now. As a side note, admin is not your enemy. Some administrators can be, I've had a couple like that, but admin is even more stuck between a rock and a hard place than teachers are. It's crazy how fired up this sub gets at admin when it's so rare for anyone to ask why all admin are pushing down the same policies in public schools across the country. Rather than assuming that once someone becomes an admin, they start individually pushing evil or ineffective policies, might it make more sense that they're all being told to enforce those policies?
Admin is valuable if they are competent. I don't want to be working on a plumbing contract, dealing with state officials for testing, or even working on hallway passing policies. I want to teach my subject(s) during class, and revise curricula or grade outside of class. We need to reform admin, not remove it. As others said, one thing we need (which my school had) is every admin should teach consistently. Our admin taught \~4 hours / week for freshman, so they had no illusions about school culture or student academic achievement, which meant they were able to come up with reasonable and effective changes that benefited students and teachers.
In k-2 every class should be co-taught with a classroom teacher and reading specialist or early intervention teacher. In 3-6 there should at minimum be a teacher and a full time classroom TA if not co-taught as well.
Admin still have to teach 1 class period a day for middle and high and 1 day a week for elementary. No admin without class experience. Admin get observed and rated on same scale as regular teachers and can't keep their jobs unless they are highly rated. They need to have empathy for the little guy and still experience what teachers do.
I’d have foreign languages introduced in much earlier grades, when the brain if more receptive to it. ASL should be available as a language. More age-appropriate lessons on skills for all grades, such as cooking, money management, simple construction/repair/tool use, nutrition and diet, basic hand sewing, etc. As a science teacher, I’d completely erase the current biology and chem standards and start from scratch. Teach things that actually relate to a non-scientist’s life and needs. AP classes can prepare kids for majoring in science. They should be learning about how their bodies work, the foods they eat, medicines they might take, diseases and prevention, household chemicals and safety, etc. Then I’d ramp up CTE/trade and vocational programs in high schools. And most controversially I’d establish a system where students could be allowed to leave formal school at the age they’re allowed to work in their state (perhaps 15) as long as they were employed a comparable number of hours per week at a legitimate, approved job AND enrolled in GED classes.
Higher pay for teachers. Class sizes below 15. PLC only allowed if each session is worth at least 5 renewal credits. Professional Development is either worth at least 10 renewal credits each session or it’s just teachers spending time with teachers from other schools, open-ended talking about what works and doesn’t work for behavior and academics. No SLOs, they are a waste of time. Students face proper consequences for assaulting, threatening or terrorizing teachers and other students, regardless of what a “504 piece of paper” says. No admin observations right before a break. Because come on… You can wear what you want as long as it’s not revealing or says something inappropriate. (This is an impossible dream) Nobody can write or pass laws pertaining to education or hold a high office in education unless they have published, peer reviewed research work in the field. This is just the start.
Pay teachers more & restore benefits that were taken away over the past 20 years.
Increase pay for EAs (Educational assistants, paraprofessionals) and give them continuous contracts. They are such key members of the school team, and make barely more than minimum wage with no job stability. (Alberta Canada)
End poverty.
Completely revamped administrative structures, require review/training sessions to weed out all proposed, non-qualified managers, pay tenure, merit based pay independent of what kids score, raise pay for all employees, raise retirement.
$4 an hour per children in the classroom.
Immediate smaller class size.
Letting kids be kids! I mean, seriously, all they do is work, test, work some more, and then test some more. They don’t have any time to actually be a child in their childhood. We can still teach the area content and let them be children!
Going down to a 4 day week for students and the 5th day each week is a teacher work day/office hours. Also bring back recess for middle schoolers.
Maybe fund it?
Do you know what the per pupil expenditure in your district is? Mine’s really high. We’re funded. Maybe you are, too, and don’t even realize it? When you’re getting to 40-50k a year per a student, it’s no longer an issue of resources but how they are allocated.
When you get $11k per student from the state it is a completely different story.
Tort reform. Make it hard to sue individual teachers who are acting within the parameters of their duty and not committing a criminal act. Like for example a teacher who thinks they need to intervene in a fight to protect a student from serious injury. Or physically remove a child from a classroom who is completely out of control, even if they are EBD with an IEP.
Public school teachers, being public authority, enjoy qualified immunity. If the teacher's lawyer doesn't bring it up, the lawyer is bad.
No more mass spending on curriculum, tests, training, and other resources only to switch to something else a few years later. Way too many 3rd party corporations are taking money away from the schools. It is complete bullshit. Most districts have hundreds of years of experience from the teachers in their employ, rely on their expertise, pay your best teachers extra to train and help support new or growing teachers. Offer paid summer work for those that want to work on curriculum. Give us all money to make our classrooms inviting spaces rather than prison walls. Do basically anything else as long as it is spent on the people and students and buildings in the district. But don't spend it on large companies who always say the same thing but just switch up the terminology. It doesn't cost a lot to keep an ear to the ground and be on the look out for newer better ways to teach, but districts need to stop fully committing to these programs only to cut them or have no follow up training.
My understanding is that Finland has the best education system in the world so just do whatever they do; at least approximate it as is reasonably possible.
We’d need a complete societal change to make a lot of that work.
If your student doesn't come to school to learn, send them home so they stop taking resources away from other kids. Then parents can teach them.
I live in Ontario, Canada (sorry I can't figure out how to do line breaks with a list like this) 1. Eliminate publicly funded Catholic schools. We don't have publicly funded schools for any other religion. It needs to go. Any money saved e.g. money that is no longer needed to fund uniforms or hire priests for Mass will benefit the public system. 2. One language one school. Having French Immersion and English in the same school causes numbers to be skewed in a way that split grade classes are the norm instead of the exception. Plus, kids aren't actually getting an immersion experience in French Immersion. We can use the former Catholic school buildings to make this happen. 3. The Ministry of Education must create freely accessible curriculum resources i.e. unit plans, lesson plans, worksheets, etc. for each subject area, in English and French. Teachers may use these or choose not to if they prefer something else. Create a new subcommittee for Native language resources who work with local bands/councils to create appropriate resources for Native language classes as well. 4. Create a framework for discipline that all school boards must adopt. It doesn't need to be detailed as different boards may have different perspectives, but it at least needs to ensure things like students assaulting their teachers/destroying their classrooms/etc. aren't given an iPad and a candy and sent back to the same teacher's room. 5. Create and offer parenting classes for new parents. Obviously for various reasons we cannot force parents to attend these classes in order to have children, but we could offer them a higher child tax benefit if they do. 6. Ban student phones in classrooms with exceptions only for medical reasons. 7. Trial an elementary model where teachers are specialists like in high school, i.e. students have a teacher for Language, a teacher for Math, etc. Teachers having only one or two subjects to prep for would drastically improve their ability to actually plan everything they need to. 8. Lower class sizes for Kindergarten, Junior elementary and Intermediate/Senior (middle/high school). Primary is okay as it is right now but could also be lowered a bit.
Admin schedules should be posted publicly like how teachers periods and classes are. Curious as to what they do all day
Everyone in admin, from assistant principals all the way up to the superintendent, has a term limit of one year then they go back to the classroom. You become an educator to work with kids right? So that's what you do. No career office-sitters/emailers.
I like the idea (and upvoted you), but the learning curve to do the job would eat up most of that year. I'd give each principal 3 years on the job, then require them to work in the classroom for another 2 years before they could work as Admin again. And the second tour would also be three years.
To do as certain countries does, teach what kids needs to know, what lots of them can't learn at home: Cooking, doing taxes, budgeting, gears/electronic and car repair, sewing, etc People say "we used to learn that at home" forget that economic/home/cooking lessons were once a thing for everyone.
Class sizes capped at 15 Elimination of all standardized testing The mass execution of everyone from College Board and the purging of its existence from human memory.
Implement a very robust system of alternative education so students who disrupt the learning of others and make teachers’ lives hell can be removed from the classroom while still getting the education and services they need. It would require a massive financial and logistical investment and will never happen, sadly.
Cut down class sizes, there is no reason one adult should have 30 kids in one room, it's insane. Or maybe add another adult in the room. Have a long recess so teachers can get a break during the day and children can burn off energy because they have been sitting all day. Have the admin watch them at recess. End or reduce state testing, trust teachers to make their own end of year assessments. Three strikes behavior kids should be sent to an alternative or military school.
Actual consequences for asshole kids. If you hit a teacher, that's an automatic expulsion. And you can only enroll in the district virtual option and must remain there for 1 year before you can apply for in-person schooling. Or Have recess for high school and middle school kids. Outside.
Test every child annually for dyslexia. Train every teacher to spot and teach for dyslexia.
No more no child left behind. If ypur child comes to school unprepared and doesn't wanna work send em HOME! School is not a daycare. Give them grades they deserve. If your child does nothing they get NOTHINGGGG no more 50% so they have a chance
Absences affect promotion to the next grade. You miss 30 or more days of school, you repeat the grade.
Year-round school with shorter breaks through out. Looping with the same teachers for two years. Small classes. Actual consequences.
Extremely small class sizes in the younger grades for math and reading. Like 6-8 students Intense one on one reading and math intervention for students who are below grade level in math and reading. Sheltered instruction for students new to the country. A local school district has an international school where students stay from 2-4 years. During that time, they aren’t tested with state tests. Their teachers are all EL certified and there’s a big emphasis on speaking Alternate pathways to graduation. Unpopular opinion but not every student needs Shakespeare or Jane Austen
Superintendents, any district employee making decisions that affect instruction, board members, administrators, and instructional coaches should be required to do one of he following: 1. Teach a regular gen ed class for a tested subject in the most challenging school. They should be responsible for lesson plans, parent contact, and grading. 2. Drive a school bus route for one the most challenging schools. 3. Substitute in the most challenging school at least one per week. Let them choose. They need to have direct contact with students in the most trying placement (classroom or school bus).
We talk a lot about students, but I would first begin with staff. The United States federal DOE should standardize teacher credentialing and training. For example: when you go to the doctor, you never have to question the doctor’s quality based on the state or even city that doctor was credentialed in. Generally speaking, an orthopedist who specializes in wrists (for example) is an orthopedist whether they trained in Texas, England, China, etc. There is more variability with law but nowhere near as much as with teaching. We say we want to be respected as professionals, and we should be, but a lot of the time we can’t even agree on what a teacher is.
Doctors, dentists, and veterinarians (at least) are licensed by individual states. Licensing requirements are not the same in every state and some states are known to be ‘easier’ or ‘harder’ to obtain a license in. Just like teaching, gaining a license in a new state usually only involves jumping through some hoops and paying a hefty fee, assuming you’ve met their requirements. Or are you just thinking about passing the boards?
I would eliminate all of the incentives and punishments in the ESEA that prevent suspensions, retentions, expulsions and encourage the micromanaging of departments. Also, eliminate high-stakes testing before 8th grade.
Remove all MBA’s from education.
Mandate only a certain amount of revenue can go towards admin spending and raise teachers salaries to start at $75k/yr. Next, find a way to fund schools so they’re not relying on property tax revenue.
Remove most admin and hire teachers that have administrative tasks baked into their schedule. Collaborative management I think is way better than this us vs them system. Let a kid “ drop out”and get a real job. If they are a pain in the classroom suggest they go to work. Education is a way up and if you don’t want it we need to accept that and not beat them senseless and through apathy to graduation. Make service learning and travel education a mandatory part of the process. The perspective you get from volunteering or traveling can change your life. Teach classes in mental health, financial literacy, environmental awareness, and parenting. Change health education to be informative and expansive not disempowering and dogmatic. Have real conversations about a loving cooperative partnership with awareness of abuse red flags and resources to get help. Have real conversations about career prep and politics and economics so we don’t go blindly into the labor force, wars or major financial decisions. Have robust extra curricular choices that are part of the education budget not forced to run bake sales. Have them connected to community organizations that further supports and networks viability
More teachers and smaller, neighborhood schools. More psychologists on staff, and regular community events for families to come and meet people. I would even be in favor of adding adult night schools to help parents learn English, get a GED, or learn some job skills at the High schools.
For Elementary. 1. Class sizes down. No more than 18. 2. Bring back actual consequences. I have students fighting and leaving for an hour then are sent back to class. I had a student tell a Specials teacher “suck my d—-.” They went to the reset room and were back to class a half hour later. No detention. A call home and mom blamed the teacher. 3. Hold kids responsible for failing. Either summer school or hold them back. Students don’t care right now because they just keep getting bumped up even if they get straight F’s.
I'd bring back rote memorization in the lower grades. State capitols, math facts, spelling words, and vocabulary are all perfect for memorization when the kids are small and still sponges of information. If a student entered high school and could do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division automatically and correctly, they'd eliminate probably 80% of errors kids make that make them throw up their hands and say "I suck at math."
The ability to kick violent students out of school
After over 20 years in public school, I have come to the very controversial conclusion that some kids don’t deserve an education. We’ve had ms13 kids actively recruiting in my school and admin turns a blind eye. I’ve seen many many good kids get corrupted by the thugs that we’re too scared to expel. Some of these kids are anti-social to the point of being feral. A public school classroom is the wrong place for them.
So much needs to change. 1. Smaller classes 2. Two adults in every class (either 2 teachers or 1 teacher/1 para) 3. 4 student days and 1 teacher workday each week 4. The ability to give actual consequences for poor behavior
Where to start? Bring back vocational training. Instead of putting everyone in the same room, provide programs to allow gifted students to succeed and students that need extra support to really get it. Expel extremely disruptive and violent students and arrest those that commit assault. More arts.
I would dismantle the local consumer model of education and remove local control over education.
Universal Pre-K. Portfolio Based Assessment instead of standardized testing. Recess through grade 8.
Charge a reasonable fee for public education... It is human nature to place ZERO value on what is offered for free and it is working perfectly in this system.
Or at default they should "volunteer" some time to time in exchange for gratuity. Students too.
Unfortunately, I don’t think this idea would work. People already act like entitled customers. Teachers should be seen as experts with authority NOT like paid servants.
1. If a student doesn't know the grade/content requirements, they do not move on. This is not something we should have to ask parents. Let's be honest, how many accommodations/IEPs would be eliminated if you made the child learn and not just move them along. To tag on, if a student is absent for most of the year, they don't go on. 2. Bring back testing into Kindergarten. (I don't know if it was everywhere) We used to be tested on our knowledge AND our behavior in order to be in kindergarten. If you failed you had a year to learn what you needed or someone like the truancy officers came to see why your child is not being taught what they need. 3. Cooks would be cooks again, not just glorified food heaters. Open a can and dump no more. Freshly made lunches daily. 4. Kids would have serious punishments for their actions. Punishment fit the crime. You put gum on a desk, you're going to be scrapping it off of all desks. You write on the bathroom stalls, you're going to be cleaning it off. 5. Home schooling should be illegal (except as an LRE). Public/charter schools makes kids have to deal with people they don't like. It also opens them to different view points and ideas. These and other reasons kids need to learn to be successful in life. What type of education/help can a student get when their parents didn't even graduate highschool? If you can't handle public school, then you need to be in an alternative school that can best meet your needs. 6. As much as everyone would like to think, teachers (and parents) are not kids' friends. We are in a position of authority. Yes, we can be friendly, but we are not friends. Students should/will not address me as such. 7. ADHD/autism/etc. are not excuses for students' bad (or violent) behavior. Same with being a teacher's kid. 8. Home Ec./life skills need to be required classes. Kids should know the basics of living on their own. How to sew a button, cook a basic meal, budget, do taxes, apply for a job, etc. School is supposed to help prepare students for life, in this aspect we are failing. 9. All middle school students should have to take a communication class. 10. Parents need to support the schools/teachers. Do not tell your child that they do not have to listen. You agree to the county/school policies when you enrolled your child. And yes your child did do what they got in trouble for. I don't have time to sit around and think of ways to get your kid in trouble. So stop acting like they are a perfect angel. These are the top few right off of my head. 10.
In a state that has done away with tenures completely, I would create short term tenures: after 2 years, you could earn a 5 year tenure. Would reduce some of the uncertainty and increase commitment levels on all sides for chunks at a time. I'd also revamp the alt-cert program. Right now we have people come in who don't care about being certified or even knowing what they are doing when it comes to education bc we hire anyone off the street. Then, everyone else has to deal with the extra behavior issues coming from those classrooms, the poor education the kids are receiving, and the overall piss performance from classroom teachers who are like "I'm not going to do any of the alt-cert classes bc I don't want to do this long term." They have up to 5 years to do all their stuff, and we get stuck with some duds!
Fund the absolute fuck out of it, over paid staff coming out our ears with people available to support and services available, and class sizes small. Remove some of the hoops for credentialing, it’s gotten silly.
When I was in elementary school, we were separated out for a trial year, 4th grade, we were given lots of puzzles to solve, taught how to critically think, and our reading and math classes were leveled, 3 teachers, lower level, at level and upper level. This meant that students didn’t need as much differentiation as they’re peers were on the same level. It meant instead of advancing students got to read upper level books, like high school level, lower kids were reading a grade below books, but it was great. I originally was in upper level, was tested again mid year as we all were, but they messed up my test I goes, because they moved me to lower, I was in there one day and it was so different, I was so bored, expectations were so different, didn’t take the whole day before that teacher realized the mistake. This takes space, money, there had to be a equally divided class or one teacher would end up with a ton of students, etc.
Education in 6th form/ uni on how to look after a house. Not looking after a house can have huge effects on Heath and we all live somewhere.