Big Changes?!

The economy is big news to everyone who has a job lately--and to everyone who doesn't have a job any longer or who can't get one. I find myself wondering about my own. The State of Idaho has decided to make some cuts in many areas of state government and in education. Our legislators have never been eager to actively seek new revenue for the more and more expensive education costs of our ever expanding population. This has been true even in good times. Now that we are really in a hurt, why would anyone expect them, under worsening circumstances, to take any action to increase revenue in support of education? That would be a ludicrous idea to them--as it ever has been. So what are they trying to do now? Well, it looks as though they are trying to "keep the teacher in the classroom" and at the same time reduce funding for textbooks and other materials teachers need, and programs (such as counseling) that are needed more and more because of the great increase in family dysfunction that go along with our culture's weakening moral fiber, to effectively teach their students. I don't know if our lawmakers will ever overcome their incapacity to understand education and needs regarding education funding. What would ever make them think that a teacher can teach adequately without curriculum materials?!! They need to experience the pressures we are experiencing with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) looking over our shoulders constantly, expecting us to "lead the horse to water..." and make it drink whether it wants to or not. Not only are the Feds expecting us to motivate unwilling children with rescuing parents to reach "proficiency" on the statewide standards test (Idaho Standards Achievement Test or ISAT), but they are also expecting that 100% of ALL children (regardless of whether they even know English, or have a developmental disability or cognitive impairment) who take the test in 2014 reach the "Proficient" level of achievement on the ISAT!!!

This comes back to sufficiency of state funding and rational goal-setting, both of which appear to be severely lacking both at the State and Federal levels. Educators have explained to lawmakers for years that teaching students effectively requires more than a one-size-fits-all approach. It doesn't! Never has, never will! We have explained and explained until we have been blue in the face (if not purple and dying) that the ratio of adults to students needs to be cut way, way back if we are to serve each individual students successfully. Even then, and even with all the new methods and ideas floating around education, the question still remains: How many adults and how much time does it take to bring a child with a severe learning disability or cognitive impairment, who is several years behind his or her peers, to grade-level proficiency?

I had the gall to mention this at a State testing coordinators meeting a few years ago. The state official in charge of testing responded by telling me not to say that the chances of a child with down syndrome reaching proficiency on the test she "loves" are very, very low, perhaps nonexistent. She cited one child she was aware of (in the entire state, mind you) who had down syndrome and had reached proficiency on the test. Of course, since that time they have stiffened and narrowed the availability of accommodations for these kids so that the test is much, much more difficult to pass. Ever mindful of the need to keep testing material secure, they made most of the test available for review and tightened security to the extent that we now are told that no test parts can be continued to another day for our slow testers--unless they have IEP's or other legal individual plans that specify this as an accommodation. Even then we must go through the district testing coordinator and the State Department of Education for approval, and no students who become ill during the test will be approved!!

Small comfort that Arne Duncan and Obama are working on using growth as a measure of success rather than proficiency level. This seems to be taking forever and NCLB is a sacred cow at the moment. Unless something happens to greatly change all of this to a rational growth model, an extremely ugly scenario will unfold in the next few years. Almost all of our nations public schools will be found to be "failing." This, despite the fact that many of these schools are failing in only one subgroup (IEP students, ELL students, etc.). Keep in mind that our state agricultural college system has gone from state supported to state subsidized to state named in the past couple or three decades. My prediction is that the same will happen to our public schools. They will mostly become listed as "failing", be in position to be taken over by the state, the state will not want to administer them (too much money and too much trouble), our public education system will be declared "failed", and our free and appropriate public education will cease to exist. It will go from state supported to state subsidized (unless this step is skipped) to state named, only. Yes, charter schools could take over some or all of the functions of regular public schools. This would probably bust the current teachers unions, but a backlash of union starting activity will occur with regard to educators who, once again, will need to actively seek better pay and benefits for their now very, very poor families. If this does not happen, then, since both parents usually have to work nowadays, the kids will still have to go to school out of the home. This is because there will be no supervision in the home. Since public education will be declared a "failed enterprise" wealthy taxpayers will demand that their tax money not be used for public education any longer. Poor and, especially middle class, families will no longer be able to have their children educated. Only the very wealthy will have access to a public education for their children.

This is what I see in the future of public education unless we wake up soon and do something about supporting our schools.