Traditional education has been turned upside down. It is no secret anymore that changes have been happening in schools in the United States. Certain words have become synonymous with education reform: accountability, transparency, and data-driven. Words not so different than what we have not to long ago in business, since the fall of Enron and the creation of Sarbanes-Oxley. Educators contiue to fight, saying that education cannot be run like a business. While push back contines from the policy-makers up above.
The fact of the matter is neither are wrong! Accountability, transparency, and data-driven education are important in any organization. So, why is education struggling to catch-up?
The story can be explained in the simple day in the life of a teacher. Let’s say Ms. Jones gets to school at 8:00am. Her coffee in hand ready to conquer the job that society told her not to enter. Her mom and dad still have dreams of her becoming a lawyer, but her heart wanted to go into the public education arena.
Ms. Jones is tired from the night before. Not because of a lack of sleep, but because today is Friday. Four school days have passed already this week and, to say her level of stress is through the roof would be an understatement.
“Yesterday, Ms. Jones had a student punch another kid while lining up for bus riders at the end of the day. While this student was not in her class, she had to be transparent in the process. This involved “writing the student up.” But what does that mean? In the old days it may have meant sending him to the principals office, but today it means so much more. Although the student was physically assaulting another student, the principal must see that Ms. Jones has called home and documented it in the computer system before he handles the situation. Ms. Jones decided to call mom, but mom has had the school number blocked; tired of hearing the bad news of her son all the time. When Dad picks up the student at school, Ms. Jones tried to explain to him what happened. With an unconcerned look on his face, Dad responds, “boys will be boys” and drove away.
Unsure what to do with the situation, Ms. Jones went to principal to explain what had happened. The principal looked directly at her and said, “Well, did you document it in the computer?” Shocked at the apathy, Ms. Jones walked back to her classroom to document what happened at the end of the day. By the time she completed everything she needs to, it is 6pm. Ungraded papers took the place of a cooked meal on Thursday night.”
She enters the doors of a seemly quiet building. The students have not arrived yet. When she walks into the office to sign in, the secretary politely says to her, the principal would like to see you.
Ms. Jones enters the principals office. Students do not arrive for another 10 minutes. The principal begins to explain the mom of the boy who got punched yesterday is furious that the school did nothing about him getting punched the day before. She stated to the principal that she is going to sue the school. The principal continues to explain that, she should have been able to stop the situation before it happened, and that he needs to write her up for her insubordination. She knows that there is no reason to argue, as if she should have had some magical power to predicts an boy’s impulsive behavior before it happens. Plus she knows if she tries to explain her case her students will be entering a classroom without a teacher.
As she leaves the office busses have arrived and students have entered the building. She races to her class, to try to beat the kids there. She won’t have time to check her email this morning, and her coffee hasn’t been touched. Luckily she is first to her class and is ready to start her day.
The morning goes pretty smoothly, until she receives a call from a parent asking why her student was not informed of the field trip next week. Politely, Ms. Jones explains that she has emailed her, and sent a letter home with her daughter. The parent tells Ms. Jones that she has no idea what she is talking about, and says she better do a better job of informing her about her child, and then hangs up.
Ms. Jones takes a deep breath and then looks back at her class, who while she was on the phone proceeded to begin a paper war with the assignment that they had been working on. Unsurprised by what has happened, Ms. Jones directs the students back to their desks. The paper was only a formative assessment she was going to use to measure the progress of her students. She can attempt to report the data accurately, but most likely it will be incorrect. However, she has no other option. If she explains what has happened, the principal will write her up for not having data. Wrong data is better than no data anyway.
It is time for stations! Ms. Jones splits her 30 students up into groups of 5, and assigns them where to start. While the state mandates she only have 25, another teacher in her grade called in sick and the school decided to split up her students, instead of hiring a substitute to try to save some money. Ms. Jones wishes she had more help for stations, but as only one women she focuses on working with the Response to Intervention (RTI) students. Academically, these students are pretty low and need the most help, she spent all night trying to individualize the instruction for each of them. Although she is not supposed to do RTI during stations, she focuses her time with these students while the other students screw around at the other 5 stations. Ms. Jones can not be at 6 stations at once, and the school aid has 6 classrooms she is supposed to help in.
Ms. Jones has done her best. However, she has not effectively taught her class. She has not effectively been accountable. She has not effectively been transparent. She has not effectively collected appropriate data.
The issue is not that Ms. Jones is unable to do these things. The issue is that she is only one woman, with 30 kids, and the responsibilities of 10 employees. In the world of education, it isn’t that teachers aren’t trying. Everyday is a fear that one day something will happen that will be enough for her to lose her job. Not because she can’t do her job, but because she physically cannot be 10 places at one.
So who’s fault is it that Ms. Jones cant do her job? The state will blame the school, the school will blame Ms. Jones. Ms. Jones will blame whoever she possible can for being undertrained and overworked. Whatever she can do to hold onto a job that is supposed to be rewarding, but is killing her from stress.
We have created a public education system that expects more than ever, but provides less resources than ever. However, we have to blame someone. Ms. Jones seems to be the easy target, and part of her wishes they would just go ahead and fire her already. However, the school is not going to do that. They do not have anyone to replace her. Instead they will make her feel like she is not a good teacher, because she cannot handle the job of 10. She will continually be written up to try to appease everyone involved.
Education has become toxic in the United States. Blame is nothing but an excuse to fixing the problem. There is a reason no one but a martyr would enter the field. I am so proud of every teacher out there. Keep fighting, even with the stress of knowing you cannot do everything that is expected of you. Hopefully one day we will see words like collaboration and problem-solving be valued more. Hopefully one day, we will invest in education what it deserves.
Our Age is Retrospective 