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Articles, Interviews and Commentary
from
The New York Times, January 13,
2002
Taking
the Measure of a School
By John Merrow
HOW
do you tell if a school is good -- really good? By its reputation,
of course, and its test scores (very often one is based on the other).
Each of these is revealing, but they don't tell everything. In truth,
there is no standardized, multiple-choice test of school quality.
The enterprise of education is far too complex for such bottom-line
reductionism. Taking the measure of a school involves time and energy,
but not much more of either than most parents spend buying a car
or a home.
Here are
10 questions parents should ask:
1. Can administrators
explain the school's mission in plain language?
Good schools are
''transparent,'' meaning their operations -- everything from rules
to curriculum to assessment -- are open for inspection and discussion.
That does not mean these matters are up for grabs, only that those
who run the school have faith in their approach and are willing to
display it openly.
Good schools
have a strong sense of purpose, with a focus on the development
of individuals and their intellectual life, what Deborah Meier,
the co-director of the Mission Hill Elementary School in Boston,
calls serious and thoughtful ''habits of mind.'' Schools do not
exist just to help students adjust socially or learn a trade or
profession. Purposeful schools aid in ''building a self,'' in the
phrase of the philosopher Jacques Barzun.
2. Do teachers know their subject matter?
Expect blank
stares or hostile looks when asking this question, but about 25
percent of all public school English and history teachers and 30
percent of mathematics and science teachers neither majored nor
minored in their subjects. Although most states have regulations
prohibiting out-of-field teaching, it continues.
3. How are tests administered?
American elementary
and secondary school students are tested far more than their counterparts
in other industrial nations. More than 140 million standardized, machine-scored,
multiple-choice tests were taken in 1998. The new federal plan requiring
that all students in third through eighth grade be assessed every
year means even more testing in their future.
How much time should
be devoted to preparation is difficult to determine. E.D. Hirsch Jr.,
the founder of the Core Knowledge Foundation, whose curriculum spells
out what students should know and when, believes that a day or two
of ''test readiness'' work ought to be sufficient. ''The best preparation
for reading tests is reading and talking and writing about the stories,
not drilling for the reading test,'' he says. When schools abandon
the curriculum to spend weeks on tests, ''it's an admission that the
children haven't been taught the basics they should have been taught
long ago.''
Certainly, well-made tests can be a useful yardstick, providing
information that enables teachers to diagnose students' weaknesses.
Ideally, these tests are drawn up by the teachers themselves, promptly
graded and returned. But if the teacher-made tests are mostly ''fill
in the blanks'' or ''circle the answer,'' ask why.
4. What's the school's academic record?
While parents
will want to know about academic standing, the first question is
not ''What are scores on standardized multiple-choice tests?'' Ask
instead, ''How does the school measure learning?'' Scores often
dominate conversations about school quality because there are no
easy-to-understand alternatives. But most parents understand that
such measures are overemphasized and overrated. In a recent poll
by Phi Delta Kappa, the education honor society, 71 percent of public
school parents said that classroom work and homework were the best
measure of student achievement.
5. What's on the walls?
Be wary of schools
whose walls are bare cinder block. Good schools will display a wide
variety of children's work, showing creativity and expression --
and an academic purpose, not just teacher-designed bulletin boards.
You may see young children working enthusiastically on tasks that
are basically of the cookie-cutter variety, but look farther. The
students may have gotten used to easy work that earns them smiley
faces or gold stars. If all they are doing is following directions,
then someone is pouring a weak foundation for intellectual growth.
6. Who does the talking in classes?
If the teacher's
voice dominates, that limits and perhaps eclipses opportunities
for students to be active participants in making sense of things.
When children
talk, are they listened to? Is there competition for the teacher's
attention? If children treat one another respectfully, it is a sign
that what they are doing is important and interesting. Good teachers
ask questions and bring everyone into the conversation.
7. Is the school safe?
You'll want
to know if the school is physically safe (most are). But is it emotionally
safe? Adults in charge need to take a firm stand against teasing,
bullying and harassment. And is the school intellectually safe?
A student should feel it's acceptable to be smart, and at the same
time to make mistakes, to take intellectual risks. ''There can't
be a climate where kids laugh at the wrong answer,'' says Theodore
R. Sizer, the founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools. ''When
that happens, a kid will shut down and refuse to participate, and
that's when learning stops.''
8. Is the principal on the move?
When I recently
spent a day at the Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, I
kept bumping into the principal, Reginald Moss. He was constantly
walking the halls, talking with students and teachers, even picking
up stray pieces of paper. ''Is keeping the halls clean part of your
job?'' I asked. ''It's everybody's job,'' he said, ''beginning with
mine, because when kids see me cleaning up, they will begin to care,
too. At least some of them will.''
According to Dr. Sizer, good principals will drop in on classes, too,
''not just for a minute or two, but to really get the feel of what's
going on.''
9. How large
are classes?
Smaller classes,
20 students or fewer, are just about everybody's favorite educational
reform, and research supports their benefits, particularly in lower
grades and if the class has no more than 15 or 17 students. But
don't rely on figures from school districts to determine class size.
Counting name tags on classroom doors or the heads in classes will
be more precise.
Albert Shanker, who led the American Federation of Teachers, once
said that if the principal knew only the top students and the troublemakers,
the school was too big. Ms. Meier believes elementary schools should
be small enough so that all the teachers can have a serious conversation
together at the same time. ''Twenty faculty members is about the
upper limit, which means a school probably should have no more than
300 or 400 kids,'' she says. John I. Goodlad, the dean of American
education researchers, says the upper limit for high schools should
be 800 students.
10. How dedicated are the teachers?
If the faculty
parking lot is empty at the end of the day, it may be that teachers
can't wait to get away. It's not an encouraging sign. Nor is taking
too many sick days. How many are teachers entitled to in their contract,
and how many use their quota each year?
Listen to the tone of the teachers' voices when they talk to students.
Is it respectful? ''I'd rather have my grandchildren in a classroom
whose curriculum and pedagogy I'm not so crazy about, as long as the
teacher likes and respects them,'' Ms. Meier says.
Parents cannot expect teachers to love their children or give them
straight A's, but teachers should enjoy being around youngsters, and
they must see them as individuals and value their potential.
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