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Bret Hartman / Washington Post via Getty Images
Parent Union organizer Doreen Diaz, right, walks with her daughter and other children to the front door of Desert Trails Elementary in Adelanto, Calif., in February.
Viola Davis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Oscar Isaac and Rosie Perez chat about their new movie, "Won't Back Down."
Doreen Diaz left the red carpet movie premiere of “Won’t Back Down” in New York City last week feeling encouraged.
But then the 47-year-old mom, a key figure in the education movement that “inspired” the feature film, headed back to the tiny desert city of Adelanto, Calif., and her tract home near Desert Trails Elementary School. That’s where the real battle over the so-called “parent trigger” law drags on, with no tidy Hollywood ending in sight.
“The movie makes it look a lot easier than it really is,” said Diaz, who started drumming up support to overhaul her local public school more than a year ago.
Desert Trails, where 100 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, ranks in the bottom third of California schools with similar demographics and has been stuck on the federal watch list for failing schools for six years. Sixty-two percent of students are Hispanic and 27 percent are black. One-quarter of students don’t speak English at home, and 15 percent of students tested in 2011 had disabilities.
Related stories from The Hechinger Report
- Seeking inspiration? Better look beyond this film
- Opinion: Michigan’s ‘Parent Trigger’ legislation has right goal, but important flaws
Diaz felt that the school had given up on its poor and minority students. She wanted more for her daughter, a special-needs student who started the fifth grade last year at a second-grade reading level.
Diaz and other organizers of the Desert Trails Parent Union, educated and bankrolled by Los Angeles nonprofit Parent Revolution, continue to fight the school district in court to turn over their neighborhood school to a charter operator. If they succeed, they’ll become the first in the nation to successfully invoke a parent trigger.
The controversial legislation enables parents who collect signatures representing more than 50 percent of students to force a major overhaul on an underperforming school, from replacing its principal and half the staff to shutting it down. Similar parent-trigger laws are now in seven states, with forms of the legislation in the works in 20 others since California narrowly passed its Parent Empowerment Act in 2010.
Academy award nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal talks about her role in "Won't Back Down," and what she learned while researching the role of a determined mother trying to make a difference in the education of her children.
The concept behind the parent trigger is instantly appealing to Americans fed up with foundering schools: Give parents the power to turn around a school that’s failing their children when bureaucrats don’t or won’t act. Prominent Democrats and Republicans have touted the idea as a bipartisan solution to expanding school choice and spurring complacent educators to action.
The movement appears to have public support: 70 percent of likely voters said they’d support parent-trigger laws in a March national poll by StudentsFirst, a pro-school-choice advocacy group run by Michelle Rhee, the controversial former chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public schools. An independent Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll released in September reported the same approval rating.
But teacher union leaders and critics like the Chicago-based advocacy group Parents Across America blast “Won’t Back Down” as propaganda, and they question whether people throwing their support behind parent-trigger laws understand the ramifications of the complex policy solution. They argue the movement’s supporters have demonized teachers and promoted hostile takeovers over collaborative reform.
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"This is not true parent empowerment,” said Leonie Haimson, founding member of Parents Across America, which opposes school privatization and high-stakes testing. Haimson joined about 50 protesters at the New York premiere of “Won’t Back Down.” “These are the choices of billionaires and hedge funders and other venture philanthropists who send their own kids to private schools.”
Influential groups like Parent Revolution and StudentsFirst have been lobbying for the cause and searching for parents to test out the fledgling laws. The legislation’s supporters are eager to use "Won't Back Down," which is financed by conservative billionaire Philip Anschutz’s Walden Media, to popularize the parent-trigger policy.
Parent Revolution, supported by the Gates, Walton Family and Wasserman foundations, on Friday announced plans to host "Won't Back Down" screenings with panel-led discussions in 19 states over the next four weeks. Walden Media also distributed the pro-charter school documentary "Waiting for ‘Superman’" and is pushing an activist toolkit on the new movie's website. (The Gates and Wasserman foundations are among the funders of The Hechinger Report.)
“Usually a movie like this comes out long after a social movement and documents it through the eyes of the hero,” said Ben Austin, founder of Parent Revolution and former Clinton White House adviser. “But this movie is coming out in the almost embryonic stage of the movement, and will sort of become part of the movement.”
Parent Revolution’s first attempt – in 2010 at McKinley Elementary in Compton, Calif. -- died in court. The charter operator picked by Parent Revolution still managed to get approval to open a school close to McKinley, but less than one-fifth of McKinley parents moved their children there.
Parent Revolution learned from its mistakes, said deputy director Gabe Rose. The nonprofit, with a roughly $3 million annual budget and 35 staffers, now focuses on letting local parents choose their preferred reforms and emphasizes charter schools aren’t always the best option, Rose said.
But in both Compton and Adelanto, the process has proved divisive.
At school drop-off zones, board meetings and press events, Desert Trails Parent Union promoted catchy mottos on T-shirts and signs like “Si Se Puede,” and “I am the Revolution,” while a counter-campaign led by opposing parents had theirs: “Save Desert Trails” and “Yes to change, no to charter.”
Also at The Hechinger Report: Public universities pledge to increase grads
Parents on both sides have accused each other of intimidation and harassment and called police on one another. PTA meetings have erupted into shouting matches, and kids have been bullied for wearing pro- or anti-trigger law shirts to school.
“It's tearing that school apart,” Adelanto School District Board Member Jermaine Wright said. “If the parents are fighting, then it starts to trickle down to the kids.”
Desert Trails PTA Vice President Lori Yuan, whose 7- and 9-year-olds attend the school, won’t be lining up to see “Won’t Back Down.” Yuan, 39, is among the faction of parents actively opposing the trigger effort. She said she, too, wants to see improvement at Desert Trails but is convinced that a charter operator isn’t the answer.
Soapy 'Won't Back Down' gets a failing grade
She wants to give Principal David Mobley, who took the helm only three months before the trigger effort went public, a chance to turn things around. And she questions the political motives behind Parent Revolution, which rented out a five-bedroom house to serve as the parent union’s headquarters and helped secure a law firm to represent parents pro bono.
"Why do the people that attend Desert Trails today get to determine a future when there's a whole community that technically owns the school?" Yuan said. "This is not a grassroots movement."
Mobley has launched a new literacy program through Success for All, a research-based curriculum with a national track record. A new after-school program extends the school day by three hours for about one-sixth of the school’s 600 students. And this month the school formed a new “alternative governance council” comprised of teachers, managers and parents on both sides of the trigger debate to oversee progress.
The board voted in August to carry out that alternative governance reform model instead of the parent union’s charter school plan, on the premise that it was too late to convert to a charter school this year. Outraged, the parent union went back to court, arguing the district deliberately defied the judge who validated the charter petition.
Margaret Spellings, the former Secretary of Education under George W. Bush, and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa join The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd to talk about teacher unions, charter schools versus public schools, and investing in education and teachers.
If the judge again rules in the parent union’s favor at a hearing later this month, parents who signed the trigger petition will vote Oct. 18 on one of two local nonprofit charter operators that submitted bids to take over Desert Trails in the fall of 2013.
By this time next year, Diaz’s daughter will have moved on to middle school. Diaz credits a good teacher with helping her daughter advance two and a half grade levels last year, and she’s a co-chair on the new governance council, but she said recent changes were made “too little, too late.”
“It’s not just about my daughter,” Diaz said. “It’s about the community. We have to make a change because the children deserve the best futures, and they can get there through education.”
This story, "A struggling school, a bitter fight and no tidy Hollywood ending in sight," was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education-news outlet based at Teachers College, Columbia University.
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Leave a Comment:
I came away from this article depressed.
I know, and I suspect most readers realize NOTHING can be changed here.
The root of the issue is the poverty, and socio economic status of the parents.
Until the community culture is changed, nothing will change, and nothing is going to change the culture.
If you care about your kids, MOVE OUT, or they will be lost forever.
Haaving survived the inner city, I can assure the parents whatever sacrifices you make may not be enough, but a failure to try and change your child's enviorment is akin to a death sentence.
I don't see how charter schools for the poor are going to be any different then public schools for the poor. Half the kids can't even speak english, for crying out loud. Then there's mental disabilities as well. These parents can't expect the teachers to be miracle workers. The parents have to take some blame as well. They sit around blaming the teachers without realizing what its like to walk in their shoes. The facts that the parents are poor, cant speak english, and probably had kids before they were financially stable, all have something to do with their kids current situation.
How do we get a "Congress-trigger"?
It's good to see the parents are unionizing. If only taxpayers would do the same.
After watching what just went down in Chicago, I am convinced more than ever that teachers unions are a huge part of the problem. Between the teachers unions protecting incompetent teachers who have basically retired while still on the job and parents who do not give a crap about their kid's education, the public school systems in virtually every major US city are doomed. They will continue to turn out mostly borderline illiterate kids with little hope of ever making anything of themselves. Of course that is the approximately 50% of students that even manage to graduate from high school in many major cities. I do not think that what this movie is touting is the solution, but I do think that major changes are needed. The first of these changes is to get rid of tenure and the teachers unions. Unions had their place many years ago, but today they do far more harm than good. All the union leadership is concerned with is how much dues money they can put into their own pockets and protecting their members jobs at all costs in order to keep those dues rolling in. They could care less about the quality of the job their members are doing and will go to great lengths to protect the job of even the most incompetent teacher. The power of the teacher's union has also left those few parents who do still care with a feeling that they are powerless to effect any changes. When they do try and do something about a poor teacher they run into the brick wall of the teacher's union that keeps them from getting rid of the poor performing teacher. Charter schools which have a profit motive are also not the answer. Most of the success of these charter schools that is so heavily touted is because they can cherry pick the students they take and because they have more money to spend per pupil so they can attract the top teachers. The charter school model is simply not something that can be replicated on a large scale within the realities of the funding available for public education and the broader student population. The only real solution to the problem is to do away with the teachers unions and try a foster more of a partnership, instead of the current antagonism, between the parents and the teachers.
It's tragic that the Teachers Union has such a strangle hold on the educational process in California. But it has been that way for decades. Take a minute and see how "The Best Teacher in America" was treated by his Union after beginning reforms at a failing minority school.
The movie "Stand and Deliver" based on the book "Escalante: The Best Teacher in America" tell of a surprising story.
They highlight his achievements (most notably when in 1982, Escalante came into the national spotlight when 18 of his students passed the challenging Advanced Placement Calculus exam) while teaching at Garfield High School (1974-1991), a school with a high per-centage of minority students and its accreditation threatened (1974).
The school administration opposed Escalante frequently during his first few years. He was threatened with dismissal by an assistant principal because he was coming in too early, leaving too late, and failing to get administrative permission to raise funds to pay for his students' Advanced Placement tests. This opposition changed with arrival of a new principal, Henry Gradillas.
By 1987, 73 students passed the A.P. calculus AB exam and another 12 passed the BC version of the test. This was the peak for the calculus program. The same year Gradillas went on sabbatical to finish his doctorate with hopes that he could be reinstated as principal at Garfield or a similar school with similar programs upon his return.
Over the next few years Escalante's calculus program continued to grow but not without its own price. Tensions that surfaced when his career began at Garfield escalated. In his final years at Garfield, Escalante received threats and hate mail from various individuals, and by 1990, he had lost the math department chairmanship. At this point Escalante's math enrichment program had grown to 400+ students. His class sizes had increased to over 50 students in some cases. This was far beyond the 35 student limit set by the teachers' union, which in turn increased criticism of Escalante's work. In 1991, the number of Garfield students taking advanced placement examinations in math and other subjects jumped to 570. That same year, citing faculty politics and petty jealousies, Escalante left Garfield. Escalante found new employment at Hiram W. Johnson High School in Sacramento, California.
At the height of Escalante's At the height of Escalante's influence, Garfield graduates were entering the University of Southern California in such great numbers that they outnumbered all the other high schools in the working-class East Los Angeles region combined.[
The math program's decline at Garfield became apparent following the departure of Escalante and other teachers associated with its inception and development. In just a few years, the number of A.P. calculus students at Garfield who passed their exams dropped by more than 80 percent. (Wikipedia).
Well said SpcTorres.
I've done research on this subject. The number one reason kids fail at school is because parents don't prepare them for school. These kids show up at kindergarten already behind, can't catch up, begin to hate school, become disruptive interfering with the education of others, and eventually drop out. My research showed that children of poor Latinos and blacks were most likely to start behind, those students make up 89% of this school's population. It's not the schools it's the parents, too many parents rely on schools to teach their kids EVERYTHING, or do not possess the skills, will, or intelligence to prepare their children. I know this is the last thing parents want to hear, they want to blame anyone but themselves for their children's failures; but it's true and it needs to be addressed or no real solution will ever come. I recommend early education programs that actively go into communities and find these kids and parents to break this cycle. These programs are much cheaper than remediation, jail, and lifetime public assistance all of which someone who starts behind in school is more likely to need at some point than someone who does not.
@William -- Moving to a different neighborhood will not help many people in this situation. Their kids would still be unprepared starting in the new schools. The only difference is they might have better remediation programs.
1st of all it said 25% can't speak english not half. 2nd, blame doesn't equate into action. Blame is simply pointing fingers and finding fault so someone else feels better. At least the parents are tired of putting up with the same old tactics. If u've ever heard if u want something done, do it yourself. Well they're taking an initiative more than i can say for a lot of parents. No child should be w/out a quality education because of their financial status. Poor people have just as much right to an equal education as wealthy children. We would be a better country if we probably didn't have people like you who judge people with such a dim view.
What is it with people always attacking someone's intelligence when they should be looking in the mirror. How intelligent does one have to be to teach a preschooler ? What about the other 11% ed ? Are u saying poor whites don't suffer? Why have u ignored them in your "research." What type of research are u looking at. I applaud the parents for taking action. They are doing something. Otherwise, the status quo would continue and the kids education would continue to suffer.
Take it from somebody on the other side of this argument, it will never matter what they do to the schools unless parents get off their asses and support their kids and the schools. They must enforce the idea that education is important and enforce behavior of their kids. Too often schools such as these end up spending 90% of their time trying to deal with the 10% of kids that are trouble makers. Most often these trouble makers have parents that either don't give a damn how their kids behave or the parents spend their life trying to blame the teachers & schools for everything their child gets in trouble for. This goes from k-12th grade. You'd be amazed at how these kids act. If a parent stresses education, has control over their kid and help their kid learn; that child will more often than not succeed in school and life. What needs to happen is the kids need to be places according to ability and any trouble makers should be placed in special controls classes. The kids that are trying to learn should never be held back by the kids that just don't care of by parents that allow their kids to act as they please. It is sickening just how many good students have been held back because of the trouble making kids or by kids that just can't keep up in class. You are always going to have different levels of ability in class just like you do on the field. Good students should be placed with other good students so they can move quickly and be challenged, while poor students should be placed with other poor students so they can move more slowly, using extra time as needed. This also helps keep these students from feeling overwelmed by work they can't handle. They will feel more confident since the other kids in their class are at the same basic level.
Fix these problems first then go look at how schools are run. Remember parents are always the most important part of a childs education and remember that your child is probably be held back significantly due to kids that won't behave and just cause trouble. The teachers often can't teach because they are having to be cops, parole officers & referees while in class. Let them teach and parents you handle the behavior at home, where it should be taught. Quit blaming someone else for the problems you have caused.
Then how do you explain away this parent's support and the school still failing?
Sorry but I'm not buying that Aaguement anymore (Parents need to take responsibility) and I'm beggining to see that the Unions, like Big Corporations, are only in it for themselves and not for the kids or their parents. Unions have to allow the removal of bad teachers and other changes coming in and stop trying to protect their paycheck.
Otherwise they begin to look like those fools "clings to their guns and religion"
Sorry but this man is absolutely correct. Maybe if this Hispanic mother spent as much time teaching her own kid how to read she could stop blaming other people. School is not supposed to do all of the work for you. If your kid does not speak english at home, then its your job to learn english to make it easier for them. If you have hours a day to spend trying to get teachers fired, you have hours to spend on your kid. This is about parents making an effort. If their kids are failing, its a reflection on them. And if they can't do the elementary school work to help their kids, then maybe they shouldn't be having any at all. Enough is enough. These people certainly are not smart enough to figure out how to turn a school around as they can barely run their own lives.
I agree with LSU_Tigers and Snow Horton. To really learn something, you must cover it 10-20 times.
The school's job is to present the material, and then go over it some, but there is no way they can go over it enough for true mastery. That is where the parents are supposed to come in.
Yes, there are sometimes problem teachers, who should not be teaching, but I do not believe that is the majority. Those teachers should be removed, and I am very anti-union since they protect bad employees, and drive up costs.
I think the most critical thing is to make sure that there is excellent communication daily between the teacher and the parent. The parent needs to know what the student has for homework, so the parent can ensure that the child has indeed learned it.
I have a second grader, and I can tell you that I spend more than one hour per day with her reading, doing her homework, and otherwise quizzing her (math mostly), and it is a lot of work. For that reason, I am not hopeful that all children will get the education they deserve since most parents are just too lazy, or busy working. Sad, but I believe my last statement to be true.
Other problems include language barriers, but that just goes to show that parents, who come here from other countries, should learn the language, since they are crippling their kids too. Also, some parents were not good students in school, so are not qualified to teach their kids, but if they start from first grade, they should still be able to help a lot. They can still make sure their child has done their homework.
Bingo, LSU Tigers.
I agree with the sentiments above. Blaming teachers is a cop-out. I've seen classrooms here in Texas where it's apparent that the kids had no interest in learning. In my own personal observations, failing schools have more to do with the neighborhood/community attitudes towards education than it does with the teachers. There are always a group of parents that care, but a lot are indifferent although they may pay lip-service to their children's education. Those parents send their kids to school and think their child should be a genius even if they never study or do homework when they get home. Parents who like this trigger law don't understand what it takes to make a student successful.
I don't understand why we have to scrap public schools for charter schools instead of just inter-grating the methods from charter schools into the public arena. The main difference between the two is that charter schools are usually run by for profit groups and public schools are not. If these poor parents had to pay the cost of the charter schools out of their own pockets with no help from the state or federal governments I doubt they'd be so quick to switch over. Also when a company is for profit their main concern is not about quality education for the student but to make money through the student. An example I can give about for profit colleges comes from a close friend of mine. He recently graduated a 2 year degree program through the University of Phoenix. After 2 years he has enough students loan debt accumulated to have gone 4 years at the University of Washington, Washington State University or any other reputable 4 year college in Washington. Also during his duration at the University of Phoenix his required math classes that he took are considered remedial classes at our community college. As in you have to take them if you don't test high enough for college level math. Here they are remedial classes. At University of Phoenix they are college level math classes. Which is correct? My concern is that twice as much money was spent as a traditional in-state college for what seems to be a substandard(at least by our states standards) education and the only real difference is that one is for profit while the others are not. Are for profits going to be most worried about giving the best education possible or are the just going to be concerned about the bottom line?
This story sounds and smells like the handy work of the Koch brothers. The brothers are a cancer on our society.
Koch brothers... Soros... Obama's Birth certificate... Romney's taxes... look beyond political talking points.
One thing that is missing from this article and from the broader discussion is what reforms are the teachers and their unions bringing to the table? None. That's the problem. How do you get rid of bad teachers? Spend millions of dollars (which should be going towards the children's education) and several years in court, and hopefully get rid of what... four? When teachers are willing to bring MEANINGFUL reforms to the table, then they can talk to parents that have to watched the system fail their children.
milidad:
"Mobley has launched a new literacy program through Success for All, a research-based curriculum with a national track record. A new after-school program extends the school day by three hours for about one-sixth of the school’s 600 students. And this month the school formed a new “alternative governance council” comprised of teachers, managers and parents on both sides of the trigger debate to oversee progress."
Seems like these are reforms being brought to the table.
Dan - Lots of buzzwords, not much meat.
I find it interesting that now that the public school has lost the fight to keep control of the school, they start to implement the kind of reforms that would have prevented them from being placed on the national watch list in the first place.
This really is a situation where the new stable manager decides that it is a good idea put out fresh hay, fresh water, clean the stalls and close the barn doors after the horses have been starving and sick for so long that they left the barn for green pastures.
The school administration and teachers have lost this battle. The new school will be in place next year. Now the parents get to decide who will teach their children, not the school board.
Bob - You sound like a wacko when you bring the Koch Brothers into this. They already point out which billionaires are funding this. Do you live in Wisconsin as all the Koch Brother conspiracy theorists seem to come from that state. AND, they seem to be upset that Scott won. Ha ha!
I live in this region, and I know several of the parents and Mr. Mobley personally. Things are getting better. Change takes time. If PR gets control of the school, many of the parents and their children will go to other schools. Most or all of the staff will leave. Good luck finding decent staff who will want to work under such leadership.
Neither of the above comments (from William Demuth and LSU Tigers, respectively) is helpful, unfortunately. Mr. Demuth, those of us who pulled the Teacher Trigger at Locke High School have proved already that you can significantly reform a school and do not have to abandon a neighbourhood. And with respect to the LSU comment, of course supportive parents make life easier for teachers; but what are you going to do if a child comes from a broken home with a crackhead single mother, abandon the child to punish the parents? Good, new model schools are already improving outcomes for students in such dire circumstances, and difficult though the work is, it can be done, so we shouldn't lose hope altogether.
I think that LSU's point is that no program is going fix a student who comes from a broken home with a crackhead single mother and doesn't want to be in school. There is no solution at the school level to fix that problem.
I agree - you said in a few words what I went on about in length in my comment below (written before I read your contribution, Skrup). I think you had a better writing teacher that I did!
There are solutions at the school level to the problems of the student who doesn't want to be in school -- this is part of the professional life of school counsellors, and teacher-advisors can also help to motivate students who are not currently motivated. Stories of students having their lives turned around by adults at school who took a personal interest in them are so ubiquitous that it's amazing that you are unfamiliar with them, Skup, or that you don't believe in them. I admit, it's hard work; and with schools as they are currently constituted, with too few teachers who are consequently so overworked as to have very limited opportunities to form those relationships, it won't happen often; but that raises the vital issue of restructuring our traditional schools, which can and should happen.
Yep, I can see the unions being against this. Imagine poor performing teachers being held accountable. Coming from a family of teachers the problems come from the parents lack of support AND the government coming up with these asinine regulations on how to teach. Why did we ever get away from the three Rs and holding students accountable? Thats when our education system was one of the world leaders.
A parent of a special needs child is well advised to do additional research before jumping on the charter school bandwagon. Generally, unless the charter school is specifically designated, it will not receive sufficient funding or staff to properly support special needs children.
I can tell from the lack of comments on this site that there's not much interest which is a shame as the children are our future. It is a combination of parent and teacher involvement for the children to succeed and it doesn't take millions of dollars to get kids to excel but an interest, mentoring and encouragement to foster the climate. Low socio-economics makes it a little more difficult but not impossible. If the children have a positive attitude, will to learn and excel, they will but unfortunately from a very poor background with most one parent families struggling, a parent or relative possibly in jail, and necessity to put food on the table, many students turn to drugs, crime or drop out to help sustain the family. Quality inputs to equal any chance at quality output. School programs can mirror each other from a rich to poor district with differing results and the more heavily financed schools don't always out-perform. Don't give up on your kids and they won't give up either...
The children aren't my future.I have no children and at this point in my life won't be around to see the real dumbing down of America. What I see now makes me relieved to be a baby boomer.
just a cleaning lady: It's your generation that started the sinking/sucking process. Your parents (my grandparents) won the world (WWI & WWII) for us and you guys just gave it away for your retirement. Now your generation feels guilty for having it.
BTW, until your gone, the children are your future as they are ones growing the food you eat and the medicine you take. You are not self-sufficient. AND, no one told you about leaving a place nicer then when you left? That's from my generation.
The sad and politically incorrect truth is that the worst schools have the poorest kids whose parents are all too often the simply terrible parents and expect the schools to do it all. It is not that the schools are worse run or that the teachers are worse, it is that most of the lowest-income parents in this country simply do not support the teachers and encourage their children to do well.
They do not insist that the kids do the homework; they don't make sure that the kids get to school on time or even go everyday; they don't make the kids go to bed early enough so that they are well-rested for school; they don't take the kids to the library or do educational or positive organized activities with their kids (and don't give me the poverty line - so many of these things are free or very cheap) on the weekends and during breaks; they aren't careful about what programs the kids watch on TV, in limiting both the time spent watching TV and the content; they spend money on cable and satellite TV, have phones with all the bells and whistles and buy name-brand clothing rather than spend their money on books or taking the kids to museums; and they bad-mouth the teachers, causing their kids to disrespect the educators and not be co-operative at school. To say nothing of the fact that many of these parents have substance abuse problems and the kids live in dysfunctional families.
The best teacher in the world cannot get kids to do homework or co-operate in class if the parents haven't taught the kids to behave properly and respect the teacher and value education and learning.
It doesn't take money to be a good parent; but all too often low-income parents make poor parenting choices and the schools are left with the mess. I am not saying that all low-income parents are bad nor that higher income parents are all good. But having had my own kids in schools in three different states and in two other English-speaking countries where the situation was similar (bad schools in poor neighborhoods) and working as a sub aide in a number of schools in very economically different areas and hearing from the teachers and the kids about their families, this is very obvious (but no one in the profession can publicly say it).
How does one measure the success of a student? In our schools in the United States its done through high stakes testing. Period. This is the curse of No Child Left Behind. The U. S. was on the cusp of being the edducational leader of the world before NCLB was signed. No standardized tests, instead students would complete projects demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of a topic. Inside of that project could be writing, math, technology, social studies, science and the arts. Presentations to the teacher, class and school were an important elements. Actually proving knowledge through the use of knowledge to complete something real. But all that is gone and done because EVERYTHING in public educatiuon is about standardized tests. It is important to note that private schools do not have to follow any part of NCLB. Including any and all accomdations for students with any special needs. The schools of this nation are not failing. It is the failed policies in NCLB and evaluating students in only one feeble way. A standardized test. How often as an adult are you required to prove your compentancy at work by sitting down and taking a test with a number two pencil? On the other hand you are required daily to complete a variety of real life projects everyday to remain employed. Why do we insist that this archaic method of standardized testing will somehow translate into our children's real life? The adults in this fight for NCLB and standardized testing have insured we have a country of skilled multiple choice test taking robots. But where is the critical thinking in those standardized tests. Where is the social skill evaluations in those paper pencil tests? The notion that schools should be closed or taken over by for profit companies due to "low standardized test" is insuring that on the world stage the U.S. citizens will continue to fall behind. Authentic evaluation is what our kids need and forget what the politicians and business folks need. Our children deserve real education and not just one more test that in the long run does not evaluated how successful a child is or will be. End this nonsense of testing driving every single aspect of schools and get the politicians out of education, clearly all the political parties are only insterested in getting their agenda passed through and getting re elected. If its not about the students real needs then its a waste of time and resources. End NCLB and lets get back to teaching to the kids and not the tests.
Our county used to require a "senior project" for all students to graduate. some chose to do research projects on a subject they felt strongly about, some chose community service, but they all had to do an independant project. loved the idea! this is no longer done because we have to teach to the tests required by the state to have an official diploma. what a shame the kids aren't learning how to put all of their education and abilities into a final project anymore.
How is that the school's fault? You want to know how to change your child's school? Start with your own kid. If a parent is really determined that their child succeed, then it's up to them to do it. Not the school.
Parents bear the responsibility of their children's education by making sure that they are prepared for school.One way is to send them being fluent in the English language,making sure that their homework is done and that they are well fed and rested.I admire that this lady is proactive but she can get a college degree and teaching credentials if she wants to make a difference.People need to make the change they want to see and stop waiting for others to do their bidding.It's easier to criticize than it is to do the work to make the changes that you feel will benefit society.
Better schools are smaller schools, with smaller classes; that's all. When are we going to learn? One teacher can do just so much in a given time frame, and over a dozen small children (think "birthday party" and you'll get the idea!) is simply too many. Twenty four is OK for high school, but the papers get longer and the subjects more complex, so it's a wash really. Elementary schools should have no more than thirty-six students with walking distance a priority, city or suburbs. All grades from first to twelfth should have specialized teachers in basic skills and teachers should have their own spaces totally devoted to the subject, which takes the same amount of teachers, they are just happier and the children can concentrate better and enjoy moving among many teachers. High schools should specialize, each giving a different slant and direction, which livens up the process, which by high school has begun to wear on the senses. Children in their late teens are no longer children, they will be the first to tell you, and for the most part have identified their special interests and should be encouraged to follow them. These basic alterations will juice up any school district. Parents need to be more involved as well.
"...foundering..." nice editing, NBC, with the added valuable irony of the subject matter being about grade-school education.
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The concept behind the parent trigger is instantly appealing to Americans fed up with foundering schools:
Stupid in Mexico is stupid in Adelanto, Calif. These idiot Mexicans expect just being in the United States to turn their kids into geniuses while forced to endure the backward Spanish language.
Stop watching "I Love Lucy" and train your kids to THINK IN ENGLISH!
Learning ENGLISH is not enough. Drop the Mexican culture. Stop teaching your kids to WALK BACKWARDS.
I immediately distrust anything that was dreamed up by a right-wing billionaire and his foundation. I suspect this is really about union-busting. But let me put that aside. I grew up in a very poor area (Appalachia) and I got almost no help with school from my parents. But I did not have a TV and I loved to read. Plus, my parents did believe in education and really what they did was make sure I was there every day. No more, but they did teach me to work, which was key. From the time I was tiny, I was taught to do things to contribute to the family. Some teachers took an interest in me because I was smart, quiet and loved to learn. Others were mean or indifferent to me because I was a poor kid, not one of the in crowd. I am grateful to the good teachers, for without their support I don't think I could have overcome the bad things. Lucky that of my first 8 years, 5 of 8 were good to me, one was indifferent and two were mean. Those teachers weren't top tier either; it was a very poor area with few resources. But with my own love of learning and their help, I went on to college and to graduate school. I have done well in life. Is this idea of fire your school a good idea? Well, it seems suspect. The real problem is poverty and the fallout from that. I grew up on a farm and I ate, but a lot of children are hungry. It was clear I had to go to school every day. If there is real data about the performance of charter schools WHEN they get all the children, not a select few, point me to it. Sad to say, I know a poor family and one child is getting a lower grade in analytic geometry/trig (B) simply because his parents cannot afford an expensive calculator. What? This is wrong. I know a lot of you hate CA but they are not allowed to stick poor kids with extra bills they can't afford. What kind of lesson are we teaching children with this cruelty?
My daughter was legally blind till the 4th grade. Her eyesight finally got to the point where she could see to read and we asked about putting her in remedial classes. Nope they said, we don't want to hurt her self esteem. So my wife and I enrolled her in Sylvan and within a year and a half she not only was at the 4th grade reading level she was at the 6th grade reading level. Yes, the school systems need some competion to make them more responsive to the parents wishes. Too, quit experimenting on our kids with the education system. The USA spends more money per student than anyhere on the planet, yet we rate 25th in the world for education. So obviously giving the schools more money isn't the fix.
@Captain tommorow - You state, " quit experimenting on our kids with the education system". The program changes that you have observed in you daughter's education are the result of federal NCLB and other state mandated progams. I can assure you that no educator in a classroom who was familiar with the long range consequences of NCLB welcomed that program. Mandate after mandate came first. Then money for education from the Feds and state governments taken out of budgets. Result, hundreds of thousands teacher layoffs, overcrowded classrooms, and under funded programs. Even the best performing schools are going to have difficulty meeting yearly progress requirements by 2014. Let's get after Congress to do some work and pass a jobs bill to bring back teachers and give our kids a chance!
California already has one of the lowest teacher to student ratio and one of the highest failure ratio in America.California spends 49% of the state budget on education and all we have seen is the scores going down.Some of the highest paid teachers in the country and they have failed.Come on Congress? You mean,lets get off our ass teachers and get to work for a change!
Dear Readers,
As a math teacher, I see these stories promising overhauls to solve all that ails and can't help but wonder who, exactly, seems to believe them. Not practicing teachers, I'll warrant.
Not to sound flippant, or mean, but humans have been willing themselves to learn through war, hunger, poverty, etc. for eons. I see a majority of students in my own school who show up only because they must and then put in just enough effort to slide by. Not caring one whit about actually learning the material but only passing with a 72. Willing to be startlingly clear about it. Abusive, frequently.
Let's not automatically conflate student failures with schools failures, shall we? To do so is to let the students off the hook - and they are the ones who must pass the tests.
If you think schools are tense environments now, wait until the kids and their enraged parents are put in control of the teacher's paychecks and jobs too.
Aggressiveness is the defining American trait. Do we really think turning this dynamic lose on the schoolhouse is a good idea? Where the only thing that needs demonstrating is that Joey can't read, before we fire all the employees?
This nearly happened at my school last year. Uh - good luck finding the next cohort of martyrs to replace us all, soon to find their own necks drawn across the chopping block.
Somebody go get Joey and ask him what he thinks about this plan. You'll find him in his room, with his face buried in the TV.
There are no billionaires or hedgefunders in Adelano,Ca,just in case the teachers union didn't know! If the teachers union is against it,it has to be good for the kids!The teachers union is out of control! They quit giving a damn about anything but thier salaries ,retirement and benefit packages!Over half the students that get into high school never graduate!They blame the kids.When the kids fail periodic testing,they blame the kids.When the kids fail to be able to read by minimal standards,they blame the kids.They never blame themsleves.When a teachers is caught molesting a student,they support the offending teacher.The will blame the kids and accuse them of lieing before they will attack or acknowledge one of thiers has failed.
Do you really know what the Adelanto TA is doing? I bet you do not. They are part of the group working with parents and admin in the correct manner. Too much of what you write is less than accurate, just like your spelling.
Well,what a great chance to be heard,the intimidation and harassment problems are stemming from a terrorist(classified as a terrorist by US Air Force),who is also classified as a known rapist by UN who lives close by and is holding my now 16 yr old daughter Rainy hostage-ICC (international criminal court)has accepted my case (and has already downloaded my Black Box evidence from my UN Vehicles and other sources)-the Victorville newspaper has the ref # if you want to send a complaint,and ask the court to ref UN Peacekeeper Violet66 black box evidence-I have seen the protests-this terrorist has involvement with the Guatemalan war criminal in Moreno Valley,Ca Karate/RI mob boss police chief /Karate building-lawsuit is also against Riverside and high desert FBI and ordinary law enforcement.
Thank you federal government. You fail to enforce immigration laws, allow our once great country to become a third world cesspool and then billionaires complain when teachers can't turn their third world kids into A-students.
Anyone who thinks charter schools are the answer needs to know that charter schools don't have to admit the physically or mentally disabled kids who bring down test scores. Can't read or speak English? Tough - find a public school as most charter schools don't want you.
It is all about money and the rich trying to snap up more public funds...
Declare public education a failure and then privitize the profits by starting a charter school and social the losses by denying admission to those who would bring your scores down and ruin your line/lies about being better schools.
I think we want our kids to be taught well, right? Even BETTER than the Jap kids. It can be done if we really want it done:
1. Put them in uniforms
2. No incentives for failures (i.e., no welfare for the lazy)
3. Give the teachers full power over the kids, so the kids no longer think they can "sue" the teacher.
4. Tell the outlier parents to get lost
In other words, make it back the way it used to be in schools.
During the depression the dropout rate was 50% for all of America. The educated had a high school diploma. That is all it took. College was for the upper 5% of the economic ladder.
Then came WWII.
After WWII we had the GI bill, the economic boom, dropout rates halved. The energy was there. Meanwhile, the poorest had a dropout rate of 50%. Now (after WWII) a techical/academic college degree was required to get ahead.
The upper 30% of the economic ladder have a college degree or certificate.
Is it really education we are having a problem with or is it parenting?
I have a college degree. I have been instructed in and have run nuclear power plants.
I'm tutoring seventh grade students in math and algebra on my own, voluntarily, and find that they can learn if the parent is motivated.
Why do conservatives like unions for everyone but workers?
Some of you didn't read or understand the article very well. Those of you that say the parents don't care, this is driven by parents and there is a battle between the parents on the best approach; reform versus converting to a charter school. I would agree that some of the parents may not be doing their part if they're only speaking a language other than English at home.
Also those that say the school doesn't have a chance who also probably didn't read the article thoroughly, it sounds like the new principal is already making a difference and Diaz said her daughter moved up two and half grades academically and will progress to middle school.
My father is hispanic but lost his Texas accent along time ago while serving in the military where he met my mother a Japanese citizen who was fluent in English and a naturalized citizen. We spoke English and Japanese in the house. I learned to read and write when I was 3 and my older brother liked to teach me math and then show me off when by the time I was 5. My mother always helped me study for my spelling tests with flash cards but she also asked me how to correctly pronounce words and I was the spelling whiz in my family. Of course, we didn't have as many distraction as you do these days from 200-300 different tv stations. We turned the tv off and turned on a music station with the volume low so we could talk during dinner which we all sat down together to eat. My parents always asked us how was school and if we had finished our homework yet. This continued even after my mother started working full-time when I was 10 years old and me and my siblings did the chores and cooking to earn our allowances. I think that is one of the differences between life some of the households. I'm sure some of these families can't even think about an allowance and we struggled sometimes too. My father sometimes had a part time jobs even while employed full-time until my mother started working. The point is to give children responsibility and a work ethic.
So those of you who think that just because we don't have white european ancestry that we are much different from you, think again. Oh, and don't try to say it was because my mother is Japanese as I've met plenty of families where that doesn't translate to the stereotype including one family where the children couldn't even speak english and their father was away a lot as a Navy officer. Every family is different so don't try to pigeonhole based on ethnic origin.