Can we talk about what's going on in public education today?

My husband has been a teacher for 15 years and he's ready to leave the profession. He, a public school teacher (who just won teacher of the year in his district), wants our kids to be homeschooled. That says a lot, IMO.

There are so many things to say about this topic that I don't know where to start.

One thing that frustrates him to no end is that the tests are essentially meaningless bc they don't in any way measure progress. For example, he has a student who came into 3rd grade at a K reading level. DH has put so much time and effort and encouragement into that child this year. That child is now reading at a 2nd grade level. By any sane person's account, that is a success. That child has made 2 years of progress in one year. The child has worked hard and has matured and grown and learned by leaps and bounds. But come test time that child will be counted as a failure and that failure will count against my husband and against the school. How is that helping anyone?

Another thing that has pushed him over the edge to want to leave the profession is the issue of mainstreaming and accommodations. Out if 31 kids in his class this year 22 have some sort of IEP or 504 or special need. That means my husband has to write a lesson plan, then write and change 22 additional lesson plans to modify the lesson according to each child's paperwork. All with no training regarding special needs kids.

The district held training for teaching dyslexic kids last week. Their advice to teachers was "if you teach the key concepts harder the kids will pass the test". That was it. No tips for identifying dyslexia or what to do specifically for those kids.

My son is only in first grade, but I am already dreading the testing. I thought it was way too much 11 years ago when I was still teaching...so I can only imagine how bad it's gotten since.

If my son struggles and the testing makes school miserable for him, I am willing to go back to work so that he can go to a private school.

I am thankful my youngest is in HS and honestly while we have "benchmarks" and end of class exams, they aren't as bad as the younger grades seem to be getting. I am in favor of "achievement tests" which I remember taking as a child once a year to see where I was at -- but I don't remember those ever being mandatory or counted against teachers/schools.

Truly, if I had a younger child with the right personality, I would consider homeschooling or looking into charter schools for at least the primary/elementary years.

Frivolous? Are you saying that or are you reflecting the attitude of the district?

Not a teacher, but a parent of children going through the public school system where every thing is teaching to the test.

When you wrote, I just nodded my head. That's exactly how I feel.

It brings on such self loathing that I cannot afford private school for my children.

And getting into a charter school is a joke. My kids have been on the waitlist for years. Almost all the spots are given to siblings of already enrolled students before being opened up to the community.

I even wish I could homeschool, but I work (single mother), and it is not feasible.

There is just no chance to have your children get a truly good education unless you are wealthy.

I feel helpless. I feel ashamed. I feel like I have failed them.

Sarah*H, as a parent, I agree with everything you wrote. My kids attended LAUSD school K-7 and this school year we moved to Vancouver, BC. The last three years in LAUSD were insane.

We are very pro public school so we sent both of our daughters to our local public school. It was a Title 1 school with average performance when we started. In the early years it improve a little, slid back a little, then improved a little. It was a nice school and the kids learned to read and write. Around 2009/2010 things switched into high gear. In retrospect it is a little bit like the parable of the frog in the pot, suddenly we were awash in seemingly monthly assessments and tests. The kids were expected to be advanced in everything and the standardized test subjects were taught relentlessly, especially in the months preceding the test. It made school uninteresting and pressure filled. Each subsequent year, though the kids did well, I felt that they really weren't learning to think.

LAUSD decided that it wanted to give each child an iPad. There was little public discourse about the how and why. I have always felt that iPads are great for entertainment, but not particularly for education. LAUSD planned to use Pearson educational software on the iPads and restrict other content. As a parent, we already used the supplemental Pearson software and it was dismal. It was designed to supplement the textbook, but was limited to that you really had to have the textbook. It was not innovative or exciting in any way. Not to mention, the first week of the rollout kids figured out how to circumvent the restrictions. So instead the iPads were rolled out for testing. Keyboards were bought and the kids were expected to take tests using a combination of touch screen and keyboard (without learning to type in school). The test also crashed with regularity and some were set up so that going back and correcting previous answers was difficult.

The final straw for me was Common Core. While I agree with the idea, the rollout was a horror. There is no way that the tests were actually developed by trying them out on a sample of actual children. The curriculum and testing during the year were completely independent of the common core tests administered in the spring. The kids were told that the tests did not count, but getting an average of 36% how could it not adversely affect the kids. My 7th grader was a wreck and I suspect the teachers were too. The administration suffered too because the iPads bugs delayed the testing. It was a nightmare. The top echelon seems to have forgotten that they are dealing with actual human beings not widgets.

Had we stayed in Los Angeles, I would have opted out testing for a couple of years out of protest or looked at alternative schools. It really was a destructive process. As it happens, we moved to Canada. It is better here. There is less emphasis on this test or that assessment. My kids are getting good grades in everything except PE and the Canadian children are intelligent even without all the testing.

ETA: Defeated is a very good word to use to describe the situation. I wrote numerous letters as did other parents, but nothing changed.

I think the testing is insane, of little value, and I would lead the parade if they did away with it. I think the main purpose is to enrich the companies that sell the tests and the test prep materials.

But. My kids public school education is 100x better than what I recieved in the late 70s and early 80s. They attend an urban, traditional high school. It is in an old building with all the typical problems of urban school.

But they offer 10 foreign languages through the 5th year of each. My school offered one year of Spanish, maybe two classes of it.

Next year DD will take AP Calculus and AP statistics. My school offered four years of math- Alg I, Alg II, Geometry and Trigonometry. There was one class of Trig. The year I took it we had to share books because the school only owned 9 books, had only ever had 5 students max and the teacher was overwhelmed by 30 of us.

There was no AP anything. The depth and breadth of what they study is so much better than what we had.

So the testing totally sucks and I hate it. But compared to years ago, public school is so so much better.

I am happy that I could retire when I did. We instituted (on our own). The Act quality core test in addition to state testing ( which us a joke! I taught Bio and the ten questions that had on Bio were supposed to assess our teaching??!!). We looked at the Act QC curriculum and decided we were already doing most of it so we didn't change a thing .... And we did great ! Now the state has changed the state curriculum and the testing again.... And I glad I am out!

And the idea that a school can be the top in the state and fail because they didn't improve enough is real and ridiculous!!

This is what happens when legislatures think they know more than teachers. And truly, for the schools that are failing, I believe it is the family ( or lack of). Not the schools that is the problem. How can a kid learn without support at home, changing schools 3 or 4 times each year, and worse?

I agree with you that in the most part children today have much better academic opportunities. I love that they have so many languages to choose from etc. I know my kids are getting a  better education at school than I did.


But, it does sound like your kid/s are in high school, and what we now see in elementary school versus what we saw even 5 years ago, is very different. My oldest is in 7th grade and what she did in 1st grade is far different to what her little brother is now doing in 1st grade. Some good changes, some not so good changes. 

what has made private schools exempt though?

Your district is unequivocally wrong on this point.  Dyslexic minds learn differently.  If the district continues to teach the concepts "harder," the only thing that will happen is that kids and teachers will become frustrated, their self-esteem (closely tied to ability to learn) will plummet, and they will fail.  It would be as if someone were to speak to me in Russian.  They can speak louder. They can get angry.  They can repeat themselves over and over. But if I don't speak Russian, I'm never going to understand what they're saying. 

Here is some of the best info I have seen on recognizing dyslexia.  Every parent and teacher would do well to review this information and keep an eye out for the signs.  One in every five children is dyslexic, and the best approach to teaching them is with a multi-sensory, phonics based approach like Orton-Gillingham.  Hope this is helpful!  Good luck to your DH! 

Dyslexia Signs