School began two weeks ago, on September 1, 2011, and it will end nine months from now, around end of May and the beginning of June. This means my fellow teachers and I must plan approximately 36 weeks of classroom instructions that effectively raise the achievement level of every student in our classrooms. Before I became a public school teacher, I thought this was going to be an easy job to accomplish. After all, raising students’ achievements to high standards of excellence was a task I performed successfully in the army for more than twenty years. Granted, in the military my students were adult men and women, as opposed to the boys and girls I now teach, however, I thought the basic strategy for success would be the same. Boy! I was wrong! I discovered, instead, that political incompetence has mangled public school curriculum and assessments to the point that makes all the data results for state testing meaningless. Perhaps, if I quickly tell you how student achievement is approached in the military, it will give you a better appreciation for the incompetence taking place in public schools.
Training and education in military subjects begin on the 1st of October, with the start of the fiscal year. It ends on September 31st of the following year, or the end of the fiscal year. The twelve months, which make-up this training year or fiscal year, is divided into four quarters. The first quarter is October, November, and December. Second quarter is January, February, and March. Third quarter is April, May, and June; and the fourth quarter is July, August, and September. Each quarter is approximately 13 weeks in length.
Before the beginning of the fiscal year (October 1st), all lessons for the entire year are planned on a master spread sheet showing dates and times all required lessons will be taught. Military standards name the lessons to teach, the conditions under which they will be taught, and the level of performance each student must demonstrate in order to be considered proficient. Student attendance during lessons is mandatory. Every lesson is followed with an evaluation, or after action report, that includes students’ input. At the end of the first quarter students are expected to know the lessons of the first quarter. At the end of the second quarter, they are expected to know the lessons for the first and second quarter. By the end of the third quarter, they should be proficient in the lessons of the first, second and third quarter; and by the end of the fourth quarter, they should be proficient in all lessons given in the four quarters.
The highest ranking military commanders ensure that all subordinate commanders inspect and verify all students’ accomplishments. Each holds himself and his subordinates accountable for students’ achievements; each also knows that his boss and his boss’s boss, (or the chain-of-command above him), holds him accountable. The career of every leader at every level literary depends on how well he has trained himself and his subordinates to know and perform their jobs. The buck stops at every level of leadership: When failure occurs, all leaders that should have been aware of the problem/s are subject to disciplinary actions. Conversely, when success occurs, all leaders whose awareness contributed to the success are rewarded. Since everyone, regardless of his rank, has a stake in the outcome, careful attention to students’ attendance during classroom instructions, students’ readiness to learn, (or going to class on time, with the right tools for learning),and classroom disciplinary problems are addressed effectively and efficiently by the members of the chain-of-commands acting in concert with each other. Excellent teachers, like me, always knew we had the full support of our leaders.
Public schools are the antithesis of everything I stated in the previous paragraph. School, which starts in September and ends nine months later in May/June, is divided into four quarters (in most cases), with each quarter approximately nine weeks in length. But here is the craziness: The achievement test to determine the reading and math skills students acquired at each grade level is given (in states like Wisconsin) at the end of the first quarter! The achievement test to determine the knowledge and skills students acquired in math, science, reading, language arts, and social studies at grades 4,8, and 10, is also given at the end of the first quarter! For example, children who entered sixth grade at the beginning of this month (September, 2011), will be tested in math and reading in November, 2011 to determine the knowledge and skills they acquired as sixth graders! Children who entered fourth grade at the beginning of this month will be tested in math, science, reading, language arts, and social studies to determine the knowledge and skills they acquired as fourth graders! This means that ¾ of the knowledge and skills these students achieve during the school year are not tested. In other words, the knowledge and skills these sixth grade and fourth grade students will gain in November, December, January, February, March, April, and May will not be tested. I kid you not! And this is just the tip of the madness!
Additional problems relating to classroom attendance, readiness to learn, classroom disciplinary problems, parental support and involvement, and school funding are so detailed that I think it’s best to discuss each one separately, which I will do in the next few blogs.
By
James A. Porter
