By Anne Foster
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-895043.mp3
Dallas, TX –
A school board in Rhode Island in February voted to fire all 77-teachers and 16-staff members at the struggling Central Falls High School. The decision came after the district said it failed to reach an agreement with the teachers' union on a plan for the teachers to spend more time with students to improve test scores - although a union spokesman said the district had seen improvement on test scores during the past two years. Commentator Anne Foster takes issue with the board's decision.
Some can't make it in the teaching profession, and others do specific things that they must be fired for. But to blame dismal results solely on teachers and fire all of them is na ve and may ultimately hurt public schools. Why couldn't the district and teachers' union reach an agreement on the issue and allow teachers to continue?
Teachers cannot succeed in a vacuum - certainly not in a school challenged with this degree of poverty and mobility. The questions that need to be asked and answered are: What kinds of support and resources did these teachers have to do their job? Where was the central administration of the school district? Where were the community and parents?
Schools with a high percentage of poor students require more resources to educate those students than schools with middle class and affluent students. It simply costs more to successfully educate poor children - more money, more staff development, more community resources, and more support from the district. Did the Central Falls High School teachers have the support and resources they needed to get the job done?
The good news is that there are public schools with high concentrations of poverty who are achieving academic success with their students. They are doing so because they have every piece of the puzzle in place. The community is in the schools, offering help in the form of tutoring, mentoring, and social services. Parents have been drawn into these schools as partners in their children's education and have been made to feel welcome. Parents and citizens who care about all children have been appointed and elected to school boards. They have committed themselves to providing an equitable education to all students, with the resources that it requires. Voters have passed bond elections in order to provide additional resources and facilities. School districts have created an environment of high expectations for all children and then provided the framework and staff development to achieve those expectations.
For some people, this may seem too much to ask. And yet we know that these are the things that work. We must hire and retain the best teachers, and then we must give them the support they need and deserve. Teachers must be committed to the success of all students and must believe that all children, including poor children, can achieve - and be willing to roll up their sleeves to make it happen.
Many other school districts have their share of failing schools. Teacher quality is important to the conversation about how to improve these schools, and we must insist on quality teachers and quality teaching. But we need to be very careful about the message we are sending here - that it is all up to the teachers. It doesn't help us attract the teachers we need over the long haul. Public schools belong to and are accountable to the public. Who is the public? It is all of us - parents, citizens, communities, the media, policymakers, and lawmakers. Only when all of us do our part can teachers truly be successful with what we are asking them to do.
Anne Foster is a former president of the Richardson Board of Trustees and is currently Executive Director of Parents for Public Schools.
If you have opinions or rebuttals about this commentary, call (214) 740-9338 or email us at kera.org.