AnonymousBy Lou Segal
The three most important words in education are performance, performance, performance
There is a saying that the three most important words in real estate are location, location, location. This is not rocket science for anyone with a cursory understanding of real estate economics. What should be equally obvious is the three most important words in education are performance, performance, performance, which for some inexplicable reason seems to be beyond the comprehension of many of our school leaders and board members. The important question we need to ask is why do the citizens of our community tolerate low performing schools, and why does there seem to be no one who can fix the problem?
The facts are pretty depressing for anyone who cares about this topic. There is no immutable law which says we have to put up with schools where up to 70% of the students are failing math or English or can’t read or write at grade level.
The number one problem is that consumers of public education in our state have little or no say in running our schools. Instead, a coalition of teacher unions and Sacramento politicians, the latter dependent on the former for campaign funds, have managed to co-opt the established order by incorporating a blizzard of byzantine rules in an archaic and inscrutable educational code, controlling almost every facet of school governance. They have managed to tie the hands of almost every school principal in the state.
Think of it this way: If you were told you were going to be put in charge of an organization and you were going to be held accountable for its performance, and yet you were powerless to honestly evaluate the labor force (many tenured teachers in Santa Barbara are evaluated only once every five years), fire ineffectual employees or reward employees for superior performance, you might be a bit leery to take the job. This is precisely the position we put our school principals in every day of the school year.
Furthermore, we exacerbate the problems when we take away the flexibility from local school leaders and teachers to choose the most effective curriculum for their students, or to adjust the length of the school day and year for students who are falling behind academically. We even make it hard to retrain or reassign teachers based on performance. In effect, we have a powerful union representing teachers with inordinate influence over California legislators that sees its primary mission to preserve the status quo, even it means protecting low performing teachers regardless of the damage it causes students.
Today, we are reminded of the formidable influence of teachers’ unions because of their refusal to allow many schools to safely reopen. It is undeniable we are jeopardizing the social, emotional and behavioral health of our students, as well as their academic progress. We have many studies of school re-openings in other states and countries, and the overwhelming conclusion is it can be done safely without endangering our children, teachers and parents.
Since there will be institutional and bureaucratic resistance to making the necessary changes to improve performance, it is all the more important we put people on our school boards who are unafraid and bold. It is painfully obvious that the current group of school board incumbents either do not have the requisite skills to enact policies to benefit students or lack the commitment to take the necessary steps to improve academic performance, since the problem of low-test scores has not changed in any significant way during their time in office. On November 3, the voters will have a chance to hold the incumbents accountable by giving others running against them the opportunity to fix our broken schools.
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the general ignorance of the population is all to evident in this day and age. and yes, this starts at the school level, but it does no good to pontificate about education and then act like a fool.
Special education does cost a lot of money. These students have rights. They deserve an education. And that education, put simply, is not cheap.
Swap all of the students from McKinley to Washington. Go ahead. Do it.
Do you think that magically the McKinley students will be scoring higher? That it’s all about the teachers?
The biggest predictor to performance, put simply, is poverty. You can track test scores in SB against the % of students at each school living in poverty. It’s basically a straight line EXCEPT for the one or two schools who have managed to get a large influx of external funding (Franklin, and prior to that: Adams) – which have allowed for much smaller class sizes and targeted small group literacy intervention at a very early age.
The remaining schools are left to try and get that advantage but without the cash.
I agree Let Me Go, more resources need to be allocated to special education (while also using the existing resources more wisely). Long-term this is actually a fiscally wise path as providing the adequate education now will better prepare them to be self-sufficient members of society in their adult lives.
Citizen, the study I saw focused on Finland because they have one of the best school systems. I didn’t see any data on Asia or a nation that also had significant poverty. I think China has some students doing well and others on the worker track. So wonder how they do on average.
Excellent article. Why does this town allow the local California Teacher’s association to run rough shot over the futures of our children?
Because they keep voting blue year in and year out and for some reason, expect things to change?
Franklin is pulling up its scores. So no, it is not about “poverty”. Impoverishment of values perhaps, but just throwing more money around solves nothing. It costs no money to instill the love of learning. It costs no money to reject negative peer pressures and bullies. It takes courage and fortitude, both of which are free inside games. Plenty of well-funded support systems for youth in this town. So don’t blame “poverty”. Not a factor. That is an insult to all the donors and volunteers who reach out to young people in this town.
The cognitive disconnect between voters slavishly supporting the DCC and California Teacher’s Union and in return receiving poor educational outcomes – especially amongst Hispanic children – is shocking. Is there any solid blue registered Democrat on Edhat that can enlighten me? What am I missing? I get that Orange Man Bad, but why do the children need to suffer?
Yes to all of that.
I doubt the school,districs even have any real evaluation of the teachers, from what I’ve seen. We had a lousy, lazy senior teacher a while back. Sorry, it’s true. Coasting towards retirement with zero incentive to work hard. Lots of generalized unprofessionalism at our former school.
When you sort the students by socio-economic status, middle and high income families are doing just as well as European students. It is only when you put low income families in the mix that we start to look bad compared to other nations.. So, solve poverty, and you solve the school problem. An average teacher is not going to be able to overcome the social and economi problems that accompany the kids to school. They are not and should not be social workers.
It is staggering the amount of money that goes to our schools…yet doesn’t show up “for our kids”. For example our GUSD gets 19k per student. But instead of adding classrooms to make the teacher to student ratio as low as possible, the money seems to just get lost in an abyss of administrators. It is true that we have unique differences that make comparing us to a place like Finland or Sweden dubious at best, but the money is there to make every classroom in SB under 20 students and every Goleta school under 15. That would have tangible positive results.
“Today, we are reminded of the formidable influence of teachers’ unions because of their refusal to allow many schools to safely reopen.”
Not sure that lower income Asians do poorly.
Perhaps it is something else? Fatherless homes? Single or no parent in the home?
Pitmix Poverty is a factor but it is more complex than that. Students with differences, english language learners and foster youth are doing the worst with a negative 113-negative 89 while whites and asians are at 70%. What happening is that students are not being taught to read by best practices like the science of reading. AB1369 which passed 7 years ago and was supposed to be law but was opposed by teachers unions and reduced to guideline shows what needs to be done. There should be automatic testing of all students in the k-3 space, investment in teacher training and use an explicit phonemic approach to literacy. None of these practices are implemented at any of our schools. What we have is an action gap on the part of leadership. Matsuoka often told me he did not have the will or capacity to deal with this issue. Yet there are federal laws in place like IDEA Individual Disability Education Act and FAPE, the right to a free and appropriate education that obligate our schools to do far better. Right now we have a “wait to fail” policy that means kids only get help when they score in the 25%. And the services offered are too little way too late. Whites and asians do better because people of means get their students tutors which many of our english language learners can not afford. The problem is the action gap. Read Dr. Sally Shaywitz at Yale and Emily Hanford an investigative reporter who explains much of what I am sharing. Poverty does not help but it is not the problem. Lack of action and will from our board and superintendents is the culprit here. .. monie
Great article Lou. I think you make an excellent point that performance should be priority 1 for schools. Unfortunately, teacher performance is not prioritized or rewarded at all. In fact, teacher performance is irrelevant to salary which is determined based exclusively on seniority. Likewise, if a staff reduction is required those with the least seniority are the first to go regardless of their performance. This system is destined to achieve poor results. Good teachers should be rewarded with pay increases, and bad teachers should be let go. The priority should be performance, that is providing the best possible education. Right now the seniority of our teachers is given a higher priority than the education of our children.
Right on point OP. If the district isn’t able to adequately educate our children for $19K per student, when many private schools can do it better for less, there is a problem with the system. It’s a problem that plagues many large government funded entities in California. When your “customer” is the government, sound business practices go out the window. No need to provide a superior service or product to attract and retain customers, just higher lobbyists and donate to politicians who will keep the gravy train flowing. Imagine if instead of very un-rigorous remote learning we’ve had this year, and the upcoming 2 days a week in person 3 days asynchronous (worse for many parents and students), we gave the family of each child just HALF of the $19K per student to use towards education. The fact that our public schools are still closed should shine a bright light on the failure of our public school system.
And honestly it’s not an apples to apples comparison with the 19k. Considering all the benefits and advantages schools have in regards to free facilities, etc…that 19k is probably pretty close to the equivalent of Laguna Blanca’s 29k…and as such obviously quite a bit higher than all other SB private schools.
Mr. Segal is another of a long line of angry people who believe that the system is cheating them and that those who are doing the jobs we need done are lazy and incompetent and even evil. He denies that almost everyone tries to do the job they are given with their best. He offers simple solutions such as “elect me” and we will make those awful people behave or get out. Of course he will also have built in excuses when he doesn’t produce these results: It is the unions, it is the liberal agenda, it is the bad parents, it is the state rules…. Please do not vote for this person or his ilk. They will only work to undo and sabotage the progress that has been made. They are not team players.
Obviously something is dreadfully wrong with our school system…so right off the bat I am inclined to vote against the “team players” and status quo as we aren’t doing that well. Add in the schools inability to open/function right now…and it’s hard to really make any positive case for who is currently in charge. And a huge part of that is the teachers union, which again is actively working against the best interest of the students…that’s their job/agenda. If we can get rid of the teachers union (and police union), things would be much better. But for some crazy reason we still look reverently at unions…instead of seeing them for what they are in 2020: which in the case of teachers/police is powerful bodies working directly against the common good.
The current “team” pitch only for the teachers unions. That is not a team; it is a government school’s monopoliy. Teachers know who the good teachers are and they know who the bad ones are. What they don’t know is what they can do about this. Time for a new set of owners of the K-12 “team” who set news standards and put student outcomes number one. Pride in the product is nothing to get upset about when you currently have such a long losing streak. Never defend the failing status quo instead of reaching for new ways to find success for our students. Teacher union litany that we have been hearing for decades: we are underpaid, overworked and under-appreciated. Why anyone would choose the teaching profession after that decades long and relentless teacher union complaint underscores why perhaps the system does continue to fail. Get new blood and a new outlook. And stop dragging the good teachers, who we are very happy to pay well, down to the lowest common denominator for the sake of the “team”.
The district got a bad reputation because of this over-bearing group of special ed parents. You can’t hire and keep the best, when parents make it impossible due to excessive demands. Glad to see things finally calmed down. But this program has a prima donna attitude and needs to share more with the rest of the district needs and improve outcomes for all students; not just special ed students. Home school if you want special treatment.
@10:49 – I wonder why you think that the school budget is the only resource (false, by a long shot), or that people with special needs need to be (or can be) “fixed” (how tasteless). Providing for the disabled, elderly, poor, etc. is an ideal that most advanced nations strive to meet. What would happen if we didn’t? Ok, you wan’t to blame the parents for having defective kids. They should take full responsibility, right? If you had any idea what these special needs cost, and that nobody but the top 1% could afford to provide what their kids need, would you say that they should then just go without? Is this what civilized societies do? Fortunately there are laws in place.. it would be more fortunate if they were followed in good faith. The law says that all students have THE RIGHT to a free and appropriate public education (meaning, at public expense). Appropriate means that they are being taught in a manner that they can learn. Unreal, right?
Voice of Reason…100%!
I’m a foster parent and have fostered 35 children. Most of those children were in elementary school. I adopted four of those children. In all my years watching what happened to all of these children, the problem definitely exists with teachers across every single school district. Unfortunately because of the economy, we had to move from house to house almost every single year. Every time we moved into a house the owner would promise us they would not sell it and within a year they sold it. We have now living in the same house for over five years for the first time since we were married 25 years ago. All of this to say, that it is widespread in the entire community of Santa Barbara and Goleta. Every single school that we attended we watched our kids fail and watched the teachers and schools continue to pass these children on to the next grade without so much as batting an eye. Every single school had zero supports for our children who were struggling. Because they did not have an IEP (they just needed more time and help, not sped) they were thrown into the mix of other students who were also doomed to fail.
My oldest son could hardly write; he loved to read so at least he has an understanding of English and can formulate a few paragraphs, but his writing technique is horrible. My youngest son despises math so badly he doesn’t even look on his paychecks to see if he’s getting the correct amount despite how often I tell him the value of reading a paycheck and making sure you get correct change.
By the time my youngest child got to elementary school, I was fed up. I’ve been homeschooling for 5 years and never looked back. She is kind, intelligent, giving, and I can guarantee you she doesn’t do drugs. At every single other school in the district my children would tell me that people offered them drugs literally every single day.
Who is watching our children?
And while I agree it is largely the teacher’s unions, tenure, and powerless principles, it is also lobbyists who control school spending. Why do you think we have new text books every year? Text books AR a multibillion-dollar business but there’s only a few publishers. I saw a video on TED talks about this subject and it was fascinating and actually a little bit scary. If I can find the link I will post it. The people who are controlling our education and our children’s futures… it’s not just the teacher. I am actually a teacher and I am from a family of teachers and I can tell you that the only good education you will get on a consistent basis, year after year, is in private school. And by the way even in private school the children do drugs and have access to it every day unfortunately.
You just have to raise good children, who can say no, who are proud to be who they are, and aren’t influenced by the people around them. The latter is basically impossible, but grow your children in a way that helps them understand values and they will be okay. They may not know how to read, write at college level, or balance their checkbook, but they will be okay.
And by the way there are many home school options where you don’t have to teach full-time. There are excellent supports for those who agree that giving their children fewer hours of high-quality education is better than giving them a full day of crappy education. I choose the topics, I choose most of the assignments, my child is learning and thriving.
Franklin is pulling up its scores thanks to a huge influx of money that has allowed for smaller groups of learning, and a fantastic principal who has really worked hard to involve parents AND get those small groups rolling (with money!)
I’ve done the analysis of test scores vs poverty and it’s a straight line EXCEPT in a couple of rare cases where a great deal of money is involved. EVERY school looks at Franklin, etc., and tries to duplicate that BUT without the money. They don’t have the $ from external grants, they can’t raise that much $ from PTA fundraisers. A significant percentage of children are EL, AND take the bus, so good luck creating an on-site “community” of support for families. The school is miles away from home.
Gov Brown created a “huge infusion” of money to low performing schools before he left office with the expectation local control of those funds would find best practices for student improvements. And those best practices could then be incorporated across the districts. Looking back five years later found few to no new programs were put in place, there was no test score improvements and the extra funding ended up in the teachers own pockets. A total fail of a “local control” supplemental funding program. Sounds like Franklin may have put extra funding (or special grant money) to actual use- and has created programs that can now be implemented district wide. But this extra money was for program devolopment; not a blank check to be handed out to support the claim everyone continues to need more money, just more money, to make things work. Explain how the money got spent at Franklin, how can their success model be implemented across the dsitrict and where can present regular school funding be used for success models, and no longer wasted on failure models.
Administrators tend to blame special ed for their budget woes. Special ed administrators are a cross between politicians and used car salesmen) There will always be “x” number of dollars in a school district budget allocated to SPED (in CA the budget is the weakest). Those dollars can only be used on SPED. But try to obtain speech services so a child can get rid of a lisp? So that he/she can be understood? Denied! Try to get specialized instruction for a dyslexic kid (1 out of 5 has a degree of dyslexia) at the elementary school level when the benefit is greatest?? Impossible! Such services don’t exist. They haven’t been created. Why? Administrators stockpile special ed funds (to pay their SPED related legal fees? They break so many laws to avoid providing the services, that their legal fees are astronomical. Their M.O. is to deny needed services, get sued, and then pay settlements which cost big $$$ The kids with learning disabilities are the ones who suffer. As if life wasn’t difficult enough.
Contrary to what one might believe, the Republicans care more about special needs individuals than the Democrats (and this is coming from a democrat). Special ed services are far superior in red states. I know people who, fearing for their child’s future, have sold their homes and moved to places like Indiana where they care more about people like their children.
How did the school budget become the only resource to “fix kids” who present developmental disabilities of any degree ? Do parents play no role any longer, health insurance coverage, social services? How did this fall only on schools as the sole deep pocket. Which in turn now short-changes the rest of the student population.
Sp ed parents are not a large organized group. A very small percentage have hired lawyers or discovered free advocacy service to navigate the impossible labyrinth. However the vast majority of sp ed parents go without. They are forced to believe what the school tells them, and their children slip through the cracks.