The Woodson Foundation: Group Development Team

There are many problems in the American public education system today. Some of those include the quality of teachers, who have no real passion for the job, and are only allowed to remain in the position because of tenure privileges. Another issue is the state budgets that are allowed for public schools, with some states investing billions of dollars, and others prioritizing it lower on the list. In hot debate today is standardized testing, and the negative effect that it has on high school education, with the limits it places on teachers and what they have time to teach in the classrooms.

As a parent, student, or anybody in the community what skills would you say define a qualified teacher? That is a question many people may not think of. If a student is passing a teacher class does not necessarily mean that the teacher is effectively teaching the course. It could as well be that the same teacher could be doing the bare minimum and letting the students ride on by through the course. But there are teachers who challenge their students and push them to their breaking point. Would the board members not rather have a teacher who would push their students to where they will actually learn something from the class and remember what exactly they have learned? I am not blaming it all on the teachers because there are some student who just do not care and will fail because of themselves but if multiple students are constantly failing then there is a problem and it is not with the student. What we have here is a lack of instructions that reflects multiple perspectives and multicultural education that the teachers are required to provide. This is a major problem in Montgomery, AL. Many of you who are residents of the city of Montgomery are being affected by this but fail to realize what is happening to you when receiving an education until you move out of the city or better yet the state. The chair members of the Montgomery Public School System need to go through a strategic process of emotional, physical, and mental test before hiring that teacher. Not only should that

Some of the soultions are very easy to fix such as pay the subs more money. Then the school board needs to require more collage credets in order to become a sub that way the teachers will be smarter and will be getting more money witch will result in better subs and samrter students. Before every year they should have a meeting that all subs go to to reveiw the rules of the school and to show how they want there classes run.

The schools from poorer towns and cities do not have the financial assets available to them to hire the kind of teachers that schools with more money have the capability to employ.

been falling in quality for years now. Money is being spent less on the teachers and more on those that

Finally and foremost, school districts need to get rid of tenure. It is absolutely insane to allow a teacher to have absolute job security no matter how badly they perform. If a teacher can teach they will always have a job. Tenure does not protect high performing teachers as it was intended to do instead it protects low performing teachers. This is vital in getting rid of horrible teachers like Mrs. Eicher who is immune to job loss as a result of how long they have worked at the school.

If the problem is with teachers that do not value or wish the best for the students before them, then we need to stop that. If the problem is inequitable funding within and between school districts we need to correct that. If the problem is in the homes and hearts of the students themselves then we need to address that. Whatever it is, we cannot do nothing and scratch on heads as the current statistics continue to rise.

The state of California should analyze the enormous complexity of this issue, including the impact of teacher quality on student achievement, the evidence that teachers regularly migrate out of low-performing schools, and the potential solution that lies in offering incentives to well-qualified teachers who commit to work in struggling schools (ca.gov).

Funding is the root of the problem. It’s more a result of inequality than mismanagement. Pushes for funding typically steer away from national efforts--leaving poor schools to the responsibility of their poor community. Furthermore, poor schools are overlooked because of state budget tax cuts and corporate relocation incentives. Poor treatment for poor schools is influenced by the No Child Left Behind Act. The act gives schools a chance to earn their funding by rewarding flourishing schools and penalizing failing schools. Only, schools that are failing are more than often poor schools, the ones that need the funding most. The added pressure on students to pass exams usually works against them and further isolates the students from the supplies and teachers they need to

A way to solve this conflict is paying for teacher to get training and help other become teachers. Look at why it is important for all teachers to have teacher training programs. To provide teachers with the greatest chance of success, they need to have completed a program that provides them with knowledge, experience, and guidance. When this does not happen, we not only risk teachers leaving the profession quickly, but more importantly we risk the education of entire classes of students. Useful teacher training helps prepare teachers for these upcoming situations on a classroom. Inexperienced teachers look on getting students to memorize. Without a knowledge to what does and does not compose actual student learning, teachers sometimes create lessons that don't lead to the results they were expecting. However, teacher preparation programs can help teachers understand how to find and apply effective benchmarks for student success. Reading a book is not enough or listen to an instructor tell a teacher how they need hard on too. Teachers need practice teaching combined with mentoring in order to help them understand what is required from them in their position. This will help with student teaching in the classroom setting. The supervising teacher must be involved and provide feedback each day to help student teachers

It’s the lives of the children now that are being changed, not the ones who have already been through school with standard teachers. They are not getting the proper education they deserve because teachers are not putting in the effort it takes to teach them. They simply do what they absolutely have to to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Going above and beyond is obviously too much work… Even if it means many children grow up barely understanding anything they have learned because their teachers are not willing to work extra with them. Kids come to school to learn; not be ignored and brushed off by unfocused teachers. Usually a teacher has to work 1 or more years to receive tenure, depending on which state they live in, but why should they only try for the first few years of their jobs only to stop caring after they have gotten what they wanted? Tenure should not be given to anyone… Not when it can easily sacrifice a child’s education. Not to mention how unfair it is to teachers who are actually working hard and succeeding in their

Most of the other problems the schools face are directly related to the funding issue. Buildings are run down and sometimes mobile because of the lack of finances. No child wants to go to school in a dreary building that smells bad. It makes it hard to concentrate and hard to study in buildings such as this. Every school has some type of sport being played by the students. For some, sports are the only reason they do not drop out of school. However, if finances are not available then the school should focus mostly on the education of all of its students as a whole, not just a few who think they cannot make it without sports. Without the financial issues, schools have even more problems. School violence is becoming more and more common. School should be a place where children come to learn and be with their peers, in a very good environment. It should not be a place where children are afraid to go because of the anger or hurt of other children. This is probably the major issue of the public today.

Again the lack of time for teachers and all staff to process and analyze new change. For example, one teacher explained that this was her 7th year in the school and 5 of those year she

When analyzing the problem with college students and their lack of vocabulary there are noticeable problems with the attrition rate, percent in reduction, of teachers due to either retiring, stopping teaching, or transferring to other schools. When teachers stop teaching, it greatly impacts the students who lose the ability to be taught by experienced teachers. This impacts the education high school students receive. According to Alliance for Excellent Education, “…the single most important factor in determining student performance is the quality of his or her teachers” (Issue Brief 1). If the quality of the teacher is the most important factor in a students education shouldn’t states and school districts focus attention on helping new teachers stay teaching and become experienced rather than spending money to hire and re-train new teachers every year? Since experienced teachers are not teaching students the results are detrimental on high school graduates. “Only about 30 percent of high school students read proficiently, and more than a quarter read

The Woodson Foundation, a large nonprofit social service agency, is teaming up with the public school system in Washington, D.C, to improve student outcomes. It appears the schools have problems with truancy, low student performance and crime. The teachers are discouraged to help students due to the disrespect and behavioral issues in the classroom. The turnover rate for the best teachers is high, they tend to leave and go to schools that aren’t as troubled (629).