Before my daughter could read, she entered a competition and was awarded a blue “Participant” ribbon. She proudly showed it to me and said, “Look! I won!” It didn’t hurt anything to smile and say, “Yes! You did!”
But, in some things, it is harmful to confuse participation with victory. And, even worse, if we believe that our weaknesses are, instead, strengths, we will never work to eliminate those weaknesses, and they will persist.
I recently pointed out that the college readiness of Utah students is ugly. In other words, I didn’t hand out a blue Participant ribbon. My bad. Maybe I should have said that our college preparation levels are big-boned or have sweet spirits, because my candid (and accurate) assessment has caused that great guardian of the status quo – offense – to raise its wounded head.
Well, facts are facts. If we don’t examine them, we won’t improve. If we examine them, but merely take offense that we aren’t being handed a blue “Participant” ribbon, we won’t improve. In the case of education, if we ignore facts or if we take offense at facts, our failure to improve will have significant consequences for our students. So, I suggest we buck up, examine the data, determine whether we need to improve, and, if so, buck up again, and, then, chart a course for improvement.
Why does it matter? A student’s success in college correlates directly with that student’s preparation for college. In Utah, we see that a student with an ACT composite score of 16 has a mere 16% likelihood of graduating from college. But, a score of 32 suggests a whopping 95% likelihood of graduating. ACT scores between those low and high numbers produce a steady, upwardly trending line of likely college graduation. (See this Nov. 2011 Audit).
ACT data shows that only 27% of Utah high school students who take the test are college ready. As a result of this lack of preparation, very few of our incoming freshmen qualify to take required degree-oriented math courses. In other words, Utah students are so poorly prepared for college math that the Utah System of Higher Education (“USHE”) has embedded into the curriculum a credit bearing developmental class (Math 1010). Math 1010 counts only as an elective credit, not as an actual math credit toward any degree. Thus, even the students who avoid the 900-level remedial math courses, still mostly end up taking the developmental 1010 class and, then, also, the math class(es) their degree requires. Because they did not acquire basic math skills in high school, they must waste time in a 1010 class that could be spent taking a course that actually meets a degree requirement for math or taking another elective to explore an area of possible interest.
Anyone can take offense at anything. But these facts simply are facts. And, if left uncorrected – because people use the offense card to stifle critical conversations – these facts will inevitably lead to the continued failure of Utah students to complete college. Because I think that outcome is horrible for our students, I’m going to have the conversation.
And what does this conversation say about high school teachers and incoming freshmen? It simply says that they are trapped in a system that is not making sense. It is the status quo that should be criticized and changed, not the players. So, please note, I do not criticize the players. Instead, I criticize the status quo of an impersonalized curriculum. We teach the herd decimals. After a few weeks, we hand every member of the herd a decimals “Participant” ribbon. We then teach the herd fractions. After a few weeks, we hand every member of the herd a fractions “Participant” ribbon. We then teach . . .. But, wait. What if a student didn’t actually master decimals? Well, too bad. The herd has moved on to fractions.
My dastardly – and maybe offensive – plan is to assess what each student knows toward the end of high school and, then, tailor instruction to address that student’s specific deficiencies. Crazy, huh?
The vast majority of our public education teachers are hard working and wonderful. Their dedication inspires me! Combined, my kids have now had about 60 teachers in the Washington County School District. Excepting probably 3, I could not be more pleased with those teachers. 57 out of 60 – those are Hall of Fame numbers! I am forever grateful for the work they have done with my children. But, those great teachers work in a system that is not allowing them to properly prepare our students for college – simply because it does not allow for proper assessment and individually-tailored instruction for each student (as detailed here), not because of a lack of skill, effort, or dedication by the teachers. So, I’m not quite sure why a teacher would take offense at a call to assess/individualize instruction – unless the teacher is guarding the status quo of impersonalized curriculum.
Likewise, our students are far from dumb. In fact, I happen to think that the vast majority are brilliant, with unlimited capabilities. Their possibilities are tremendous! But, they are being set up for failure by a system that is not properly assessing them and providing individually-tailored instruction based on that assessment. So, again, I’m not quite sure why a student would take offense at a call to assess/individualize instruction – unless the student is guarding the status quo of impersonalized curriculum.
If my wording isn’t quite right, I apologize. But, I don’t think my vision is wrong. If we are going to improve Utah’s college completion rate, our incoming students must be much better prepared for college. This can be accomplished with proper assessment and individually-tailored instruction. The tools exist to do this affordably.
Hello, You address a serious problem here. I don’t think that you can write legislation that can fix the problem, but I have a few suggestions.
First, I am not a regular math teacher. I have taught Adult Ed for a long time now and I’ve been able to help a great many students get math credit and also pass the GED test.
In 2007 there was a national study published that said, in essence, that the reason U.S. students don’t do very well with math is that they lack the basic math skills of fractions, decimals, and percentages. That is true.
When students would come to my Adult Ed class they would test poorly in math skills, then we would assign them sections in our book which dealt with the basics of fractions, decimals, percentages, and then add some problem solving skills. This helped them to “see” how all of the rules for fractions, decimals, and percentages are used in algebra, geometry, trigonometry etc. and then they found algebra and geometry easy.
Once the students saw how these rules were used in algebra, and they made the connection, they found the algebra and geometry was not a mystery and they were amazed that they actually understood “math.”
We mustn’t assume that students will see the coordination of the basic math to more advanced math. Students must review and see how it fits. Also, more problem solving skills, such as: make a drawing, make a chart, make a list, choose an operation, work backwards, and some others, need to be taught more.
I had a great teacher in high school who, after we corrected our assignments, would say, “What problems do we need to go through?” Then we worked as a class through those problems on the board. We didn’t just correct, report our scores, and then go on.
Somehow, the teachers, as a whole, need to help the students get how basic math connects to the algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and so on. Let’s see if we can make it easier for students to see this and we will help solve the problem.
Thanks for your efforts towards education.
Having just graduated from high school I couldn’t agree more, Senator. The public education system has some ways to encourage college readiness (like AP and honors classes) but it needs a lot more. Thank you for caring enough about public education to tackle this issue!
Good stuff, Grant. I get it. My 6th grader has struggled with math. Starting this past July, I’ve been working to have her get a better feel for math — what it means, how it works, what we try to do with it — along with the rote fundamentals that are needed. She has turned the corner!!!!! She thinks math, and it’s awesome.
Abby, thanks. This comment has absolutely nothing to do with you. Nothing at all. But, I will point out that some students take after their mothers too much, and, as a result, are completely incorrigible. Not that I’m talking about you or your mother in any way. You’re going to come visit me at the Capitol this session, I hope! And, btw, as much as it completely disgusts me, I’m becoming a big Ute fan. What is wrong with me?!
This one really hit home. I’m a casualty of poor public education/the product of ‘herd’ methods of teaching and an otherwise highly creative student. While in high school my parents were embroiled in their own drama, thus were totally unaware I was academically falling between the cracks.
Any divergent learner like me, finds traditional classroom methods excruciatingly painful. I emerged from high school with approximately zero math skills but wrote a half decent essay so the Red Sea was parted and I was admitted to college. I was then swallowed up when I couldn’t grapple with quantitative reasoning. Years later, I’ve found academic success but my original failure has come at a price.
I so appreciate this post and I’m grateful for public leaders who are actively addressing education reform.
1. In my October 24 comment to your post about higher education I talked about public education. You responded that your plans had little to nothing to do with public education. Now it seems you’re talking a lot about it.
2. The new common core standards which are based in part on national “College and Career-Readiness Standards” call for increased academic rigor. Shmoop.com advertises that they ” speak student.” That translates into dumbing-down the curriculum. Yes, I spent some time on the site. Speaking student will not increase academic rigor.
3. There are definitely new avenues to explore in terms of online learning tools. School districts and states are adding new programs at a ridiculously rapid rate. In my experience as an online teacher, the biggest challenge is accountability. How do we know that the person online doing the work is actually the student? How can we be sure students are actually doing their own work? We don’t. How can we know the student is actually learning? There must be proctored, on-site assessments.
4. I repeat what I said in October: Parents must put their students’ academic education ahead of sports and multiple other activities. The school day should be sacred time. Parents must start parenting again and we must find a way to make parents more accountable for their students’ academic education.
5. There is a lot of research to support the effectiveness of differentiated instruction, and there are a lot of teachers in Washington County who do this.
6. There is always a lot of rhetoric about US schools lagging behind our international counterparts. It’s time to catch up! The Spectrum recently ran an article that showed that internationally, teachers are more respected than teachers in the US, and are paid 10-12% more than teachers in the US. Let’s start there! Far too many teachers work one or more jobs in addition to teaching full-time. A lot of teachers put in more time than they are required with no compensation. Our school district is currently in a phase of adding programs that require more time by teachers, but there is no compensation for that time; it is simply an “expectation of employment” (PLC time, safety training, and so on).
7. How much time have you spent in a secondary classroom since August? I applaud your efforts to improve education and appreciate the opportunity to dialogue, but until you invest some real time in actual schools and classrooms, the best sources of information, ideas, and solutions will continue to be underused. You must actively seek to involve the EXPERTS: the current classroom teachers.
Teacher-Expert,
Thanks for your comments. If I am talking a lot about public education, then I’ve strayed off message. As you accurately point out, public education will not significantly change anything regarding college readiness, unless we find nonexistent money for significant pay raises and expensive protocols like extensive proctoring, unless we change the parents, and if non-teachers try to lend a helping hand. In other words, that system mostly eliminates itself from the possibility of meaningful change regarding college readiness.
Instead, I intend to have the Utah System of Higher Education (1) raise standards, (2) prepare an assessment tool, and (3) prescribe curriculum to shore up deficiencies. Parents, schools, and even each individual college can use or ignore the tool as they deem appropriate. Some students will benefit, and some won’t, depending on how their academic leaders utilize the tool. But, for the amount of money — which is fractional to everything you detailed above, and really could be implemented this year — it is worth a try.