Man! Did Rep. Ipson and I see something amazing today!
We visited Southwest High School – the Washington County adult education high school. Anyone 16-years old or older can attend, as long as they are not enrolled in a traditional school. About 1% of the student body is there because they want to accelerate their graduation. The other 99%? I’m glad you asked.
Southwest gets some self-referrals, it gets students who have been kicked out of traditional schools, and it gets students from the abused women’s shelter, Vocational Rehabilitation, homeless shelters, “lost children” from polygamist communities, Juvenile Justice Services, Drug Court, Adult Probation & Parole, and Purgatory. That last place is the name of the local prison, but it also could serve as an apt metaphor for the educational status of many of the students. Though most students have completed 10th or 11th grade, they have the academic functioning level of 8th grade.
Let’s skip to the chase. What are the results? Last year, the 462 enrollees achieved 496 grade-level gains, and 313 graduation diplomas were issued. And – to make those numbers truly jaw dropping – those gains and diplomas were outcome based, meaning that they represent mastery of assessed competencies, not mere endurance of enough seat time. These numbers are off-the-chart amazing!
Let me give you a bit of perspective. By way of comparison, consider the students from Utah’s traditional high schools who go on to college. On average, this group enjoys tremendous learning advantages over Southwest H.S. students. We should expect much higher academic outcomes from the college-bound group. But, we get worse results. Tragically, only 27% of the more-advantaged group manages to graduate high school actually ready for college, meaning that, unlike the Southwest H.S. students, these students did not progress a grade level per year.
Let’s drive the point home a bit more. Let’s isolate just the Southwest High School students who are locked up at Purgatory. They, too, significantly outperform our more-advantaged Utah students. Last year, the 114 inmate students achieved 94 level gains. This is an 82% grade level achievement rate for prisoners, compared to the 27% grade level achievement rate for our traditional college-bound students. How can that be?
Unlike the Southwest H.S. students, the progress and promotion of the more-advantaged group has been based on sitting in a chair for an amount of time, not on assessed competency. It never mattered whether the more-advantaged group actually learned anything; so, they didn’t learn much.
These results speak to a lack of educational seriousness in Utah. How about we change that?
A quiz for anyone who remotely follows public education discussions in Utah: what will be the response to my call to improve educational outcomes? C’mon, this one is easy. The response will be that more money is needed. It’s Pavlovian – talk about results, salivate money.
Well, let’s look at the financing for Southwest High School. To achieve these results, the public dialogue has trained us to assume that we must throw a mountain of cash at Southwest’s challenging students, right? Wrong. Southwest achieves its superior results with 1/10th the money spent on the more-advantaged traditional students.
Did you catch that? Superior results, for a much more challenging student population, with 1/10th the money.
We focus on many things in our traditional schools. Unfortunately, educational competencies are not one of them. At Southwest, students are individually assessed. It first is determined what an individual student knows. Then, it is determined what an individual student needs to learn. Lastly, the student is taught those things and actually learns them. But, surely, this costs a fortune? Well, okay, but only if 1/10th of what we spend on traditional students counts as a fortune.
The assessment and the instruction are delivered online (A+nyWhere Learning System). Students go to the physical high school, when they can work it into their schedule. Teachers are in the high school’s 3 classrooms, to help when a student needs a live, flesh-and-blood helper. And it works. For 1/10th the cost, students gain actual, assessed competencies. Lives are changed. How cool is that?
This is essentially the same approach that Khan Academy has taken. It’s highly disruptive and threatens a lot of jobs, so you’ll have a heck of a fight on your hands getting it pushed through.
It’s almost like homeschooling plus virtual schooling, but you add in the live teacher when needed (which is definitely sometimes needed). Many who don’t believe in homeschooling will say, they are missing out on the social skills (only if you lock them up at home). When I homeschooled, all my son missed out on was learning about sex and drugs and swear words and bullies (in sixth grade of all places).
Now, Jesse is right. You will have a huge fight on your hands from the school district. They fight anyone who threatens to take the money away from them. They will be screaming: Where is the accountability to force the children to learn and attend school? Well we cannot force them, too. They are showing up, but not learning as you pointed out. So if they don’t show up, it’s their problem right? But the school district will say it is our responsibility to force them to show up, even if they aren’t learning.
I teach Adult High School Completion at Two Rivers High School in Ogden. I’ve been teaching night classes for 20 years along with teaching regular alternative high school during the day. Yes, we have students that do the same thing, come in with low skills and leave with very improved skill levels also in our Adult Ed program. The students who attend Adult Ed classes have a different motivation for completing their education. Also, I see students register, start classes, drop out again, then come back and finally finish after years of trying.
You can’t compare these students with regular public high school students. In high schools there are many, many good students who are there for the right reason. They are easy to teach and fun to teach. The problem is that many students don’t care about school and they see the legislature, and even parents, complain about the teachers. Our whole society is so disrespecting of teachers and education that it makes it hard to teach. In other countries education is valued and educators are held in high esteem.
In Utah, you have a lot of non-educators who think they have a good idea how to fix everything, but it never happens. The only way things will improve is if students begin to value education. That is a home and culture influenced attitude. The more the state legislature and parents complain about teachers and having to pay for education, the more students think it’s not valuable and that they have poor teachers. You are missing the most obvious and important part of fixing education…student perception and attitude. Change that and you change education in America. No amount of lawmaking will change education.
I’ve been teaching at the alternative high school for 17 years. Some of our students do amazing things, others get by, and still others do nothing, no matter how great a teacher may be. Many of my students at the Adult Ed class are students I had at the alternative high school and some finally make it. It’s a great celebration when they do!
Jesse and Jennifer,
I am not suggesting anything as disruptive as you two rebels are assuming (mostly, yes, because it wouldn’t fly politically; we embrace nothing as lovingly as the status quo). But, ya, I’m suggesting something for all students similar to what my children get. My 6th-grade daughter struggles with math, so I do homework with her every night, in person or via Skype. (Fractions with latency is FUN!). To get ready for the school year, we did Khan Academy. And she still struggles. But, she will make it, because I have the time and ability to help her. Children of means will do fine, no matter what we do in our schools; and, presently, those are the only ones doing fine. But, just as Southwest H.S. is showing, we have the tools to give that kind of help to every single student.
Grant,
You’re not saying that I’m criticizing our teachers, are you? That’s not my thing. Our teachers are dedicated, and they work hard. Instead, I criticize our delivery model as being harmful to our students’ futures. For that, I blame the elected policymakers — the Legislatuure. (It probably wouldn’t be the best idea, as you suggest, for non-educator legislators to butt out of education, since, after all, we are tasked with wisely spending billions of dollars on education).
My point is that, compared to seat time, the model of assessment and competency-based instruction is superior. It is fair to illustrate that point by comparing one local high school to the others, including in that comparison the types of students and the funding disparity.
You are definitely right about changing student perceptions and attitudes. I am working to change those, so that students know they face high expectations and know that we will help them achieve great things. The attitudes of students, citizens, legislators and teachers will only change when we are working toward excellence. It’s not a pep rally or Norman Vincent Peale kind of thing. Serious people become frustrated when locked in mediocrity. Like any organization on Earth, we’ll find contentment in success.
Thanks for your work with the students. I’m sure that you, like the significant majority of our teachers, are working hard to better the lives of these children.
Harmony Educational Services is doing some out-of-the-box stuff, http://www.harmonyed.com. Nationally, there are some great things along these lines happening. There has been an increase in commentary regarding an overhaul of traditional district governance–Thomas B. Fordham Foundation webinar just today. Your work is cut out for you, but there are a number of us out here willing to take on the mediocre to failing status quo and really make a difference for each kid entrusted to public education.
The big difference here is that most of the students are there because they want to be there. They have a goal they are trying to reach. Remember this is a school that you attend at your will when it is convenient for you to go, learn and reach your goal. I went back to school after thirty years and earned the credits I needed to get my Diploma. The flexibility of attendance was key to my success. The school is no nonsense, no goofing of, if you don’t want to be there leave and come back when you do.
The instructors were very helpful. They seemed to really enjoy what they were doing. Probably because they are truly helping people. I was very impressed with the Staff of Southwest High.
Way to go, Robert! That’s awesome. If you wouldn’t mind, give me a call sometime. I’d like to learn more about your experience. 435/668-7759.
It’s about attitude. Before I even read Grant’s and Robert’s comments, I was thinking the difference is that students WANT to be at Southwest more than traditional students want to be at their high school.
I understand your job is to legislate, and requiring individual assessment will certainly help achieve the results you are seeking, but I don’t believe we’ll get anywhere near the results seen at Southwest until we can figure out how to motivate traditional students the way Southwest students are motivated.
Doug S.
I don’t think we can explain away these results by saying that polygamy refugees, abused women, the homeless, etc. are an easier group to teach. I get your point that some of the students, despite their circumstances, bring extraordinary desire and grit. but, remember, some of the students are forced to attend in order to stay out of jail.
But, to your main point, motivation, yes, it is key. People are motivated by expectations and progress. If we lift expectations and help our students actually progress toward college readiness, they’ll like it, and they’ll want more of it. Think about the time when you first put in enough work on something big that you realized you really could accomplish something grand. Had anything ever motivated you more than that?
I too question the comparison between Southwest and the public schools because of the difference in motivation and maturity of the students. But they seem to be getting the job done whereas the public schools often don’t. I have in the last year had two freshman college students in my office with poor math skills. They came from one of our local Wash. Co. schools which I thought was doing an ok job. When I asked why they didn’t have math skills their answer was, “I was an athlete . . . we didn’t have to do anything.” The problem with their attitude was clearly the fault of the schools, as I think is the case for every student who doesn’t succeed. Parents make a difference, but even parents who try hard with their kids cannot buck a system which doesn’t expect competency from their students.
If the legislature promised to reduce a schools money by 5-10% every year their students failed to achieve competency instead of buying into the whining cry of needing more money to do the job, the job would get done. Those of you controlling the purse strings need to hold the schools accountable.
I wasn’t saying that you personally were criticizing the teachers, but all the complaints in general made in the legislature about all the poor teachers affect the public’s perception of education and educators.
I’ve been teaching for quite a while, yet in order to make “make ends meet” I have never in my teaching career not had a second or third job to make it. I live in a small house, don’t have an expensive car, don’t take vacations all summer. I pay for extra education, work well over my daily 8 hrs. of paid time, and then in public view I’m an overpaid teacher. Then it is said that the reason we have poor teachers is because all the good ones leave the state for better wages. So then I (and the rest of the people in the state) think we only have bad teachers left. Yet education is so expensive. We’re spending too much. What will we do?
When I started teaching, I replaced a teacher who was let go because of that teacher’s poor performance. There has never been a time when a teacher who wasn’t doing their job could not be fired. Yet in capitol hill discussions it always comes up that we need to get rid of the bad teachers.
One thing that is never talked about is the fact that not all students are the same. Some students are visual learners, others are hands on learners, others are aural learners, and then a large part are students who can sit in a classroom, listen to a lecture and read an assignment and complete it. What happens to the students not in the majority who don’t have their learning styles provided for? They fail or lose interest. But how can you help those students when you are required to get through a book, or a mandated curriculum with 35 or more students in a class? Fortunately at my school the student cannot pass a class unless he/she receives an 80% or better grade. Our grading system is A, B, or F. If you don’t have the skill you don’t pass the class. In our teaching we have to alter our teaching styles so we can help the students who have different learning style preferences.
About online learning, how could you outfit and pay for electronic, online delivered courses when there aren’t enough computers to have every student on a computer? That takes money to get every student on a computer, but, oh, we are spending too much money on education.
What provisions are made for problem students, handicapped students, government mandates (both national and state)? Who is going to pay for that?
My frustration comes from legislation that mandates a school, out of their budget, pay a non-school, private entity, double the funds per student per online class than what it costs per class for a student in school.
My frustration comes from being told by the legislature (by inference or legislation) that I’m doing it all wrong, and they know better, and I better do it – but we can’t help you or pay you – and the public thinks I’m overpaid, being the teacher, parent, disciplinarian, and all around problem solver – but we can’t pay you any better or give you tools to work with. (It goes round and round and repeats year after year, same old stuff, different year.)
I’m sorry that this rambles. Thanks for listening.
I read an interesting article by Hugh Nibley the other day.
The Day of the Amateur
by Hugh Nibley
The New Era, Vol. 1, no. 1 (January, 1971), pp. 42-44.
http://www.LibertyCatechism.com
What are you really comparing? Apples and Quinces? How do you know that Southwest High graduates will be more successful than graduates from traditional High Schools? Do you have comparative data of their performance in Higher Education?
My daughter, bless her heart, was having trouble academically in high school. She needed to attend summer school in order to make up some failed credits. To my shocked surprise, summer school these days is not a redo of the class, it is based on assessed competency in subject units. She bulldozed through unit after unit until she had enough credits to have graduated a year early. Was I pleased? No. It was false progress. She went from unit to unit so fast there was little retention. Now, in college, she still suffers from the same deficiencies that plagued her in high school.
Assessed competency is no better a guarantee of success in college than a high school diploma from a traditional program. Personal maturity, intelligence and motivation are what get people through the system quickly. How do you teach that?
Please stop trying to force kids to be adults, and stop trying to force everyone to have a college diploma. Many people mature intellectually later than others. Many people will never achieve an intellectual level appropriate for Higher Education. The system is barred, legally, from pointing out the obvious, therefore many students will blindly pound their heads against the academic wall until they improve enough to surmount it, or succumb.
There are many other causes for students giving up on higher ed. than academic preparedness, such as poor financial decisions (buying an expensive car, signing an expensive lease on an apartment, buying a 72″ HDTV with home theater), marrying early and starting a family before finishing school, getting comfortable in a job and deciding the time and expense of higher ed. isn’t worth it.
IMHO, unless you are prepared to force USHE to adjust academic standards to the lowest common denominator and make tuition and books free, you are going to have to accept lower graduation rates. On the other hand, if you raise the bar for admission into USHE, you will weed out the chaff ahead of the game, and they will go, if still inclined, to Stevens Heneger, Broadview, Provo College, U of Phoenix, etc..