Final: K-12 Curriculum Change

Kristie Bertelmann

Sonia Begert

English 101

22 March 2013

K-12 Curriculum Change

            Ken Robinson mentions that "...it is education that's meant to take us to the future we can't grasp." Education has become a critically important asset in every person's life. Society has evolved to the stage where education is required to achieve success. To better prepare K-12 students for the unpredictable future, a more capable teaching staff, achieved by producing more good teachers and eliminating bad teachers, is essential.

From the readings and documentaries I've studied, it is very evident that K-12 students are not getting the proper education needed to achieve success. Some students take education for granted and some look at education as "a way out." Irrespective of students' feelings, teachers are obligated to help guide their students to as bright of a future as possible. Unfortunately, in the movie, Waiting for Superman, various interviewed students shared their experiences of an unsuccessful educational system. The No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President Bush in 2002, required states to test students annually in reading and mathematics. These results showed that students scored between the 20%-40% proficiency level in both math and reading comprehension. All across the nation, there is "a pattern of students failing to succeed and dropping out of high school" (Waiting for Superman). A number of students drop out of school because their level of education was not on par with the state requirements. This is primarily due to teachers' inability to engage with students and their ineffectiveness to meet students' needs.

To better address the students' educational career requirements, teaching staffs must be improved. This improvement should include better teacher training programs in order to train better teachers and a method of eliminating poor teachers from the classroom. It is critical that any new training program have various methods that train and reward quality teachers and penalize poorly rated teachers.  Examples of new training methods and programs would include teacher mentoring programs, student-teaching programs and merit based pay programs. 

An improved teacher mentoring program is an essential component to any upgraded training program curriculum. There were a number of scenes from the movie Chalk, which highlighted this method. Mentoring can be performed in various manners but they all require some variation of pairing up an experienced teacher with a new teacher. This combination is very important because it allows experienced teachers to share their experiences and provide insight and advice to new teachers. In Chalk, Mr. Lowrey, a first year history teacher, had difficulty in gaining control over his students and classroom. Whenever he was in front of the class, he seemed nervous and unprepared. As a result, his student took advantage of this and were rebellious. However, during lunch breaks, Mr. Lowrey and a number of the staff ate together. This short period of time enabled Mr. Lowrey to share his problems and learn from the experienced staff. He was able to query more experienced colleagues and gain insights into student behaviors and learn different teaching methods. As the school year progressed, Mr. Lowrey steadily improved and became a better teacher due in large part to the mentoring he received during his lunch period.

An improved and expanded student-teaching program is a critical component to any proposed upgraded teacher training program curriculum. Student-teaching is a well-known, well-practiced method of training new teachers that has existed for many years. In order to strengthen this training program, student-teaching program duration should be extended. This extension is required to better prepare new teachers to handle the everyday challenges of the classroom while developing new teacher confidence and increased skill level.  It is by spending supervised time in the classroom setting that a student-teacher gets the first-hand experience of working in the education profession. Not only does student-teaching offer exposure to real-life academic situations, it also provides insights into what a teaching career choice really means. Teaching is a demanding and challenging career choice and, as such, it is not to be made lightly and is not for everyone. Mr. Lowrey writes, "Being a teacher is a gift." Early exposure to the profession can help determine if one is equipped to pursue teaching as a career. Uncovering misgivings and apprehensions can help avoid the problem of raising bad teachers. 

Moving from a seniority based pay system to a merit based pay system could improve the overall performance of the teaching profession dramatically.  Merit based pay is controversial and poses many questions and issues, it essentially rewards good teacher performance and discourages poor teacher performance. Hard-working and dedicated teachers should be rewarded. Poor teacher performance should be penalized. Teachers are not equal and neither should their pay be equal. Without some type of financial penalty for poor teacher performance the system is allowing bad traits like laziness, apathy and ineffectiveness to remain within the profession. Changing the compensation system could help move the system away from continually creating more bad teachers.  

Lastly, teacher unions are obstacles that keep school reform from occurring. It is ironic that the very things that were first created to help the educational system are the things that keep improvement from happening. Tenure is a prime example. Tenure was first established to protect college professors from getting fired due to reasons unrelated to education such as political choices and political activities. Currently, tenure is automatically granted to public school teachers after a certain amount of service and carries with it the guarantee of lifetime employment in the education profession. This system contains a number of obvious flaws that allow poor performance teachers to remain in the industry and their poor performance to remain unchecked.  Laziness, indifference and ineffectiveness continue to remain in the professional ranks.

A prime example of teacher unions stopping change from occurring was the rejection of Michelle Rhee's proposal regarding tenure. In Waiting for Superman, Michelle Rhee, the superintendent of Washington D.C.’s schools, understood that tenure was a big obstacle against school reforms because it protected and secured jobs for bad educators. " ...in Illinois, 1 in 57 doctors loses his or her medical license, and 1 in 97 attorneys loses his or her law license, but only 1 teacher in 2500 has ever lost his or her credentials" (Waiting for Superman). Wanting to change the school system, Michelle Rhee took a big step and proposed a merit-based payroll. The proposal offered double merit pay for teachers in exchange for tenure. The union saw this proposal as a big threat and refused to vote on it. Something similar to this type of proposal should definitely be re-evaluated because tenure continues to pose a big challenge to improving the quality of teacher performance. Tenure should not be something that is guaranteed automatically. It should be something that a good teacher is granted as a reward for a lifetime of service. If a teacher's performance fails to meet students’ needs, even after working in the teaching industry for a number of years, tenure should be taken away. Over time, tenure bred a number of bad teachers in the educational system. Because of this continuous cycle, bad teachers are protected from job termination and continue to grow like a contagious disease. As a result, the students are the victims of this unfortunate reality.

The students in the education system are the future. Why must they become the victims of a system that allows unqualified staff to continue to teach? Dan Brown poses excellent questions, “What makes a great teacher?” and “Are great teachers born or made?” Great teachers are teachers who put the students’ needs first. They are teachers who understand and engage with their students. Mr. Escalante from the movie, Stand and Deliver, and Ms. Watson from the movie, Mona Lisa Smile, are great examples of what the educational system needs. Both teachers were placed in very difficult positions under extreme conditions and they both managed to gain the respect of their students. Mr. Escalante and Ms. Watson both possessed the determination to make a difference in their students' lives. In addition to teaching the subject they were assigned to teach, they taught lessons that had real life implications. Through their hard work, both instructors successfully made a positive impact on their students' lives.

            Education has become a necessary and critical component in every person’s life. It has become so essential that it is almost impossible to achieve any type of success without at least understanding the basics. It is the education system that is supposed to help students achieve success in the unpredictable future. However, the educational system is not achieving its primary goal of preparing students to lead a productive, successful life. It is clearly evident that the educational system needs to implement and enhance proper teacher-training programs like mentoring and student-teaching. Changing compensation rules and re-evaluating the power of teacher unions could be part of an integrated solution that leads to a better teaching staff. “Great educators are cultivated… Since every child deserves a great teacher and only moves through school once, we need to invest now in developing more excellent teachers” (Dan Brown – 2).

Works Cited

Brown, Dan. "What Makes a Great Teacher?" (2012): n. pag. Web.

Chalk. Dir. Mike Akel. Perf. Shannon Haragan, Troy Schremmer, Jeff Guerrero, Kaytea Brock, Janelle Schremmer, Chris Mass, Jacqueline Seaborn. 2007. DVD.

Mona Lisa Smile. Dir. Mike Newell. Perf. Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles. 2003. DVD.

Perf. Ken Robinson. Ken Robinson Says School Kills Creativity. TED, June 2006. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.

Stand and Deliver. Dir. Ramón Menéndez. Perf. Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Lou Diamond Phillips. 1988. DVD.

Waiting for Superman. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Geoffrey Canada, Michelle Rhee, Bill Strickland, Randi Weingarten. 2011. DVD.