The start of a new school year
7th August 2023 · 0 Comments
The advent of the internet, the availability of smartphones and data at one’s fingertips has provided people across the world with access to a universe of knowledge. Need to know how to spell a word? Ask Google. Math problem? Google the answer.
In the not-too-distant future, computers and AL (Artificial Learning) will replace teachers, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) may replace some professionals, including writers and other creatives. Robots will replace entry-level employees and managers too.
So the burning question is: Are students prepared for the inevitable artificial labor landscape? Are students being prepared for the irreplaceable jobs of the future, leadership positions, and invaluable entrepreneurial jobs? Are New Orleans public schools up to the challenges facing current students and preparing future generations for the technological advances on our doorstep?
The answer is a resounding no!
Why not? Because reading is fundamental and, unfortunately, many New Orleans and Louisiana schools’ students are nowhere near proficient in reading. Reading is the foundation of all other disciplines. Knowing how to read is the key to education and career pursuits. The enslavers knew this. Indeed, enslaved people caught reading could be hung for acquiring this invaluable skill.
While civil rights organizations continue Freedom to Learn campaigns in response to book bans, the Louisiana Legislature passed laws tantamount to censorship – including approval from school boards for books proposed for school libraries – data shows legislators and state education officials should focus on teaching children the old school method of reading, writing and arithmetic.
To say the 21st-century curriculum used in our schools, based on national standards, isn’t cutting it is an understatement.
Most of the students need to be proficient in reading.
Adding insult to miseducation, the state mandates a cadre of tests, including the LEAP Test, to measure students’ progress. It’s one thing to measure progress and students’ academic achievement compared to others in the nation.
Still, it’s totally different to do something about the 70 percent of students not mastering reading skills.
According to Public School Review, New Orleans public schools have an average reading proficiency score of 30 percent (versus the 40 percent statewide average). And are in the bottom 50 percent of Louisiana’s public schools.
Mathematics is essential for many careers, including accounting, science, pharmacology and building trades. Yet the math proficiency scores for New Orleans’ and Louisiana’s public schools are deplorable.
New Orleans’ public schools have an average math proficiency score of 17 percent (versus the Louisiana public school average of 29 percent), Public School Review reported.
Those data are frightening red flags that speak volumes about public school administrators’ failure to launch children into proficiency and mastery levels in reading and math.
State education officials know something must be done. However, spinning the facts is not helping.
The state budget is about $17 million annually for developing the LEAP tests, NOLA.com reported way back in 2013.
Newly signed Louisiana bills as of Friday include a piece of legislation that creates a new promotional requirement for third-graders.
According to LDOE (Louisiana Department of Education), the state saw a two-point jump in student proficiency, meaning that 75 percent of school systems across the state saw improvement year to year, WDSU News reported last week.
Louisiana’s overall mastery rate improved by two points to 33 in 2022-23 from 31 in 2021-22. The mastery rate measures the percentage of students in grades 3-12 who scored Mastery or above on LEAP and are considered proficient.
The television station quoted a statement by State Education Superintendent Dr. Cade Brumley, who was encouraged to see an academic rise for a second straight year. Still, Brumley admitted that “too many students remain below proficiency.”
Something must be done to ensure that students can read. But is keeping third graders who can’t pass the LEAP reading test back in third grade the answer?
By the way, we encourage our readers to look at a sample of the LEAP reading test for third graders. After reading the selected text, students must answer critical thinking questions, such as, “What was the poet thinking when he wrote the poem?”
Governor John Bel Edwards signed Act 422-HB12, which went into effect last week. Students enrolled in third grade at the start of the 2024-2025 school year must meet minimum basic testing score requirements to be promoted to the fourth grade.
Years ago, when parents mounted a campaign against using one test for promotion, a college professor who taught childhood education analyzed sample tests for fourth graders and found the questions too complex for their developing brains.
How can students properly prepare for future jobs when they can’t master reading and math?
The answer may be to return to the fundamental way of teaching reading, math, and one-on-one tutoring.
Instead of spending millions of dollars on testing materials, use that money to hire reading and math tutors for students in each grade who are performing below the standards. Instead of teaching from laptops and tablets, how about using textbooks and testing students on lessons learned from those books?
The state can afford to do much more to prepare children for future careers. Distributive education should be a part of every high school’s curriculum. Students should be able to choose a career path and spend time with professionals in the areas of their choice.
The old industrial arts curriculum once taught at vo-tech school Booker T. Washington worked and can work again. Students studied automotive mechanics, cosmetology, and building trades and learned other hands-on skills.
While some schools partner with nonprofits like NOVAC (New Orleans Video Arts Center), Delgado, and Sidney Collier, all high schools should have access to such school curricula. NOCCA (New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts), a state school, offers arts curricula, including music, visual arts, theater and dance. Why can’t all students access those curricula?
The hodge-podge system of education, where certain schools specialize in specific career paths, needs to be more fair and equal. And the fact that public schools in New Orleans are not accountable to the elected Orleans Parish School Board is absurd.
The State Education Department Superintendent’s Office directs elementary and secondary educational policy and provides leadership for the over $5 billion education budget, and coordinates legislative affairs and public information activities.
New Orleans and Louisiana students would be better served if taxpayer dollars were spent on paying teachers salaries commensurate with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook recommendation. The handbook lists the median pay for high school teachers in 2021 at $61,820 for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree. The guide suggests tutors should earn $44,000-$48,000 annually.
Honestly, the failed “experiment” of the all-charter school systems that have degenerated into publicly funded autonomous private schools and LEAP testing programs are not working for most New Orleans students. It’s a broken system that doesn’t prepare our children for the future.
Something must be done, but obviously what’s being done now is not it.
This article originally published in the August 7, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
