Improve California schools

By Matthew Gilbert "Matt" Williams

When we score 44th to 46th in the U.S. in 4th and 8th grade reading & math test scores, we encourage citizens to relocate to states with better schools when given the opportunity to work elsewhere. Moreover, we discourage prospective small-business owners from relocating to California. Most importantly, we fail our students by not adequately preparing them for academic success and life.

California teachers are the second-highest paid teachers in the U.S. (Rankings), which is reasonable and acceptable in light of the high cost of living in our state and the need to compensate them as the professionals that they are. But the results they get for our children are unacceptable! On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and math assessments, California students scored near the bottom of all students nationwide (The Nation's Report Card):

2007 4th grade, Reading: 46th in the U.S. 2007 4th grade, Math: 45th in the U.S.

2007 8th grade, Reading: 45th in the U.S. 2007 8th grade, Math: 44th in the U.S.

2009 4th grade, Reading: 44th in the U.S. 2009 4th grade, Math: 44th in the U.S.

2009 8th grade, Reading: 44th in the U.S. 2009 8th grade, Math: 46th in the U.S.

In 1999, nearly half of Florida's 4th-graders scored at "below basic" on the NAEP reading assessment, which meant that they could not read at a basic level (Lips). By 2007, 70% of Florida's 4th-graders scored at basic or above; they now have the 2nd-highest statewide reading scores in the U.S. when compared with their peers (Lips). Between 1998 and 2007, 4th-graders in Florida had an improvement on the NAEP reading test that was nearly twice as great as the national average (9% compared to a 4%) (Ladner). Improvements for racial minorities in Florida were even more dramatic as African-American and Hispanic 4th-graders improved 12% and 10%, respectively, compared to the remainder of the nation (Ladner). As Ladner and Lips report, "Compared to students across the nation, Florida's minority children are making dramatic progress. In fact, Hispanic 4th-graders in Florida now have higher reading scores than the statewide average of all students in fifteen states," including California (Ladner).

SOLUTION

We can adopt the same eight educational reforms that were implemented in Florida to help our children. The argument against implementation of these measures is that it forces teachers to "teach to the test." I think this is specious argument because if a child cannot effectively read or compute, then he or she will struggle and be frustrated throughout his or her time in school, which results in greater drop-out rates. Reading and computational skills are key to academic success. There is a good reason why so many private-sector tutoring companies such as Sylvan, Huntingon, Kumon, and Kaplan exist throughout California, and these programs heavily emphasize reading and mathematics instruction.

1. Implement annual testing in grades 3 through 10 in reading & math, and ranks schools based on student achievement. Then track a student's progress each year to help parents determine if their children are progressing.

2. End social promotion. Starting in the third grade, a student must satisfy the academic requirements in order to be promoted. This makes students accountable for their performance. Remedial instruction is provided to students who are denied promotion. This will have a positive impact on student performance because of the incentive to be promoted with his or her peers.

3. Tie state funding to academic performance. Schools are graded based on students' performance each year. Schools that earn high marks receive funding bonuses and greater autonomy.

4. Provide additional funding for struggling schools while allowing parents the option of transferring their child to a better school. Schools receiving a failing grade twice over a 4-year period must implement state-sanctioned reforms; parents of students in such a school are eligible to place their child in another public school or may use state-corporate scholarship money to attend a private school. As part of school choice, Florida has more than 300 charter schools that are educating more than 100,000 students (Ladner).

5. Create new reading academies to train teachers in reading instruction and hire reading coaches in public schools across the state. Florida hired 2,000 such coaches (Ladner). This program will provide remedial instruction to students.

6. Improve teacher quality by enacting new policies to attract and reward high-quality teachers. Establish alternative paths to teacher certification to attract qualified professionals in other disciplines (engineering, science, business). Require school districts to offer their own forms of alternative certification (trust school-district administrators to do the right thing: they are highly qualified educational experts!).

7. Offer performance pay for teachers. Implement reforms to pay bonuses (up to 10% of a teacher's pay) to highly effective teachers.

8. Implement a state-wide, state-funded prekindergarten program for all 4-year-olds. It would be voluntary and would offer families a wide range of choices with vouchers, with enrollment in pre-K programs at for-profit and faith-based providers, as well as public schools. All providers would have to meet certain state requirements, including hiring licensed teachers and implementing content standards that focus on literacy readiness.

References:

Ladner, Matthew and Dan Lips. "Florida + A Model of Successful Education Reform," The Heritage Foundation, October 8, 2008.

Lips, Dan and Matthew Ladner. "Demography Defeated: Florida's K-12 Reforms and Their Lessons for the nation," Goldwater Institute Policy report, September 30, 2008.

"Rankings and Estimates," National Education Association

"The Nation's Report Card," National Center for Education Statistics (report cards for 2007 & 2009, for grades 4 & 8, for reading & mathematics)