Interesting comments all.  There are obviously more ideas as there are problems, and there is no one size fits all solution.  What will work for a failing "inner city" school may not work for a failing suburban or small-to-mid town school.  Take the elementary school my two kids attend with a high transiency rate.  What does year-to-year changes in API (or whatever they call it) really mean if there's a significant percentage of new students coming into the school each year, a significant loss of last year's students, and plenty of english language learners in the mix?

Now my two kids are at the top of their class and have taken the test to get into the gifted magnet school every year.  But I don't know if they just aren't gifted enough or they don't have enough room at the magnet school to take everyone who qualifies.  Just get a form letter every year saying sorry...  And under NCLB, there is no chance for them to get into a better school.  NCLB lets the lower income, lowest performing kids transfer to better schools first.  We're middle class, not rich, but this is a school where so many of the kids qualify for the free school lunch program they just give everyone a free lunch.  No kidding.  No escape.

Middle class+good grades=time to move to a better school district.

And our school district is wondering why they have 1000 fewer students than they were anticipating losing for this school year.  (Expected loss=800, actual loss=1800)

So, here are my ideas: public education vouchers, de-regulation, competition, and entrance exams.

1. Every child gets 13 public education vouchers, good for 1 year of education at any state or private educational establishment.

2. The education process is deregulated so that principals and administrators have the responsibility (if they want it) of chartering, magnetizing, customizing, improving, experimenting, and generally messing around with the educational experience that their school provides.  If they want the old-fashioned command and control style system, they can stick with that. Good luck.

3. Students can go to any school in the district.  Schools compete to get students, students compete to get into the best schools in the district.

4. Students must take and pass entrance exams that cover all subjects at the end of the school year to progress to the next grade level.  If they do not pass, they have the summer to study and take it again.  If they do not pass, they repeat the grade.  Parents are provided sample entrance exams for the next grade level at the beginning of the school year so they know what is required, and can administer tests themselves to make sure the child is mastering the required subjects and if not, where the child needs help.

For all its faults, standardized testing is an effort to introduce accountability to teachers and schools.  Ideas 1 and 4 combine to enforce accountability on parents.  We always hear about how important parental involvement is to education.  If education is still failing, in some cases at least, it must still be the parents fault.

So now we say, ok, we are not going to waste taxpayer money on students who aren't learning. Parents, get involved!  If your child has to repeat a grade, you have to spend one of your precious 13 vouchers on that year.  And you better start saving now for that child's senior year of high school, because you're going to have to pay for it yourself.  And you better hope he doesn't repeat another grade.  I think that will get a lot of parents attention.

I would expect such a proposal would spark a lot of outrage, and maybe it would be impossible to implement.  It might be easier if you want to make allowances: you could say give each child 14 vouchers (just in case a grade is repeated or to include a year of optional preschool?), or 15 if you really want to be nice.

But at the end of the 12th grade, any child that has leftover vouchers has a bonus.  I realized that the amount I had to pay each year to go to a California State University was quite a bit less than what is spent per year per child in the K-12 school system.  If a child skips kidnergarten, passes the 1st grade entrance exam, he's got 1 year of college paid for.  Skip ahead a grade, another year of college.  If the child ends up going to a UC or a more expensive private college, the value of the voucher can still applied towards the total cost.  Go to a community college, maybe one voucher is good for two years...  Vocational schools could accept vouchers too.

From this viewpoint, it might be an easier sell if you give kids 14 or 15 vouchers.  For most kids who don't have to repeat a grade, this would mean that the state is guaranteeing a year or two of college for everyone.

A last idea, introduce two diplomas:  a class 2 diploma is granted when a student passes an 8th grade exit exam, the exit exam being a standard test established at the state level.  A class 1 diploma is granted when a high school exit exam is passed.  A big fuss right now about high school exit exams.  It almost seems like the attitude is "We can't NOT give a student a diploma just because he/she didn't pass an exit exam.  It's not fair!"

Most if not all students ought to be able to get the class 2 diploma, even if they have to work four more years in high school to get it.  There, they have a diploma.  If they can't get the class 1 by 12th grade, they can always use an extra voucher to go to school for another year and try again, or go on independant studies and take the test over, or just give up and learn how to flip hamburger patties. 

No pass, no diploma.  It may sound harsh and radical, but at least the diploma (class 1 or 2) will mean something.

Posted at December 28, 2005 7:04 PM in response to Gifted Children Left Behind?