Dec. 15, 2007
Ted
Maish, Opinions, Your Views
The Arizona Republic
Standing at the front of a classroom for 30 years may not make me an expert on classroom reform, but it has certainly showed me what makes students successful. Ideally, success starts with a strong home environment and should be propelled by quality teachers who follow a curriculum addressing students' individual needs and emphasizing their unique strengths.
And yet these key ingredients are missing from current programs mandated by our state and national legislatures. Today, the federal government and state legislature place accountability guidelines on our schools that are unreasonable and sometimes unattainable. As school districts try to reach these guidelines, we see a narrowing of the curriculum to just what is being tested. Our schools need accountability, but the measures in place now sacrifice real learning for test scores.
We need to re-evaluate the priority these mandates place on testing, and also support the programs that motivate our students. Even with all the current restrictions placed on our schools, public education still offers all students an incredible opportunity to learn. My daughter is a product of the Kyrene Elementary and Tempe Union High School districts. She was afforded everything I could ask for as a parent: special programs tailored to her level of learning, extracurricular activities reflecting lessons from the classroom, numerous athletic programs, career and technical classes, and a variety of fine arts offerings.
It's simple: We do well in what interests us.
Our public school system's broad offerings engage a wide variety of students with different capabilities and interests. However, under our current trend we will see many of these "elective" programs go away. Our state legislature needs to protect these vital programs, especially in the coming session. With a budget shortfall on the horizon, many lawmakers will try to put elective programs on the chopping block, even though Arizona is already on the bottom of the list nationally in per-pupil spending.
We have to send them a message: Our budget should never be balanced on the backs of our children.