City School Stories

Notes From the Field

Submitted by Frank Murphy on November 16, 2011

As a parent of three children who attended the Philadelphia Public School District, I knew what type of educational experience I expected them to receive in school.  The fact that I was a teacher and a school administrator definitely shaped my thoughts on this matter. For nineteen years, from the time my oldest child entered kindergarten at Powel Elementary School till the graduation of my youngest from Central High School, my wife and I were actively involved in our children’s education.

In retrospect we are pleased with the quality of the education our children received in the Philadelphia Public Schools.  This is not to say there were moments when we were not satisfied with the actions of individual teachers and school administrators.  But these negative experiences were definitely the exception rather than the rule.

The majority of the teachers we encountered as parents were competent professionals, among them some quite exceptional instructors.  At Powel Elementary School, our children received an excellent educational experience. The Powel teachers regularly strived to address the intellectually and emotional needs of every child in their classrooms.  By using a variety of assessment tools, examining student work, and making careful observations, these educational professionals gathered the relevant information needed to both identify the strengths and needs of their students and to evaluate their progress.

What are my students’ strengths?  What are my students’ needs?  What do I need to do in order to assist them to learn?  These were the types of question that these teachers asked as they planned for and implemented classroom instruction.   This is the way in which competent and intelligent professionals used their expertise to inform instruction in their school communities.

Unfortunately, the situation has changed for teachers in today’s schools.  In many districts, particularly large urban ones, the curriculum has been reduced and narrowed since the inception of No Child Left Behind.  Most of the time during the school day is spent on basic reading and math instruction.  Teachers have been forced to ask a different set of questions regarding their students.  How can I increase my students’ test scores?  Which students should receive more basic drill exercises and test preparation materials?  Who should go to after school remediation classes?

Training students to become better test takers has become the primary objective of many of our nation’s schools. How well the students perform on their state’s annual state test determines which schools are successful and which are failures according to NCLB mandates.  In order to avoid being designated as a failure, schools have focused most of their attention on raising student test scores.  This is done at the expense of addressing individual student learning needs.   As a result, children are being viewed as “test scores” rather than as individuals with unique needs.

The consequences of such an approach were described in a recent post on this blog titled, One Test, One story…Is This All About The Children? The educational experience of Brittney, the subject of this article, is quite a different reality than one offered to my own children.  Fortunately for Brittney, a competent reading specialist was able to intervene in her case and provide her with the services she really needed.

Our youngest child received her high school diploma shortly after the enactment of No Child Left Behind.  This was fortunate.   I doubt that the quality of our children’s schooling would have been as great if they had grown up in a school that was required to comply with the mandates of this law.  Luckily, test preparation wasn’t the main activity that schools engaged in during my children’s education.  In their schools, they regularly read books many books.  Thinking was encouraged.   Writing skills were systematically developed.  A wide range of interdisciplinary content was studied and discussed.  The education my children received was intended to assist them in becoming well-rounded, thoughtful problem solvers.

These educational experiences have greatly contributed to my children’s success in life. Today they are happy, productively employed adults.  The education system that so benefited them however, is currently in danger of being reformed out of existence.  The rush to make 100% of our nation’s children proficient and advanced “test takers” by the year 2014 is diluting the rigor of instruction offered to the majority of our children.  The obsession of corporate school reformers with one yearly test result will eventually destroy public education, as we have known it.

This eventual possibility worries me.  I fear that my children’s children will not have the same opportunity to receive the high quality public school education that their parents did.  If this should become the case, then we will leave most of our children behind.

A new group of School Reform Commissioners have recently been appointed to oversee the operation of the Philadelphia School District.  They have pledged their commitment to engaging with the public and operating in a transparent manner.

Pedro Ramos, the newly appointed chairperson of the SRC, has indicated that district structures might require shaking up.  This task if it is to be done well, will require the attention not only of the School Reform Commissioners, but also that of the general public.  Assuring that a quality public education system is available for the children of our society is the responsibility of every citizen.  The people must also be willing to engage in a transparent manner with the members of the SRC.  For the sake of our children and their children, we must actively occupy our school districts.