Debbie East

Recent Activity

• 

  Debbie signed the petition | 10 months ago

  End the Test-Driven Culture of D.C. Public Schools
• 

  Debbie recruited Beverly to sign the petition | 10 months ago

  President Obama, Save Our Schools
• 

  Debbie signed the petition | 10 months ago

  President Obama, Save Our Schools
• 

  Debbie signed the petition | 11 months ago

  Tell Congress: We Need A "Do Not Track" System
• 

  Debbie signed the petition | 11 months ago

  A Declaration of Professional Conscience for Teachers
• 

  Debbie commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  American School Boards – Abolish or Improve?

  I interpreted the comment you responded to differently and reflects as "when I was in school" but it would have been helpful for the author to elaborate a bit more.  That said... A school board may be an "American" concept but by appointing or electing lay-people we then run the risk of appointing or electing people who work only from an agenda that precludes keeping children front and center in all actions.   Local school boards in my area do one of two things:  go through school board members pretty quickly or when people get those positions they stay forever.  Neither is bad or good just what is.

  
  

  What concerns me is that school boards hands are tied by the educational policy and laws in place.  While I did not make this connection to school boards explicitly in my original post, which the author responded was commenting on, I make it here.  

  
  

   

  
  

  School boards are elected or appointed which makes them political in nature and while elected by the community that doesn't not make them reflective of community values.  Education is always and everywhere a cultural practice where the majority decides which practices are deemed valuable and not of value.  "The democratic notion of lay control of political..." really doesn't completely exist in this country or in presidential elections there would be no use of an electoral college.  

  
  

  Schools however are not 'run' by school boards.  Rather they are run by the federal government which dictates which public schools are considered successful.  In our country this goes against our democratic/republic ideals.  It removes local control completely.  

  
  

  I'm sure that you, Fred, are not one of school board members that have their personal agenda as their focus or you would not have responded here.  I'm also sure that there are many school board members like you. I want all school board members to reflect your values as you've indicated here.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

• 

  Debbie commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  American School Boards – Abolish or Improve?

  My concern resides in several areas.  First, there are laws passed by people who are not well-versed in teaching and learning who believe that everyone learns in exactly the same way and that every student and teacher in the nation needs to be on the same page, saying the exact same words, on the same day, the same hour of the day, and the list goes on...  

  
  

   

  
  

  Second, current education laws are in place that consider schools as not improving enough or "passing" the standardized test at a line drawn in the sand that says 100% percent of students in all schools in a district and state as having met this requirement or funding will be removed from the schools who don't meet this requirement.  Not only will funding removed from the school, the district may in fact lose all federal funds in the process.  

  
  

   

  
  

  One of the reasons why this seems ridiculous is that there is no way that there can ever be 100% compliance.  Humanly impossible unless we only educate rich, white folks.  Since that would be a discriminatory practice, and hence is illegal, then the only thing that could possibly happen is that the schools who have funding removed are doomed for failure.  This is another discriminatory action.

  
  

   

  
  

  Finally,  those in DC and other places who have power, have decided that those educated to teach don't know what they are doing because not everyone is passing the tests.  If teachers were the only factors that affect if a student learns then this might be a viable critique of teachers.  However, this is just not true.  There are factors that affect student learning that is not related to the teacher teaching or school.  One might be the effects of poverty and homelessness.  Another might be the recipient of abuse or neglect.  Another might be living in inner cities or extremely rural areas. 

  
  

   

  
  

  While I've probably left a lot of things that need to be said out of this post, we must all understand that students have lives and life experiences that need to be accessed so that learning has a chance to occur.  The needs of students vary across nations, states, and cities/towns.   In the U.S., and probably all democracies/republics, no child needs to be left behind however education is never a one size fits all endeavor IF we expect all residents here to fully engage in democratic life.  

  
  

  Debbie East