An op-ed by Sen. Jim Dabakis published in the Salt Lake Tribune (July 5) called for the Governor's Commission on Education to "change the paradigm" for Utah public education. Dabakis is right in calling for a major change in K-12 public education, but he doesn't go far enough. Our model needs a 21st-century makeover.
The first change needed is the expectation that every student should attend college, holding young adults hostage to unnecessary and ever-increasing debt that can take half a career or more to repay. Most career knowledge can and should be gained by less-costly skills certification during high school and paid with regular state education funds — similar to college concurrent enrollment programs offered in high schools now.
A significant percentage of students in "the Greatest Generation" did not attend college yet achieved middle-class lifestyles in a multitude of blue-collar and white-collar jobs. They learned career skills while progressing up the ladder of promotion in their chosen fields. There is no reason today's skills cannot be gained in the same way.
"Raising the bar" of academic rigor for all students in all subject areas is as unnatural as expecting every student to be a highly achieving musician, athlete, dramatist, artist, or auto mechanic, puts an untenable stress on students and produces such an abundance of grade-inflated 4.0 GPA transcripts that colleges are not relying on them for admission decisions.
The academic bar for subject-area "proficiency" should be reset at a more realistic standard that all students can attain before focusing on their own areas of interest in which to reach higher achievement.
Let's answer the question, "What do we really want and need all students to know, understand, and be able to do in order to be productive and competent citizens and parents?" Then, create a mandatory pass/fail course of study that fulfills this expectation for all Utah students. These mandatory minimum-proficiency classes should use a pass/fail assessment (students know it or they don't) and require repeating until passed.
Design this mandatory universal course of study to be completed by the end of the sophomore year, and the "junior" and "senior" year of high school become instead the first two years of college or technical/trade school, when students move on to their selected career paths, e.g., college classes for professional occupations (doctors, engineers, educators, lawyers, business, etc.); trade/career certification classes with business and industry internships; or specialized career classes (arts, music, theater, photography, graphic design, etc.). High school athletics and extra-curricular activity participation can continue during these final two years.
Raise the bar for admission to teacher education programs and draw from the top college graduates. Additionally, too many highly effective teachers leave the classroom for district administrative positions simply because teacher compensation is not enough to support growing families. Raise both teacher standards and pay to make this administrative push unnecessary and keep good teachers in the classroom.
Despite what the data "shows," teachers know from experience that classrooms with 35-plus students are not as effective as those with around 25. Class size is crucial to classroom instructional efficacy.
High enrollment numbers also impact frequent and meaningful individual learning assessment. For example, a teacher with six classes of 32 students each will have approximately 190 students. Spending just 5 minutes per week per student to read one written response, grade one quiz, or give feedback requires 16 hours of (unpaid) time. Reading just two 5-minute assessments from each student per week doubles this time to 32 hours beyond contract time — a 72-hour work week.
Learning accountability is too focused on school accountability. In fact, most intervention is necessary because students are not in class, not mentally participating, not asking questions of teachers, not studying material, and not completing practice/assignments outside class time.
All students are able to learn, but too many are choosing not to — and the most significant reason for this is related to my first point: many students are not engaged in their education because it does not feel relevant to their interests or what they want to do with their lives.
Schools are not failing. Our educational model is failing, and it is time for a new paradigm.
Sharon May is a high school and college concurrent enrollment educator in Washington County. This op-ed is not intended to represent the perspectives of her school or Washington County School District.