The state’s economy depends on public schools to effectively teach students because Connecticut businesses need highly skilled workers, from CNC (computer numerical control) machine operators to highly educated medical researchers.
Without this caliber of workers, Connecticut’s economy would flounder.
The business community is rightly worried. For many years, businesses have complained about the state’s high school graduates, whom they claim can’t write a proper letter or a handle basic math problem.
The complaints are getting louder and more frequent, with employers maintaining that high school graduates are becoming increasingly ill-prepared for the demands of today’s business world. The complaints are often justified. Students from other industrialized nations have been beating U.S. students in math and science tests for decades.
So well-meaning individuals have proposed a number of solutions, including an increased number of standardized tests to evaluate how well students learn and teachers teach. The testing frenzy has escalated since George W. Bush took office. He has championed standardized testing, and the nation has embraced it as a way to improve education.
These tests have been super-sized: now high-stakes tests are increasingly in vogue, and are used as a determination of who graduates and who does not.
So what’s wrong with this? The governing board of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) has long warned school district leaders and policy makers that such high-stakes tests need to carefully evaluate the tests’ potential to cause serious harm.
Tests aren’t always the best judge of knowledge, skill and ability. Memorization and teaching to the test have never been established as methods that produce a creative and productive work force.
Tests don’t take into consideration a host of factors, such as perseverance and a range of intelligences. More than two decades ago, Harvard University’s Education professor Howard Gardner identified seven forms of intelligences. But high-stakes tests evaluate only three of those intelligences. What about music? Where would the world be without art?
Last week, when Hartford Superintendent Steven Steven J. Adamowski proposed a number of changes to Hartford Public High School. He did something that is unique in this day of testing fever. He proposed some possible solutions that acknowledge varying forms of intelligences and change the learning environment for Hartford Public high School students.
Based on a number of studies, he may be on the right track. There are several factors that influence successful learning.
Adamowski’s proposal to create four academies at Hartford Public High School would reduce student anonymity at the school. Teachers would know the students all by name. And this would enhance the student’s accountability for their academic performance and their behavior.
When everyone knows your name, it’s simply tougher to slack off.
By creating academies that focus on particular professions, academic areas and business sectors, students would be able to enroll in programs where their interests lie.
These two proposals go beyond the simplistic test ethic so pervasive in our nation. The business community needs a highly skilled work force.
Let’s give Adamowski’s proposal a chance.
