- USA TODAY Network Tennessee columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised political attorney raising three boys in Norensville, Tennessee.
- Simply reducing education funding to a per-student amount may prevent policy makers from fully understanding the impact of different spending options.
- We must break the habit of easily discussing education funding.
- When it comes to the educational environment specifically, three factors are paramount: funding, teachers, and the learning environment.
Few public policies have more impact on Tennessee’s future than those related to education. I’ve been a policy attorney for most of my career, working on issues ranging from high-risk tests to charter schools and vouchers.
The recent surprises around the Tennessee Charter Schools Commission and the Achievement Schools District demonstrate the need to rethink both our approach and focus on education policy.
Primary and secondary education exists to equip children and young people with the intellectual tools and personal skills to develop as individuals and as members of their communities. The methods are very different. There are public, private, homeschool, hybrid, and tutorial programs galore.
The point is human resource development. Four such people currently live in my house. What happens to them is not only about Tennessee’s future, but also very personal to me.
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Every student deserves meaningful educational opportunities
Despite political protests to the contrary, I have come to understand that there is no inherently evil type of educational environment.
Public charter schools are not a magical solution to struggling traditional public schools. Homeschooling is not necessarily inferior to the best private education. The preconceived notion that one type of education is the problem and another is the answer does not help.
I can understand why local education authorities are frustrated given that the charter school board overrules decisions about charter schools in the district. Who wouldn’t be humiliated by the state stepping in and handing over the reins to Achievement School Districts for their chronic underperformance?
At the same time, all students should have access to meaningful educational opportunities. Support must go hand in hand with accountability. At the very least, we must have enough humility to admit that we are not doing enough in our educational challenges. School never lasts.
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These three elements are the most important
Myriad factors shape the reality of education, many of which go far beyond education itself. Parental involvement is of fundamental importance. The local economy influences education. The problem of access to affordable housing. Transportation is a key issue. That said, educators cannot reasonably be expected to account for all adverse effects outside the classroom.
Specifically for the educational environment, three factors are of paramount importance:
- enough money
- excellent teacher
- A stable learning environment.
There is a lot of research on education funding. Although it does not necessarily dictate educational outcomes, there is an undeniable relationship between higher funding levels and better outcomes. His 2018 study by his Kirabo Jackson at Northwestern University found that “there is a strong association between spending and outcomes, indicating that money matters on average.” .
While it is perfectly acceptable to fund children and not the system, we should not lose sight of the truth that regardless of policy preferences, we must invest in the future. They point out that the details of how they are spent are very important. You may not understand. We must break the habit of easily discussing education funding.
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Why Teacher Performance Measurement Matters
Arguably, the most important contributor to student success in school is the teacher. They should be paid like we are entrusting them with our children. Because that’s exactly what we do. Most of my family’s income is used to feed our children.
Food, clothing, housing, and extracurricular activities are incredibly expensive. If you’re willing to invest so much in other areas, why would you start cutting corners on something as important as your teachers?
Teachers should not be paid based on a grid. Tenure and accumulated degrees are not inherently indicative of teaching skills. Relative student progress is. I have not yet heard a good explanation as to why classroom teachers should not be held accountable for the annual increase in the number of students they educate.
Yes, it’s hard to come up with a fair way to measure student progress, but learning Algebra II is no different. If you ask students to put in a learning effort, you should at least be able to effectively measure whether it’s actually being done. Both teachers and students must take responsibility for ensuring that it is done. For a student to automatically pass through the educational system is a far worse fate than failure.
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The Solution: Consider Shortening Your Summer Vacation
We also need a clearer path for professionals and subject matter experts to participate regularly in the educational process. We’re not talking about lawyers coming to Bring a Parents to School Day. Many colleges and universities welcome adjunct professors with real-world experience. Finding options to incorporate parents and other professionals into educational processes and courses of study can help connect learning and life, especially at the secondary school level.
Education cannot be done in isolation. We must address behavioral, nutritional and physical barriers to education. It is difficult for students to learn when they are hungry. If the early reader is unable to see the text due to poor eyesight, he falls behind. When a student suffers trauma that manifests in behavior that interferes with learning, that student suffers, and so do the rest of the class. Our schools need the flexibility to deal with such important issues efficiently and effectively.
Part of creating a stable educational environment may be eliminating long summer vacations. I may be sick of that suggestion, but it would be foolish not to recognize the loss of learning that would occur if we continued to use the academic calendar that made the most sense for farmers a century and a half ago. Tenure is also a good fit for increasing teacher salaries.
Creativity and innovation are American virtues, but we are reluctant to apply them to education. Too many policymakers seem to believe that uniform education promotes equality. . This is not true or helpful for individual schools, much less for school districts and even entire states.
Policy makers shouldn’t look for magical solutions for the Tennessee education system, but they should be afraid to explore options in their firm determination to secure the future we want. Not… do you know? You may even be able to show students how to cooperate in the process.
USA TODAY Network Tennessee columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised, recovering political attorney raising three boys with his particularly patient wife, Justin, in Norensville, Tennessee. . smith.david.cameron@gmail.com or @DCameronSmith on Twitter. Agree or disagree? Please write to the editor at letter@tennessean.com.
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