California Education Reform

The New 3R's: Repairing, Redesigning, and Rebuilding Our Public Schools

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Pre-listening

Before listening to this edition of A World of Possibilities, respond to the prompts below in order to ignite your background knowledge and connect the themes of this episode to your life experiences.

  • Describe the kinds of environments (or situations) in which you learn best?
  • What do you value about education?
  • In your view, what is the right balance between the traditional 3R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic) and the arts, music, sports, community service and other skills and activities?

In this episode of A World of Possibilities, host Mark Sommer explores how innovative schools across the state of California are making progress in improving student performance. Guests in this program are Maria Brennes, youth organizing director for Inner City Struggle; Christopher Cabaldon, president and CEO of EdVoice; Steve Jubb, executive director for the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES); Samantha Knox, youth organizer for Californians for Justice, Jeannie Oakes, director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy and Access; Solomon Rivera, director of Californians for Justice and Eddie Tackett, a high school student.

As you listen, think about the following questions:

  • What are some of the strategies being implemented in California public schools to improve student performance?
  • How can grassroots activism be beneficial in promoting better education policies at the local and state levels?
  • How can school administrators and teachers be better prepared to improve student performance and be held accountable for doing so?
  • How can the information and data-exchange system in public schools be better organized to enable teachers and administrators to share best practices and learn from one another’s most innovative and effective approaches? How can the system be organized to foster a culture of innovation not only among teachers and administrators but among students?

 

Listening Guide


Use the graphic organizer to record your thoughts as you listen to this addition of A World of Possibilities. Use the left side of the organizer to record the main ideas and supporting details presented during the show. Then use the right side of the organizer to respond to these points with questions, connections or applications that resonate with your life or work.

Repairing, Redesigning and Rebuilding – Community Involvement

List the main ideas and interesting
points presented.

Respond with questions, connections or applications to your life or work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Repairing, Redesigning, and Rebuilding – Financial Resources

List the main ideas and interesting
points presented.

Respond with questions, connections or applications to your life or work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Repairing, Redesigning, and Rebuilding – Teacher Training

List the main ideas and interesting
points presented.

Respond with questions, connections or applications to your life or work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Repairing, Redesigning, and Rebuilding – Case Studies

List the main ideas and interesting
points presented.

Respond with questions, connections or applications to your life or work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Discussion Questions

Repairing, Redesigning and Rebuilding – Community Involvement

  1. Other than a student’s academic achievement, what else does Jeannie Oakes think schools should be held accountable for?
  1. Ms. Oakes explains that for schools both to achieve excellence and meet the needs of the community, parents and communities must be deeply involved.  What would this involvement look like? How are communities currently getting involved in schools? What else can be done? How much can parents do when they have so many other demands on their time?
  1. How could the money currently being spent for education be better utilized? What other non-financial resources are needed to make our schools into true learning communities?
  1. What are the most promising strategies to refocus the California’s educational funding priorities in order to create schools that better meet the needs of their students and communities?
  1. What role does diversity play in education? In what ways does it enrich the learning experience and in what ways does it present new challenges?
  1. What is the Charter School movement teaching us about how to create new kinds of schools? From our experience thus far, where and in what ways has it succeeded and where is it falling short?

Repairing, Redesigning, and Rebuilding – Financial Resources

  1. Ms. Oakes believes there is a gap in how much we are currently spending on schools and how much we should be spending. As a percentage, how much more should California be spending on education than it now does? How might you reorganize schools to better utilize the funds they currently receive?
  1. What are the results of the overcrowding and underfunding of schools?
  1. What kinds of spending most influence student achievement? Use the box below to list the categories of spending that influence student achievement at the school, district and state/national level.

School expenditures

 

 

 

 

District expenditures

State/National expenditures
  1. How would you prioritize spending to ensure the highest level of student achievement? Rank your list from the chart.
  1. What are grassroots groups doing to help reinvent our system of public education around student achievement and engagement in the learning process?

           
Repairing, Redesigning, and Rebuilding – Teacher Training

  1. Why are so many teachers leaving the profession? How can we attract and retain talented teachers in today's challenging educational environment?
  1. What strategies can we implement to ensure that teachers are well-trained and prepared to teach in the challenging circumstances of overcrowded and under-resourced classrooms?
  1. What incentives should we consider using to keep talented teachers in the profession?
  1. Why is the grassroots group Public Advocates challenging the No Child Left Behind requirements for teachers?
  1. How can grassroots activism help establish better education policies at the state and local levels?

Repairing, Redesigning, and Rebuilding – Case Studies

  1. Describe the most innovative and effective approaches outlined in this program to create more equitable and resource-rich schools.
  1. List some of the ways parents and community can invest in their schools to achieve better outcomes for the students.
  1. What benefits could these investments provide to communities, the California economy and society over the long term?
  1. What are we talking about when we describe the notion of “democratic public accountability?”

Additional Discussion Questions 

  1. Should the government force your child to be bussed to a different neighborhood to attend public school?
  1. There has been a five-fold increase in government spending on K-12 public schools since the 1950s, yet in the view of many observers standards and outcomes continue to plummet. Some critics ask why, when we spend this much money, we haven’t been able to appreciably improve the quality of public education. Do we spend enough, too much or not enough on public K-12 education?  Are we spending enough but not in the right places?

 

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