California Education Reform

For the Love of Learning: Great Teachers, Great Schools

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Pre-listening

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

• Describe your favorite teacher or most memorable learning experience.

In this episode of A World of Possibilities, host Mark Sommer explores how improving the quality of teachers in California is one of the most important aspects of ensuring students’ success in school. Guests in this program are Fannie Brown, parent, Oakland, California; Casey D’Angelo, Superintendent, Wright Elementary School District, Santa Rosa, California; Ken Futernick, Education Professor, California State University, Sacramento; Chaz Garcia, Teacher, Esperanza Elementary School, Oakland, California; and Seth Leslie, Teacher, East Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, California. As you listen, think about the following questions:

• What are some of the primary reasons cited by teachers who choose to leave the profession? What incentives would attract them to work in a low-income school?
• What role can parents and community members play to support teachers in local schools? Why is it so important that they be involved?
• What can teachers do to connect better with their students and build effective relationships with parents and colleagues in the school?

Listening Guide

Use the graphic organizer to record your thoughts as you listen to this edition 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.

Chaz Garcia, Teacher, Esperanza Elementary School, Oakland, California

List the main ideas and interesting points presented.	Respond with questions, connections or applications to your life or work.

Ken Futernick, Education Professor, CSU-Sacramento

List the main ideas and interesting points presented.	Respond with questions, connections applications to your life or work.

Fannie Brown, Fannie Brown, Parent, Oakland, California

List the main ideas and interesting points presented.	Respond with questions, connections applications to your life or work.

Casey D' Angelo, Superintendent, Wright Elementary School District, Santa Rosa, California

List the main ideas and interesting points presented.	Respond with questions, connections applications to your life or work.

Seth Leslie, Teacher, East Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, California

List the main ideas and interesting points presented.	Respond with questions, connections applications to your life or work.

 

Discussion Questions

Chaz Garcia, Teacher, Esperanza Elementary School, Oakland, California

1. Chaz Garcia explains that most innovative approaches to teaching draw clear relationships between the curriculum content and the student's own experiences. What other innovative techniques do you think would improve the effectiveness of teachers in engaging their students in the materials they are studying?

2. What are some of the issues surrounding the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) laws?

3. There are many issues surrounding teacher retention in underfunded, low performing schools. What are some of the primary reasons cited by teachers who choose to leave the profession?

4. What kinds of support help teachers stay in the classroom?

Ken Futernick, Education Professor, CSU-Sacramento

1. Why do teachers' unions oppose the idea of paying higher salaries to teachers in hard-to-staff schools?

2. What are other innovative strategies for staffing those schools?

3. Analyze the implications and effects of using language like “combat pay” and other controversial terms with regard to educational settings.

4. Many teachers leave the teaching profession within the first five years of their tenure. Research has indicated that teachers do not leave the profession because their own education hasn’t adequately preparedthem for teaching. Why do you think enrollment is down in teacher education programs?

5. What recommendation does Ken Futernick have for improving the quality of schools with regard to teachers and administrators?

6. How would these recommendations impact students?

Fannie Brown, Parent, Oakland, California

1. Why is it so important that parents and the community be involved in local schools?

2. What role can parents and community members play in supporting teachers in local schools?

3. What qualities do parents value in teachers?

4. Describe how Ms. Brown models the behavior she believes will help students and teachers succeed in school.

5. What message do Ms. Brown and other parents have for policy-makers about how best to support schools and  teachers?

Casey D' Angelo, Superintendent, Wright Elementary School District, Santa Rosa, California

1. What qualities do school districts look for in teachers?

2. What role does administrative leadership play in a school setting?

3. Describe some ways that  new teachers are being supported in California. Can you think of some additional ways to support teachers?

4. Define some of the reasons why some parents or community members are not involved with local schools. What are some possible strategies to get the parents and community more involved?

Part Five: Seth Leslie, Teacher, East Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, California

1. What can teachers do to better connect with their students and build effective relationships with parents and colleagues at school?

2. Explain the impacts that recent reforms at East Palo Alto High School have had on its community.

3. What strategies and programs have contributed to East Palo Alto High School's success?

4. What are the financial needs for these and other innovative programs?

5. How is the structure of East Palo Alto High different from traditional schools?

6. What effect does this structure have on the teachers and students?

 

Part Five: Additional Questions:

1. Teachers’ unions exert considerable influence on public education policies. Is it too much, not enough, or about right? What is the proper balance between the influence of business and that of teachers, administrators, parents and federal and state policy-makers?

2. Should English be mandated as the official language of public schools? If so, what allowances, if any, should be made to give non-native English speakers the chance to learn the language before being expected to keep up with their native English-speaking peers?

3. Many parents and teachers criticize the current emphasis on standardized testing, arguing that it forces teachers to “teach to the test” rather than the topic. But in the absence of such testing, how would we be able to measure and compare the relative progress of students and schools?

4. Some parents, administrators and outside observers criticize the tenure system as allowing teachers who have lost interest in their jobs to continue teaching despite their poor performance. How should the issue of tenure be addressed to assure effective teaching throughout a teacher’s career?

5. Is the poor performance of some schools most of all the consequence of inadequate resources, inefficient use of the resources available or some of both?

6. Private school students consistently outscore their public school counterparts in reading, writing, math, science, U.S. history, geography and civics. Given these results, should parents be given vouchers that would enable them to enroll their children in private schools?

7. If large numbers of students abandon public for private schools, what will be the impact on public education – and on the cohesiveness of a society in which we no longer share a public educational experience? 

8. Proposed legislation promises an annual $3,000 per child tax credit to parents to cover the costs of educating their children. This credit would apply regardless of whether children are home-schooled, attend a private or parochial school or a public school.  What do you think of such a plan?

 

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