Educators Urged to Rethink Use of Classroom Teachers

By Kim Brown, Tulsa World, Okla.

Mar. 28–American educators should reconsider how to best use classroom teachers, according to the recipient of the Brock International Prize in Education, who spoke at the Brock Symposium for Excellence in Education on Monday.

Douglas B. Reeves, honoree of the event at the University of Tulsa, discussed several areas on improving student achievement.

Reeves said research suggests the nation’s best teachers are not teaching its neediest students, and he said that Asian and white students tend to receive more qualified teachers than Hispanic or black students.

"We are systematically giving to our least experienced, least qualified teachers kids who need from us the most experienced, most qualified teachers," Reeves said. "That sounds awful, but I want us to own our part in this."

The Brock prize is given to an individual who has greatly influenced and made a significant impact on the field of education. The prize, which includes $40,000, is funded by the Brock Foundation, founded by Tulsa entrepreneur John Brock, and is a portion of the Tulsa Community Foundation.

Reeves, a former classroom teacher, is the founder of the Center for Performance Assessment, which offers educators and school leaders approaches to standards, assessment and accountability. The Boston resident has written various books on education and is a faculty member of leadership programs sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

At the symposium, Reeves also cited research showing that Asian and white students take more than twice the number of Advanced Placement courses than black or Hispanic students, but he said the blame should not fall entirely on high schools.

"The decision is made in the fourth or fifth grade . . . by that time we’ve decided who has the opportunities," he said.

Reeves also discussed examples from what he called "90-90-90" schools, or those with high poverty, high percentages of minority students and high levels of success.

He attributed some of those schools’ success to reassignment of teachers to grade levels according to experience, more time in the school day for literacy, and involving every staff member.

"Art teachers are working on vocabulary that has a visual association between pictures and words," he said. "Music teachers are working on fractions . . . "

He also insisted that educators and school officials back up any approach to improvement with solid research.

"If you’re going to invest your precious time in this, find the beef — find the research," he said. "Never take something on faith. Only base it on multiple-sourced research."

Judy Feary, principal at Tulsa Public Schools’ Kendall-Whittier Elementary School, spoke about school accountability in a break-out session during the symposium. Brad Carson, former Democratic 2nd District congressman, spoke about the government’s role in promoting excellence in education in another session.

Feary said staff at her school, which has a high number of English Language Learners and students who qualify for free and reduced lunches, has learned how to increase test scores and other accountability measures by encouraging parental involvement and inventing resourceful programs.

For example, she said Kendall-Whittier became a year-round school eight years ago in part to address ELL students.

"Our kids were going home during the summer and speaking Spanish for three months and losing their English," she said.

Feary explained that the school has seen increases in accountability in the nine years since it opened, but she believes there is room for more success.

"One thing I keep telling the staff is that those standards are the minimum. That’s something you can never lose sight of," she said. "We’ve got to shoot higher."

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More information Reeves or the Center for Performance Assessment: www.makingstandardswork.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Tulsa World, Okla.

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