Low Education Standards = Low Outcome

I recently attended an event in Topeka, KS where Dr. Matthew Ladner, of the Goldwater Institute in Arizona, spoke on the importance of education reform.   Lander expressed his thoughts on Florida’s successful K-12 reform and how each state should take note.  Florida implemented a variety of improvements, and its students’ achievement levels increased.  In turn, Florida is continuing to raise its education standards, and students are reacting by meeting the goals expected of them.

Initially, one would think that Florida was able to increase its achievement levels by dummying down its state test.  Ladner was adamant that they were able to track state tests and their quality by looking at past tests and comparing them through NAEP and other sources.  It shocked me to even think that a school would dumb down their testing materials in order to make their students look smarter.  What an evil trick!  Yet, many schools lower their overall standards for one reason or another.  This part of Dr. Ladner’s lecture really hit home with me.  I took issue with this idea because I feel my high school had low standards for me, allowing me to operate well below my ceiling.

I am from a small southwest Kansas farm town with a population just under 30,000.  The town houses one large high school, which held 2,000 enrolled students my graduating year.  In 2006, my graduating year, our student body consisted of a population of 54.3% Hispanics, 35% White, 6% multi racial, and 4% other.  In 2002, a total of 577 students enrolled with me as freshmen.  Four years later, a total of 361 students enrolled as seniors with me.  Of these 361 students only 334 graduated 9 months later in May of 2006.  I cannot give you a true percentage of the drop-out rate due to other variables, but I am pretty sure that those missing 243 students did not move away from the school district.

Looking back on at my high school experience, I feel that I was underprepared for college and cheated out of learning.  I graduated high school with a 3.8 grade point average and spent little to no time at home studying or working on homework.  I believe that the teachers of my high school had low standards due to the drop-out rate and gave away good grades simply to keep kids in school and pass them along.  I graduated thinking I was an A student, I thought I was learning at a completive level, and I thought I was ready for college.

I started college in the fall of 2006 at a four-year university.  During my first month of school, I spent my time on anything but school work.  I thought that “going to school” meant just that – walking to class and walking home from class.  I didn’t realize (until I saw my semester grades) that going to school meant going to class, listening to the teacher, learning the material on your own time, and proving that you knew the material by passing a test at the end of the semester.  I could not pass my classes based on attendance and participation.  I could not pass my classes based on my university involvement or personal connections.  And I darn sure could not pass my classes based on my race or the fact that I wore a letter jacket.  I can easily say that college was a rude awakening, and my first semester grades haunted my grade point average for the many semesters that followed.

My high school created in me a false sense of confidence in my abilities and lacked the simplicity of teaching me how to learn; this did me an enormous disservice.  The lack of effort in preparing students for life after high school was not for a lack of funding.  As seen at KansasOpenGov.org, the teachers in my district are highly paid and the district is currently building the soon-to-be largest high school in the state.  This lack of effort was also not for lack of care.  The principal and deans truly cared about the school and its student’s wellbeing.  Many of the teachers were also well-liked and were very good at building relationships with students.   There was a small handful of teachers that no one cared for.  These were the teachers who could be quoted as saying, “I am only preparing you for college.”  It was true, they were preparing us for the next step; their standards were set high, and many students received bad grades in their classes.  Sadly, these teachers were far and few between.

It is extremely important that schools enforce standards of educational excellence and refuse to only teach to the drop-out level.  Quality teachers must keep their standards high and give the grades deserved by each individual student.  One way to enforce standards is through standardized testing.  Another way, is by holding back students who fall behind.  Continuing to pass these students along is cruel and continues to feed their false sense of confidence in their abilities.  Finally, a student should graduate from high school with the tools for the next step; whether that be the work force, technical school, or college.

I do not have the answers on how to fix our education system, nor do I have the knowledge on Florida’s education reform in order to give you Dr. Ladner’s lecture.  However, I do believe that some changes need to be made in Kansas.  (Did you know we were given a D+ rating based on our schools’ performance?) My experience is completely different from that of my co-worker, who thought college was a breeze after leaving a high school where teachers had much higher standards.  This is sad because our schools are in the same state.

Finally, I encourage you to do your research.  Find out your how your state ranks in education amongst the 50 states.  Educate yourself on Florida’s successful education reform. And find your government’s open records and checkbook for your school district.  Perhaps you will find something that inspires you to run for school board.