Music at Risk

"Music is a language. It speaks. If my students could speak as well - I would be as content as you are! The best speaking students are those who speak from the heart. Those students do well because their learning is the result of loving."

-Leon Pearson, French teacher

"NCLB is rapidly pushing “frills” out of the curriculum. Has research now established that art, music, physical activity and so on have nothing to do with scientific and mathematical reasoning ability?"

-Marion Brady.

Among its many failings the most frightful effect of NCLB is its impact on the arts. As a music teacher of 33 years, I've always assumed that my job was at risk and entirely dependent on the benevolence of the School Board and Board of Supervisors. It was always my strategy to make my music program such an institution and so much a part of the core of the curriculum that my job would never be jeopardized. While I can never say that my job was in any real jeopardy, I never achieved my goal of become an essential part of the wider school program. As testing and faux rigor became more and more of an emphasis in my school, piece after piece of my music program was stripped away. Student performances became limited in size and scope, performing groups curtailed, and access to students became more and more difficult. I finally took my early retirement instead of retrenching yet again in the face of cuts to the program and even more restrictions on access to students.

And just this week, current events from Illinois..

"It's simple how No Child Left Behind affects my students: They will be without the visual arts, or music starting with the 2006-07 school year. Our district had to make budget cuts of $400,000. The only fine arts teacher left standing is the band instructor."

-Charlotte Combs, an Illinois Art Teacher

I fear that across the country, arts programs that were already stressed to the point of breaking in what has always been a "hard sell" environment will now simply disappear in the wake of high stakes testing. It's happening in bits and pieces, a slowly crumbling dyke holding back the flood of high minded education reform with testing as its centerpiece. Music will never die, but it might not be a part of education. Lowell Mason's legacy is in danger. Quality education is at stake. Reform is possible. Testing is only a small part of accountability. Music and the arts are essential in education

"for in the patterns of music and all the arts are the keys to learning."

-Plato

Write!

This just in from San Antonio, Texas where my sister-in-law, a reading teacher, is engaged in testing today:

"However, today all computers and phones are off. It's the BIG DAY and security is tight. I asked if we had to show a picture ID to get our tests and the counselor said, "don't laugh." I don't doubt that in the future that will be a real possibility."

This is scary but funny. Photo ID, security, lock-down, threats of losing jobs, all a part of high-stakes testing and NCLB accountability. Noble, thoroughly professional attempts to obey the law of the land, yet completely tragic in it's consequences to the education of those children.

This is a full-blown example of treating children as a product to be passed or discarded. The fruit industry comes to mind. Pick the best and brightest for for the grocery shelves, take the imperfect and make sauce, jelly, and juice, discard the rest. That it's human life we're discarding seems to be lost in the argument. That even the best and the brightest are getting burned out and losing their curiosity and yearning for learning doesn't seem to be a concern.

NCLB is up for renewal this year. Write your congressman and senator. Write a letter to the editor. High-stakes testing is a crime against children, parents and teachers. Write!

More about Thinking's Not Important

Guest Blogger Ardie Roddy from North Carolina wrote a response to my post from Wed. Feb. 17. "Thinking's not Important."

Tom Chapin's song reminded me of Harry Chapin's "Flowers are Red".  -- The music may be downloaded free HERE.
 
I heard this first in the 80's in a class I was taking to certify to teach gifted kids.  I started tearing up and professor told my to explain my reaction.  As a mother of two kids who were marching to different drummers in their school career, it really hit home.  (I had been asked to certify in gifted because "I understood what made these kids tick.")  I found a copy of the song and played it for my daughter who started to cry - "that's me, that's me."  What is happening to kids in education today is even more cruel than the climate Harry sang about in 1978. 
 
Kids are being totally turned off by 4th grade.  They're sick of school - so different from 50 years ago when we were so excited about school and doing some very interesting things.  I don't remember the reading and math tests.  I remember making my own book, stitching and all, about clouds - I researched, illustrated, planned, carefully printed by hand, and stitched up that book.  I remember reading aloud to first graders after lunch each day, great for a shy small girl who needed some confidence.  I remember accessioning books for the new school library, carefully listing all the information in a book, stamping a certain page, pasting on labels and pockets.  I learned work skills, communication skills, and so much - and I loved school.  What a different world today. 
 
When I taught gifted kids for a large chunk of my career I taught all kinds of exciting thinking skills and processes.  I taught kids to really read a book and think about what they read, to discuss books in a literature circle, and to dig far beneath the surface of the written word, to react personally, to use their THOUGHTS as a launching point.  Then I embraced music once again in the last years of my active teaching career - and taught it somewhat unlike my predecessors - using Orff processing, creativity, thinking about what we were doing.  My last three years I taught in a district that valued THINKING - used the Padeia philosophy and had kids doing seminars from K up.  They didn't teach to the test, they taught for thinking, and their scores were up there.  I hope that district doesn't lose that focus because it was an exciting place to be in the classroom as student and as teacher.  Kids wanted to be in school.  I cry at what is happening all around us and I think I would be forced to homeschool my kids in today's climate.  Flowers can be any color!!
 
Didn't mean to write an essay but that's what has evolved I guess.  Don't have any answers.....
 
Flowers are Red
by Harry Chapin

The little boy went first day of school

He got some crayons and started to draw

He put colors all over the paper

For colors was what he saw

And the teacher said.. What you doin' young man

I'm paintin' flowers he said

She said... It's not the time for art young man

And anyway flowers are green and red

There's a time for everything young man

And a way it should be done

You've got to show concern for everyone else

For you're not the only one


And she said...

Flowers are red young man

Green leaves are green

There's no need to see flowers any other way

Than they way they always have been seen


But the little boy said...

There are so many colors in the rainbow

So many colors in the morning sun

So many colors in the flower and I see every one


Well the teacher said.. You're sassy

There's ways that things should be

And you'll paint flowers the way they are

So repeat after me.....


And she said...

Flowers are red young man

Green leaves are green

There's no need to see flowers any other way

Than they way they always have been seen

But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow

So many colors in the morning sun

So many colors in the flower and I see every one


The teacher put him in a corner

She said.. It's for your own good..

And you won't come out 'til you get it right

And are responding like you should

Well finally he got lonely

Frightened thoughts filled his head

And he went up to the teacher

And this is what he said.. and he said


Flowers are red, green leaves are green

There's no need to see flowers any other way

Than the way they always have been seen


Time went by like it always does

And they moved to another town

And the little boy went to another school

And this is what he found

The teacher there was smilin'

She said...Painting should be fun

And there are so many colors in a flower

So let's use every one


But that little boy painted flowers

In neat rows of green and red

And when the teacher asked him why

This is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green

There's no need to see flowers any other way

Than the way they always have been seen.


Ardie Roddy
Littleton, NC

Threats and Bribes

The AP reports today that an independent, bipartisan congressional commission is recommending that the NCLB

"should track the progress of teachers as well as students. The private commission said schools should be required to measure how well teachers are doing at raising student test scores.."

In addition, Jonathan Alter in Newsweek writes that,

"Teachers should be evaluated annually based on progress in test scores of their students."

Wow... All you have to do to be a successful teacher is raise test scores! This brings "Teach to the Test" to a whole new level! Threaten, cajole, bribe the teachers but most importantly, DUMB DOWN the teaching profession! Require teachers to put away their passion, suppress their curiosity, save their creativity for the golf course, quilting, or cooking! Now teachers must get serious about raising test scores! (We're not going to even pretend to call it "improve or reform education"). The reform movement is refined, distilled and easily turned into political policy. TEST SCORES! IT'S ALL ABOUT TEST SCORES! Would someone please ask why it's so important to use threats and bribes to motivate trained professional educators?

Update: Thanks Martha in Tallahassee for the heads up.

From Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado comes word of his survey of over 2000 Colorado educators concerning NCLB. One of the findings, in fact Number 1:

Colorado principals, administrators, and superintendents who responded to the survey do not believe the goal of the No Child Left Behind Act, that every student in the country will be proficient in the subjects math and science by 2013-2014, is achievable.

Surprise, surprise, the teachers in Colorado believe that EVERY CHILD IS IMPORTANT.

Colorado teachers believe student growth should be measured individually for each student, rather than the current measurement model which evaluates groups of students.

This is stunning in it's clarity and common sense. Finally, we have educators standing up to say, WE HAVE A SAY! I hope Senator Kennedy is listening and I strongly hope that his committee and the rest of Congress will finally LISTEN TO THE EDUCATORS!
Also in the survey comes this news:

“The recent few years have been less effective, less fun, and the instructional approach has taken the creativity, joy and fun from classroom teaching. This is making the local parents unhappy with our programming and we have lost a lot of support from the community.”

Yes, joy, fun and creativity ARE important to classroom teachers, teachers of music and art, but most importantly the community of parents and friends of education. The business model for education DOESN'T WORK! Frustration is rampant, often to the point of losing good teachers. They feel under-appreciated, under-trained, and under-funded.

“Many teachers are frustrated to the point of resigning. We do not feel we've been given enough information or training in what we are expected to do. We also do not feel appreciated for the strides we have made.”

“The joy of learning is being lost with so much testing…”

The facts: Test results are not an accurate method of evaluating students. High stakes testing drives teachers and students away from learning. Underfunding education is the most profound way to insure it's lack of success. Reform must be led and most influenced by those in the field, not those in politics.

Thinking's Not Important

The current NCLB law requires testing in grades 3 - 8 in reading and math. In a new study by Scholastic, Inc.

"40 percent of kids between the ages of 5 and 8 read every day. At fourth grade, though, that rate declined to 29 percent."

Peg Tyre and Karen Springen write in Newsweek that by the time kids get through the testing process in third grade they are showing a real decline in performance by fourth grade. One subtle effect of high stakes testing is the removal of social studies and science from the curriculum in the early elementary years replaced by reading instruction in an effort to "teach to the test." They've removed a wide range of reading materials including, "non-fiction and expository writing" and replaced it with specific, testable vocabulary. In other words, kids are being spoon fed (scoop fed?) more and more of the material that's on the test and less and less of anything that's hard to measure. No more learning to think. No time to create. No excuse for teaching. If it's not on the test, forget it!

"Thinking's important. It's good to know how.
And someday you'll learn to, but someday's not now.
Go on to sleep, now. You need your rest.
Don't think about thinking. It's not on the test."

-Not On The Test
by John Forster & Tom Chapin

Does anyone care about the kids?

"Stop Pandering on Education" cries a headline in Newsweek on an article by Jonathan Alter. Mr. Alter is a prize winning and highly respected journalist, highly respected in the world of political commentary. Sit up and listen! Mr. Alter wants Democrats to reclaim the debate on educational accountability.

"It's a sad commentary on Democrats that they've allowed 'educational accountability' to become a winning issue for the GOP."

Mr. Alter wants Democrats to reclaim the debate and indeed the entire issue by shouting down the teacher unions and firing all the incompetent teachers! Indeed Mr. Alter praises the No Child Left Behind policy saying,

"..the real fault of NCLB will become clear: it doesn't go far enough." Not only must we "identify failing schools we must go even further and identify failing teachers."

There you have it ladies and gentlemen. First it's the school's fault. Test scores aren't high enough and unless they improve, teachers will be fired, students will be allowed to transfer, federal funding will be removed, YOU'LL BE LISTED AS A FAILING SCHOOL IN THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER! Second, it's the student's fault. They don't study enough, they stay up too late, they don't test well, they speak the wrong language, they watch too much TV, they don't read often enough or well enough. And now we find out that it's also the TEACHER'S FAULT!

The real tragedy is that the GOP has managed to hijack the education issue turning weak kneed Democrats into unthinking radical reactionaries. They've managed to define the debate and turn it against the very folks most involved and most knowledgeable. Indeed the folks who care the most about education are now being scapegoated! Mr. Alter, IGNORING INTELLIGENCE is the way this administration makes policy! Remember, the same administration that led us to war by ignoring the intelligence community, the military, historians, and any advisors that didn't follow the Neo-Con dogma, gave us No Child Left Behind. We've got people to blame! We've got a real, measurable, accountability method now! Just raise test scores! (Besides there's a real nice company in Texas that will package a school curriculum and provide everything you need to raise those precious test scores and at a nice price too!)