The Rhino’s Paul Clark discusses the recent Rhode Island school firings and what it probably won’t mean for Guilford County Schools’ Oak Hill Elementary:
The Rhode Island case is similar to that of Oak Hill – only worse. According to press reports, 65 percent of the students at Central Falls High School are Hispanic and have English as a second language. At that school, half the student body is failing every subject and only 7 percent are passing the state math test.
Central Falls also shows why the Bush and Obama administrations alike consider teachers’ unions an impediment to fixing failing schools. There are states in which teachers are still poorly paid – but Rhode Island isn’t one of them. Teacher salaries at Central Falls High School average between $72,000 and $78,000 a year, in a city with a $22,000 median income. Most people would say that 25 more minutes a day is a small price to pay to make that kind of money in that kind of market.
For now, Guilford County Schools is taking less drastic corrective measures at Oak Hill, including pairing the school with a more successful school with similar demographics in Charlotte, bringing specialists in to plan lessons with Oak Hill teachers and tracking the performance of the school’s students more closely.
Before we start talking about an education revolution —- which probably wouldn’t happen here in Guilford, anyway —– let’s remember that this is all tied to the ”carrot tied to the NCLB stick”—-$3.5 billion in federal grants.
I don’t see how offering up billions in fed grants to effect change truly is ‘change.’
