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9/11/2008
Frank Lasee on stretching our education dollars
Last week I wrote about the cost of education. As of 2007, statewide the average cost of education was almost $12,000 per student. (I wrote about it last week - the data are available at my School Funding page.) While our classrooms often have 22 to 26 students, the student to teacher ratio statewide is just under 13 students to one teacher.
Something that I have observed, is that our schools have a variety of specialists. My kids attend public school so I can see this up close. I am not picking on their schools in particular, because schools are using this same model statewide. That is new since many of us readers were in school. There is often an art specialist, a music specialist, a business specialist, a physical education specialist, a careers specialist, a computer specialist, a getting-along specialist, and a socializing specialist, not to mention a variety of special needs and English as a Second Language (ESL) specialists.
In grade and middle schools, kids are with their homeroom teacher for five days a week all day. Well, sort of. How many hours of the week are they not with a homeroom teacher and with a different specialist?
A. Two or three?
B. Five or six?
C. More?
D. No one knows? It begs the question, what is the main classroom teacher doing while students are with the specialists? I understand that teachers must prepare lesson plans, grade papers and prepare the classroom for students. I also know that, all or nearly all, of the state’s 426 school district contracts have built in planning and grading time in a teacher’s day.
When I was in school growing up in Wisconsin, the small school I attended had only two classes per grade. To best use the skills and experience of the teachers (and to keep costs down), we had combined two grades for specialized classes. Our specialized teachers were our regular classroom teachers. They worked together as a team. The best teacher in art, taught all of us art. The best in music or physical education taught all the students for those classes.
One answer to making our education dollars stretch is to reduce the number of specialties. I am not proposing that we do away with art, music, physical education, computer courses, or any other specialized subject. This is what educators first think I am saying. In their mind, no specialist, no specialized classes. I believe these subjects are important for well-rounded students. Though these subjects aren’t as important as the Three R’s.
Do the schools really need these different specialists? Does a second grader need to be taught music by a teacher with a Masters in music education? Is it really necessary to have sixth graders taught to sing, dance, and perform by someone who specializes in the arts, etc.?
It gets better. These specialists often teach more than 500 students each semester. This makes it hard t o remember names, let alone grade each student in a meaningful way.
The educators' (and the teachers' union) answer is more specialists. In this case, less is more.
Frank Lasee is a Republican and represents the 2nd Assembly District.
COMMENTS
The school I went to had split classes. First graders were put in with second graders, second and third graders were together, etc. No special ed was needed--you simply listened to the older kids' lessons, or (if you were in the "older half" of the classroom), reviewed what you'd been taught by listening to the younger kids' lessons.
Classes in the afternoons (for 5th to 8th grade) were taught as Lasee describes: the best teacher in music taught all of us music, the best in art taught art, etc. 4th grade and younger were considered too young to need anything more specialized than their own classroom teacher.
emily matthews (Thu Sep 11 09:11:11 2008)
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