7/5/05
HOW TO GET
HIGH-QUALITY MATH AND SCIENCE INSTRUCTION
Nebraska
has once again missed the boat, since our powerful teachers' union has been
able to extinguish the flame of educational innovation in this state by
blocking attempts to start charter schools.
Now look what
a good thing is happening in the Boston area, because Massachusetts does have
enabling legislation for charter schools. Charter schools have public funding
but private management, with far more say-so by parents and teachers, and thus
more flexibility and accountability than the public schools.
If Nebraska
had charter schools, the Class I parents could have saved their country
schools, and inner-city and minority kids could have been far better prepared
for college and high-tech careers if they could have skirted the inept
management of the Omaha Public Schools.
Judging by
low test scores, low participation by low-income kids and minority students in
upper-level math and science courses and Advanced Placement courses, and high
dropout rates for blacks and Latinos, OPS has failed to give at least some of
their kids what they need in the way of good math and science instruction.
Then again,
it's early. Charter school legislation can always be introduced next
legislative session. Offering everybody some real alternatives would be a much
better solution for kids all across the state than the forced consolidation of the
Class I country schools, or of all those quality suburban districts into OPS. Hint,
hint!
A Math and Science Charter School
Q.
I've read that educators don't realize how dumbed down math and science
instruction is today, because they took so little math and science in high
school and college themselves. How do parents find educators who "get it" and
are delivering excellent math and science education?
In Massachusetts, a charter school is opening
this fall that has been controversial, but carries with it great promise for
doing just what you ask, and great potential for replicating its services in
your community, if someone will undertake the task.
The Advanced Mathand Science Charter
School is set to open in the western suburbs of Boston, serving students in 6th
through 12th grades with a high-quality, sequential approach to all
school subjects, particularly math and science. So far 230 students from 42
school districts have enrolled for Grades 6 and 7, with an ultimate goal of
1,000 students, Grades 6-12. The staff credentials are considerably higher than
those of the typical public-school teaching staff.
A charter school has public tax funding
and does not charge tuition, but has more freedom than the typical public
school to vary the curriculum and approach to education. This charter school is
aimed at improving the qualifications of the technology workforce in the Boston
area. It projects an 80 percent increase in demand for high-tech workers over
the next 10 years, but students are underachieving in math and science to
qualify for those jobs.
Controversy has come because the school's
founder is a Russian immigrant, a geochemist who was persecuted in her native
country for being a Jew and spent time in refugee camps. She found great career
success in the U.S. and attributes it to the rigorous education she received in
her native country, so she wants to offer it here. The concern is that the
curriculum will be too technical, but so far, there appears to be the same
quality approach to the humanities and the arts as to math and science.
Local educrats, who have sued the Commonwealth
over this start-up, are frightened because they fear this school will "skim"
off the top students, which would reduce the average test scores of the other
public schools. On the other hand, it's argued, don't smart kids have a right
to work up to their level of ability just like everybody else?
The school will offer special education
services, with an emphasis on "the forgotten gifted," underachievers with high
IQ's who often languish in public school settings.
Homework: The
school's homepage is www.amsacs.org
