We are going to be hearing a lot about accountability in our
public schools over the next couple of years. The latest Gilroy
Unified School District task force is being assembled to look at
accountability.
We are going to be hearing a lot about accountability in our public schools over the next couple of years. The latest Gilroy Unified School District task force is being assembled to look at accountability.
This task force will consist of more than 20 people, more than half of whom work for the district. Seats will be occupied by three public school parents, two students, Chamber of Commerce members, a Realtor, city councilmember, etc. … Together, these people will try to come up with a plan of accountability. Gilroy Unified has an unparalleled record of accomplishment in putting together task forces. Many have come before, and new ones spring up regularly in the most unlikely places.
One example of this “task-force-It” mentality is the newly created “GATE Identification Task Force.”
Parents who complained about a unilateral decision by a district administrator to change the test used to identify gifted students twice in the past two years have been asked to help decide how the district will identify gifted students this year.
Only a few months ago, parents came to near unanimous agreement that the SOI test, which was used successfully for many years in the district, was a good indicator for giftedness.
There was also near unanimous agreement among parents that many factors should be taken into consideration: teacher recommendation, standardized test scores, MAP scores and school performance. This task force seems redundant. Why don’t the parents of gifted students – the GATE Parent Advisory Committee – just weigh in at one of their monthly meetings? The only thing a task force does is take up more time in meetings.
The Accountability Task Force could be the task force of the decade. There are a few items I would ask members to consider as they undertake this endeavor.
I am a parent who has only been in the public education system for 10 years. Some of the more dubious educational strategies which I have seen over these years were once thought to be viable options. These include whole language, invented spelling, Ebonics and outcome-based education. As we march down the road of standards-based education (the prevailing educational program of this decade to date) let us examine what we gain and lose in teaching by the standards. Hopefully, we gain a more literate population of children. Literacy is the primary focus of our Strategic Plan in Gilroy.
I realize that literacy can be a springboard for success in other subjects, but at what cost are we overloading our children on literacy? In the name of literacy, we lose science. Math has once again become important; we realized this year that we have ignored that subject for far too long. But while math is being addressed, many students are not getting science in their typical school day. We have also lost music, vocational education, art and physical education – exactly those kind of programs which are most appealing to students who may not excel in math or reading.
The real possibility exists that we have a visual or performing artist withering while they sit through hours of intervention math and language classes. We might have a future astronaut who is missing out on science because her native language is not English. Passion for science, art and theater doesn’t fit into the school day as it exists in Gilroy. How do we strike a balance? Who will be accountable for this?
The Accountability Task Force also needs to look at our new Strategic Plan. Is this a plan (which all the district employees are beholden to) which can be successful? The last strategic plan had bold goals which we came nowhere near attaining. This new plan reads strangely like a vision for schools in Lake Wobegon “where all the children are above average …”
Finally, the Accountability Task Force will have to overcome the single biggest hurdle to lasting school improvement: the culture of Gilroy. We have in Gilroy a wonderful group of people for whom public education is not a top priority. These people constitute the old Gilroy. People who moved here within the last decade are not willing to accept mediocrity in the classroom.
The old guard was willing to accept the fact that less than a third of our high school graduates go on to college. Pride in GUSD for the old Gilroyans focused mainly on our athletic teams and our award-winning bands and choir. The new Gilroy loves these programs, but academics are on the front burner for these folks. Old Gilroy doesn’t bat an eye at the news that more than 90 percent of our high school students are not proficient in math. This fact has a different effect on the new Gilroyans; like being hit in the head with a two by four. It’s mostly Old Gilroy on the Accountability Task Force; this public service message comes to you courtesy of the new Gilroy: “Do something!”
