The World’s Best Education System?

With the possible exception of some FPS administrators and certain members of the Franklin School Board most everyone agrees the United States needs to improve its education system dramatically, but the question is how? One of the hottest trends in education reform lately is looking at the stunning success of the West's reigning education superpower, Finland, a  Nordic country in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic.  The problem is that when it comes to the lessons that Finnish schools have to offer.  However,  most of the discussion seems to be missing the point.

Finland's schools owe their new-found fame due primarily to one study: the PISA survey, conducted every three years by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The survey compares 15-year-olds in different countries in reading, math, and science. Finland has ranked at or near the top in all three competencies on every survey since 2000, neck and neck with super-achievers such as South Korea and Singapore. In the most recent survey in 2009 Finland slipped slightly, with students in Shanghai, China, taking the best scores, but the Finns are still near the very top. Throughout the same period, the PISA performance of the United States has been middling, at best.

Fox News wrote In a December 2 article that five states were to announce Monday that they will add at least 300 hours of learning time to the calendar in some schools starting in 2013. Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Tennessee will take part in the initiative, which is intended to boost student achievement and make U.S. schools more competitive on a global level.

Bussiness Insider wrote in a December 14, 201 piece entitled “26 Amazing Facts About Finland's Unorthodox Education System”  that since it implemented huge education reforms 40 years ago, Finland's school system has consistently come at the top for the international rankings for education systems.

Here are a few of the facts about Finland's Education that are featured in this article.  Some may really surprise you.

• The Children Must Play.
• Finnish children don't start school until they are 7.
• Compared with other systems, they rarely take exams or do homework until they are well into their teens.

Read more about what the United States could learn from Finland about education reform. 

It's hard to argue with proven success.

RELATED STORY

• Oak Creek-Franklin School Board grapples with grading scale changes

What Would Fiscal Cliff Mean for Student Aid?

FinAid.org founder Mark Kantrowitz on how the potential fiscal cliff would impact college students.

If you are considering Federal student loans to help put your son or daughter through college, you must watch this video and read the related reading to better prepare yourselves.  The status quo will be seriously  impacted based upon how the president and congress solve the quickly approaching, so-called "fiscal cliff."

RELATED READING

•  The Fiscal Cliff Explained (Forbes)
• The Sequester Explained (BPC)
• It’s not a fiscal cliff—it’s an austerity crisis (WAPO)

Update on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 7:13 AM by Basil Ryan

Will Big Bird Survive the "fiscal cliff"—and other Pressing Questions>>

Opinions & Commentary From Around the Web: Week of October 21

We pick em you click em…

• How Might The National Park System Fare Under A "President Romney"?  (National Parks Traveler)
• Capitalizing on the “99 Percent” (Heritage Foundation)
• How Escalating Education Spending Is Killing Crucial Reform (Heritage Foundation)
• Is America Exceptional? (Imprimis (Hillsdale College)

Most People Scored C Minus on Basic Constitution Test

"… But every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country; he should lisp the praise of liberty, and of those illustrious heroes and statesmen, who have wrought a revolution in her favor.”

—Noah Webster, on the Education of Youth in America, 1788.

 In this resent post we offered our readers the opportunity to take a pop quiz on 10 basic questions about the Constitution presented by The National Constitution Center (NCC) in Philadelphia.  Today NCC released the results of its quiz.

This pathetic showing reflects poorly on Americans’ basic understanding of our nation’s most sacred document.

26,000 Chicago Teachers go on Strike, 400,000 Kids Out of Classrooms

It may be back to school for Chicago students, but not for 26,000 union teachers who are upset with salaries, benefits and believe it or not evaluations.

RELATED STORIES

• Teachers hit picket lines as CPS strike begins (Chicago Tribune)
• Mayor: “This is avoidable because this is a strike of choice” (Chicago Tribune)

Tips for Raising a Financially Educated Child

National Endowment for Financial Education CEO Ted Beck on how parents and schools can help teach children personal finance skills.

RELATED STORIES

• U.S. Increases Spending on Education, But is it Helping?(FBN)
• Ohio Department of Education Teaching Financial Literacy
• The Council for Economic Education

Boosting Entrepreneurship Will Lead to Economic Recovery

“Wealth and Poverty” author George Gilder on why economic policies that support entrepreneurial creativity will boost economic growth.

RELATED STORIES

• John Holdren, Obama's Science Czar (Forbes)
• Wealth and Poverty (The Freeman)
• The Paul Ryan Rosetta Stone (NYTIMES Magazine)

Why Are U.S. Students Falling Behind The World?

Michelle Rhee and StudentsFirst initiatives have featured on a regular basis on FIJ in the past.

Here is Michelle Rhee on the state of the U.S. education system.

RELATED STORY

• Education Reform: U.S. schools Making Little Progress in Improving Student Achievement

The Bubble: Who Caused it. Who Called it. What’s Next?

Scheduled for release in the Fall of  2012, “The Bubble” asks the experts who predicted the current recession, “What happened and why?” Diving deep into the true causes of the financial crisis, renowned economists, investors and business leaders explain what America is facing if we don't learn from our past mistakes. The film poses the question: “Is the economy really improving or are we just blowing up another Bubble?”

This movie trailer shows just how little difference there is between the political parties when it comes to “buying your vote” with big-government, taxpayer-funded programs and policies that are doomed to failure.  When history repeats itself it’s usually at a higher price.

A looming government-backed student loan bubble has soared in recent years to an incredible $867 billion as of year-end 2011.

American Exceptionalism up for Debate in Nebraska Schools

Nebraska’s Battle over how American History should be taught

RELATED STORIES

• Nebraska Educators Debate American Exceptionalism (Fox News)
• State board urges openness as state social studies standards revised
• Nebraska social studies rewrite brings back famous figures
• First state hearing on guidelines for educator effectiveness held in Grand Island

Wisconsin Receives "No Child Left Behind" Waiver

FoxNews reports that The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has announced that Washington and Wisconsin have won their bid to be relieved of some requirements of the failure known as "No Child Left Behind" Law.  The Obama Administration permitted this in exchange for state-developed plans to prepare all students for college and career, focus aid on the neediest students, and support effective teaching and leadership.  Will this open the door for states to take greater control of education versus the one size fits all approach?  The DOE law has been due for congressional reauthorization since 2007.  Read more>>

If you have any questions pertaining to how this waiver might affect the Franklin School District we suggest you contact Franklin Schools Superintendent, Dr. Steve Patz at 414-529-8230 or a member of the Franklin School Board.

School Reform: “A Tale of Two Missions”

“A Tale of Two Missions” is a short film by Juan Williams and Kyle Olson and tells the story of competing cultures in American education through examples from our neighbor to the south--Chicago.

But the education establishment, led by the radical Chicago Teachers Union, is not willing to give an inch to allow better choices for underserved students. And the union still has enough money, influence and legal standing to make reform efforts difficult to implement.

The film features the Noble Street College Prep charter school and the amazing results its teachers and leaders are delivering for students and parents of Chicago. It also exposes the entrenched educational establishment bent on stifling school choice options and preserving its monopoly on state education dollars.

This thoughtprovoking film runs approximately 30 minutes and was created togenerate discussion about the role of our schools and what obstacles can be overcome when school culture is focused on student success rather than adult demands.

 RELATED STORIES

• Lessons Learned for Educators From the Wisconsin Recall (Huffington Post)
• Chicago Teachers Union Demands 30 Percent Pay Raise (The Heritage Foundation)

Michelle Rhee says Education Reform is Being Polarized to Extremes

Former D.C. public schools chancellor and StudentsFirst founder and CEO Michelle Rhee explores the main issues she sees in education reform, and where teachers unions do and don’t agree with her.

First Amendment Denied Certain Students in One North Carolina School

North Carolina Teacher Tells Student He Could Be Arrested for Talking Badly About Obama

Coming on the heels of the announcement of Franklin Public Schools’ Teachers of the Year, THE BLAZE reported today:

Last Monday, a high school student in North Carolina engaged his social studies teacher in a heated debate about politics and the two leading presidential candidates. During the exchange, the teacher (an obvious Obama supporter) got very angry with the student and accused him of disrespecting the president. She even went so far as to tell the boy that he could be jailed for speaking ill of Obama.  Read full story.  You will also find a link to the classrom audio.  The students are smarter and better informed than this"social studies teacher."  Parents should demand she be fired.

RELATED MEDIA

• Video stirs debate on teacher's actions in North class
• NC Teacher Screams at Student: It’s Criminal to Criticize Obama

Update on Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at 4:57 PM by Basil Ryan

NC Teacher Suspended After Yelling At Obama Critic

Useful Idiots

“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history... the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”

—Opening page Dedication, Rules for Radicals By Saul Alinsky

"The MacIver Institute of Wisconsin reported today that the State’s teachers’ union (WEAC) is "being guided by the philosophy of radical leftist Saul Alinsky." In fact, the National Education Association (NEA) the largest teachers union in the United States included Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals on its members’ recommended reading list page. A check of the NEA website today revealed that this page has been scrubbed from NEA’s website.  Fortunately, we were able to locate this pdf copy that the bumblers at NEA evidently overlooked.

The blog BEFORE IT’S NEWS included a snap shot of the NEA’s original page in its July 15, 2010 post.

Saul David Alinsky is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing. The late Conservative author, William F. Buckley said he was "very close to being an organizational genius.”

The Union News blog provides its readers with a stunning summary of Alinsky's Rules for Radicals that we are delighted to share with our readers.

The MacIver Institute of Wisconsin has been closely following the pro-union protests that started in Madison last year has done a great job of bringing to light interesting stories (fake doctor notes).  And it hasn’t disappointed with one of its latest videos, which takes you inside the courtroom as protesters try and mount a defense for why they disobeyed police in August and refused to vacate the capitol.

The following video does a good job of laying out the story, so we won’t bore you by repeating details. But what we will say is this: the protesters were eventually found guilty ($200 fine plus court costs), and just wait until you hear their defense.We're sure their English and history teachers would be proud of them.

Here's the bottom line, the protesters claim that when police told the group to vacate the building because it was closing, the cops never told each one individually. They also believe that police would have been able to do their job (close the capitol) even if the protesters were left to sit in the rotunda.  Our favorite line comes when defendant Damon Terrell claims he would have eventually gotten bored and left. How's that for conviction for "THE CAUSE."

Listen to college student and defendant Damon Terrell and his co-defendants, "colleges," as Terrell refers to them, defend themselves. in court.  This is what our schools and universities are turning out.

 RELATED READING

• Rules for Radicals By Saul Alinsky (Background Information)
• IAF is a leftist community organizing network established in 1940 by Saul Alinsky. Alinsky (MacIver Institute for Public Policy)
• Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals”! (RedState blog)

Is Public Education Getting a Failing Grade?

In an effort to inform the public and shape education reform in the upcoming year, members of the Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force on K-12 Education released their second annual list of the top five best and top five worst events in American education in 2011. This list indicates that several positive developments led to greater parental choice, system transparency and teacher accountability; however, “the worst” events indicate that there remains considerable room for improvement.

In this video Hoover Institution scholar Dr. Bill Evers discusses whether taxpayers are getting what they pay for out of public education.

RELATED STORIES

• "Great" Teachers… (FIJ)
• Best and Worst in American Education, 2011 (Hoover Institute)
• School Competition Rescues Kids (Human Events)
• The Debate within the Classroom (THE STANFORD REVIEW)

The Dumbest School Board in America?

First Amendment of the United States Constitution

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Earlier this month the “Einsteins” on the school board of the town of Jackson, NJ, decided to test the First Amendment of the United States Constitution by giving the silent treatment to reporters they considered  unethical, which is their right under the first amendment.

The proposed policy would permit board members to decline to speak with reporters whom the Board of Education considers to be in violation of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.

The thought of politicians passing judgment on others’ ethics is laughable.

The proposed resolution will address “people who are calling themselves journalists and are really just bloggers,” said board member Barbara Fiero.

This school board in a  township of nearly 60,000 residents is no stranger to controversy.

According to this December 20 story:

With a Township budget crisis and pending layoffs looming, Jackson Township Mayor Michael Reina is upset with the members of the Jackson Board of Education over their decision earlier this year to take unexpected, additional state aid that the school district received and defer it to next year’s school district budget instead of refunding it to taxpayers this year.  Read full story…

JTOWN magazine reported on December 19 that after receiving criticism from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Jackson School Board brain-trust chose to withdraw its policy proposal. Score one for the Bill of Rights, taxpayers and bloggers!

BOTTOMLINE: “Stupid is as stupid does.”—Forrest Gump

"Great" Teachers…

Ask Franklin Schools Superintendent Steve Patz or any member of the Franklin school board and they will likely tell you: Franklin public schools have great teachers.  Arguably, “great” is relative, but Merriam-Webster defines great this way: An outstandingly superior or skillful person.  We do not doubt that Franklin Public Schools has some great teachers, but like any organization it more than likely has its share of not –so-great- teachers, as-well.

In researching what makes a great teacher, we came across a number of websites  that attempted to answer the question: What makes a great teacher?  You are welcome to Google that question to satisfy your own curiosity, but we settled for an article entitled: Top 5 (Plus 14) Character Traits Of Superior Teachers at a website named:  So you want to teach.com.

The article concludes that these are the Top 5 (Plus 14) Character Traits Of Superior Teachers and that if you want to be a great teacher, these are the things you should begin to develop first.  How do these traits  measure up to your expectation and definition of a great teacher?  Meet my hair-pulling fourth grade teacher, Miss Martins:

Top 5 Character Traits of Great Teachers

1. Inspired me and never let me settle for anything less than my best.
2. Compassionate, caring, made me feel important and welcomed, made a personal connection with me.
3. Were demanding, pushed me hard.
4. Had a great sense of humor.
5. Knowledge of the subject matter.

Other specifics

1. Wasn’t afraid of what other people thought.
2. Passion for the subject matter.
3. Challenged me to think beyond just the answer in the textbook.
4. Listened to my ideas.
5. Taught me new things.
6. A terrific fund raiser.
7. Kept things interesting.
8. They were interactive.
9. Added personal elements to the classroom.
10. Organized.
11. Wasn’t fake or shallow with comments to students.
12. Discipline.
13. Confidence.
14. They were problem solvers, rather than simply problem identifiers.

THE FRANKLIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL is a member of Michelle Rhee’s studentsfirst.

Here is Rhee discussing studentsfirst.org, school reform and great teachers.

RELATED MEDIA

• Studentsfirst.org Facebook link>

Not a “Facebooker”?

• Here is StudentsFirst’s website (videos) link>

Fortunately, we no longer have kids in Franklin Public Schools and feel comfortable writing about this subject without fear of reprisals to our kids from teachers doubling as union reps thug-enforcers.

Caught on Tape: Teachers Union President's Outrageous Remarks

Chicago Teachers Union President or standup comic?  You make the call…

Here is Keynote Speaker Karen Lewis, Chicago Teachers Union president, American Federation of Teachers vice president, October 1, 2011, Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference, Seattle, WA.

Education Action Group Foundation (EAG), Inc. a national organization headquartered in Michigan has a seven-person full-time staff. EAG is a non-partisan non-profit organization with the goal of promoting sensible education reform and exposing those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. 

In a recent piece at Public School Spending.com the online publication wrote:

Some well-meaning people still cling to the notion that teachers union collective bargaining is healthy for public schools. 

We feel comfortable stating that we believe that a minority faction of Franklin School Board members and administrators would probably agree with that.  For evidence of this, we point to remarks made to a group of Franklin school teachers concerning health insurance benefits during the August 18, 2011, school board meeting when president Debbie Larson assured those teachers in attendance that the Board and the District would get their input in making the decision [on the insurance carrier].  Read our story Wisconsin’s Second Largest Group Health Insurer owned by WEAC.

RELATED MEDIA

• Truths and Excesses Do Battle in Speech by Teachers Union Leader (NYT)
• Angry Teachers Union President Spews Insults—blames media for backlash (Big Government.com)
• Unions Use Scare Tactics to Frighten Schools Away From Outsourcing and Big Savings (EAG)
• Public School Spending.com

Wisconsin’s Second Largest Group Health Insurer owned by WEAC

Would you be surprised to learn that the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) created and owns WEA Trust insurance?  We were.

In a July 14 story entitled Franklin School Board to Discuss, Insurance Bidding Process, we wrote in-part:

For the sake of Franklin taxpayers let’s hope the “insurance” being discussed by the [School] Board is employee health insurance.

In its May publication Wisconsin School Reformer, a publication of Education Action Group Foundation (EAG),reported that the limitations placed upon teacher’s unions collective bargaining will leave school boards and their districts free from costly WEA Trust insurance. Baraboo School Board got a jump on the rest of the state in May when it voted to dump WEA Trust employee health coverage in favor of similar coverage through the Dean Health Plan. According to the report, the Baraboo school District will save an estimated $660,000 per year by making the change. Eighty-eight percent of the savings will go to the district, while the other 12 percent will be split among insured employees, according to wiscnews.com.

Wisconsin School Reformer also wrote that the money the district saves will almost certainly help salvage a few teaching positions and student programs over the next few years and goes on to state that the bidding competition at Baraboo was really not competitive at all.

The family premium proposed by WEA Trust was $1,630 per month, while the premium proposed by Dean Health was just under $1,400 per month. The WEA Trust plan would have cost the district about $5 million per year, while the Dean plan will cost $4.3 million.

Since that meeting and as previously noted, we have learned that, according to its website, the WEA Trust was created by the Wisconsin Education Association Council (Wisconsin Teachers Union) to provide insurance, and retirement and investment services to Wisconsin public school employees and their families.

We noted in a related story on July 21;  Teachers Flood School Board Meeting, Franklin Teachers made up the majority of the audience at last night’s school board meeting.   During Citizen Comments school board president Debbie Larson a former teacher permitted Franklin teachers to comment on agenda item 9. a. Board Discussion, [health] insurance bidding process. Fear of the unknown and satisfaction with the status quo (WEA Trust) seemed to be the motivating factor behind most of the comments.

Larson assured these Franklin Teacher’s that the Board and the District would get their input in making the decision.  It is unclear whether Larson can make that claim without the approval of the full school board.

The Franklin School Board can certainly learn  from the Baraboo board.  We found this statement from Baraboo officials  especially interesting concerning its bidding process:

"...the bidding competition at Baraboo was really not competitive at all."

The Franklin School Board plans to conduct its search for a new insurance provider with the help of an outside consulting firm.

If you would like to discuss this or other education issues regarding the Franklin School District please contact a member of the Franklin School Board or Franklin Schools Superintendent Steve Patz at 414-525-7603.

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