ASCD just released a special issue of Educational Leadership, where they lay out 10 challenges facing K12 education today. Here are the 10 greatest challenges facing our schools today according to ASCD:
How do we recruit, hire, and retain quality teachers?
Are we teaching care or control?
Do young learners possess a vision of what they want their learning to look like?
How do we create clarity on equity in schools?
How do we achieve improved student engagement?
How do we reduce teacher workloads?
Can we address learning gaps by going deeper?
How do we improve our kids’ mental health?
How do schools become more respectful places?
How do we protect a student’s freedom to learn?
If I was asked to list the greatest challenges faced by K12 education today, I don’t know if these 10 would be it, but I’ll play along and offer my two cents on how I would answer given the present public education system we live with in this country.
How do we recruit, hire, and retain quality teachers?
All of these are failing propositions (recruiting, hiring, and retaining) unless we find a way to increase salaries for adult learning leaders. To do that, I think we need to create a new position with new responsibilities. We need to stop using the word “teacher.” It’s an out-dated and frankly patronizing description of something that we need to stop focusing on – teaching. The new description should be “learning coach” or “learning facilitator” – a person focused on learning before teaching.
Along with increased salaries, we should provide training to these “learning coaches” covering topics like “how you get your young learners to grow in their reading, writing, problem solving, and character development,” “how to build relationships,” “how to build a budget and a learning plan,” “how to lead learning for kids anytime and anywhere”, and “how to use technology effectively.”
Then we should empower these “learning coaches” to be confident and courageous in making decisions for their young learners so they can become smarter and stronger in their academic, social, and emotional pursuits.
Are we teaching care or control in schools?
No doubt, we’re teaching control in America’s public schools – especially on our secondary campuses and especially in schools that are predominantly black, brown, or poor. Spending time teaching kids about how to care for each other wouldn’t be a priority of any high school I know of. Teaching kids to “care” would take too much time away from the teaching/testing cycle. Maybe the only way we can teach “caring” to kids is to get them the hell out of school?
Do young learners possess a vision of what they want their learning to look like?
Most schools are the worst when the goal is to try to teach kids how to build a vision about their learning. You know why? Because schools and the states they reside in think it’s their job to build that vision. Remember the “Everyone Ready for College” movement in the early 2000’s? That program came from the top and demanded everyone within the public school system talk the college readiness talk. So, again, if you want kids to build a vision about their own learning, you might need to get those kids the hell out of school.
How do we create clarity about equity in schools?
If you’ve read my columns, then you know what I’m about to say. Schools are inequitable by their design. I don’t see a way to make them equitable. So, if you want kids to have an equitable opportunity to learn, then you might need to get those kids the hell out of school.
How do we achieve improved student engagement?
I learned a long time ago that student engagement is all about “the worm” you put on the pole to catch “the fish.” “The fish” here is the young learner, and “the worm” is whatever it is that makes the young learner want to learn something – a question, a problem, a picture, a story. The problem with traditional schools is that most of their curriculum is not built around a question, problem, picture, or story. Traditional school curriculum is built around knowledge and facts, especially on the secondary level. So, if you want young learners to possess a healthy dose of engagement, then it’s probably going to require a massive changeover in traditional school curriculum, and who thinks that’s going to happen?
How do we reduce teacher workloads?
Traditional schools won’t reduce teacher workloads unless they begin to use staffing differently, and that’s unlikely. Traditional schools can’t use staffing differently because they are too concerned about teacher certification rules, making it almost impossible for adult learning leaders to support young learners in their interdisciplinary pursuits.
If you really want to reduce adult learning leader workloads, then you need to change the way young learners are assigned to their adult learning leaders. Learning leaders could be either generalists, meaning they have 20-22 young learners in their charge (think about the American elementary model here), or they could be specialists, working with 20-22 young learners in pursuits like calculus, physics, or drama.
Can we address learning gaps by going deeper?
Not in America’s public schools. The traditional school system in this country is all about coverage, meaning teachers feel pressured to “cover the curriculum” at the expense of not going deeper with skills like reading, writing, and problem-solving. In fact, most traditional schools have no idea how to decrease learning gaps. That’s why black, brown, and poor kids remain behind in most of America’s schools.
The first step in attacking the learning gap is to make sure all young learners know how to read, and read well. It seems schools are unwilling to make a commitment to insure everyone has strong reading skills, so, again, you might need to get the kids the hell out of these places called school in order for them to have a chance at building strong reading skills.
How do we improve our kids’ mental health?
Well, to improve anything, you must first make the commitment to spend the time improving. Traditional schools don’t make the necessary time commitment to improve their children’s mental health. Maybe things are changing post-pandemic, but it’s probably too early to tell.
How do schools become more respectful places?
Just like mental health, traditional schools don’t spend time working on building capacity when it comes to teaching mutual respect to the children. Instead, most schools demand respect by establishing a system of control (see above on “care or control”), especially when it comes to those schools serving our black, brown, and poor children.
How do we protect a student’s freedom to learn?
Given the legislation passed by states this past year, Florida, Texas, and Iowa to name a few, this challenge might be the greatest of them all. If traditional school space won’t afford all kids, no matter their color, gender, or ethnicity, the freedom to learn, then it might be time to get the kids the hell out of school.
Til tomorrow. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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