|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Two recent Broad + Liberty articles detailed issues in the Upper Darby School District at both the middle schools and the high school. Only 30.2 percent of Upper Darby high school students are proficient in Literature and only 7.3 percent in Algebra.
I am a member of Upper Darby High School’s Class of 1961. I served on the Upper Darby School Board in the 1980’s and 1990’s. My wife subsequently served on the board as well. I have a deep personal connection to the district and community. Such results are staggering and they make my heart heavy. And, they raise the basic question: why are they so bad?
Does the fault simply lie with the curriculum, the administration, the unions, or some combination thereof? After decades of significant spending increases, is the answer really more money, or are there other factors at work that are beyond the teachers’ and administrators’ control? Does the solution lie elsewhere, at least partially?
Politicians, the public, parents, and academicians have all weighed in on the crisis facing not only Upper Darby’s public schools, but our nation’s public schools. Many, if not all, of the solutions that have been put forward may have some validity, but we believe that it’s time to look beyond the schools and back to the communities that they serve.
Our research has led us to question the mantra that “more money is the answer.”
We have identified middle-class school districts that spend less than Upper Darby or Philadelphia and have outcomes that rival or surpass those of the wealthiest districts. Our research brings into question the notion that the difference between good, or even exceptional, student performance and poor outcomes is the amount of money spent on each student.
For example, Springfield School District (Delaware County) spends less per student than Philadelphia or Upper Darby and has student outcomes, as measured by state exams, that exceed or equal the county’s most affluent district, Radnor. They do this despite spending $10,000 dollars less per student. As you can see from the chart below the relationship between amount spent per student and student outcomes is tenuous at best.
How can this be? The answer may, at least partially, lie outside the school. We began looking for answers in the larger community and found that there seems to be a direct relationship between family structure and student success. Money spent on our schools can’t overcome one of the most essential factors of school success. Family is the most critical input in the potential of success in life and outcomes in school. It is impossible to adequately evaluate a school district’s performance without evaluating the community they serve. Perhaps this explains why charter schools can often succeed in a neighborhood where regular public schools fail. They require a certain level of parental involvement.
We are not suggesting that the public education bureaucracy does not need to do a better job: plainly stated, it does. However, to make meaningful, sustainable improvements, they need assistance. We believe that school districts cannot do this alone, as they are a function of the community that they serve, they need the community to provide an environment conducive to the development of successful children.
Family matters
As a part of our analysis, we compared outcomes from several local school districts and found that the results underscore the notion that the education of our children is not only dependent on our schools but also on our culture. This hypothesis is explained in greater detail in a book written last year by economist Melissa S. Kearney. In The Two-Parent Privilege, she explains the relationship between outcomes for children who live with two parents versus those who live with only one parent. Chapter One, entitled The Elephant in the Room, provides a useful framework for the theory:
“There is no doubt that marriage can be a terrible prison for some, and the argument of this book is not that such marriages should be maintained. But over the past 40-plus years, American society has engaged in a vast experiment of reshaping the most fundamental of social institutions — the family — and the resulting generations of data tell us in no uncertain terms how that has played out for children.
The data present some uncomfortable realities:
- Two-parent families are beneficial for children.
- The class divide in marriage and family structure has exacerbated inequality and class gaps.
- Places that have more two-parent families have higher rates of upward mobility.
- Not talking about these facts is counterproductive. (p. 15)
The chart below underscores the validity of the book’s findings.
As the chart shows, when looking at a representative group of school districts, the correlation between two-parent families and student outcomes is striking. The data might have made an even more compelling argument had we been able to be more granular in our analysis. For instance, in Upper Darby a very significant fraction of the children attend parochial schools. It is possible that many of those children were products of two-parent families, reducing even further the percentage of children in the public school living in two-parent homes.
The education bureaucracy, we believe, is aware of the impact imploded culture has on the children it is responsible for educating. Politically, they can’t say it. The poor outcomes and the violence are, to some degree, not within their ability to control. They can’t bring themselves to tell the simple truth: family matters.
Their answer, almost always, is to demand more money.
However, some administrators come close. Upper Darby School District continues to struggle with low academic achievement, and their superintendent, Daniel McGarry has repeatedly and publicly acknowledged that more support is needed from home. An excerpt from a recent email to parents explains the importance of parental involvement.
“I recognize that when I have asked for help from the community in the past, my message may have been misunderstood. My intention is not about assigning blame or establishing shame; instead, I am asking for everyone to please talk to your student. I hope we can all agree that we are not going to condone physical aggression in our schools or on the way to and from our schools. Please encourage them to make good decisions and to seek out adults and the support(s) we have in our schools when they need help.”
We must ask why Springfield School District can rival the outcomes of Radnor School District despite spending $10,000 less per student. Perhaps more importantly, why are Springfield’s students excelling while Upper Darby’s students are struggling despite virtually equal spending? It’s time to have an honest discussion.
Wally Nunn is the former Chairman of Delaware County Council.
few problems here. first we need to establish if marriage is between a man and a woman and what is the definition of a woman.
first strict rule to remove all phones for students on school premises. removing phones from the school solves lots of problems. if a phone is found in a student locker get suspended. keep a stash of pay phones at the school entrance for those who really need to make a call the phone is nothing more than a worlwide stage for children and many adults to act out.. cannot blame them for wanting the fleeting stardom. adults with integrity need to make hard choices and rules. my poor teenage nephew came to work at his uncles house one saturday with phone in hand. instructed him to leave the phone in the car. he worked half a day went home without saying bye or collecting his pay. been 10 years with no contact, still butt hurt.. its called hard love. better to learn it young. i always ask the littles who want make money, what skills do you have? always get the same puzzled look. i tell them. how do i know how much to pay you? more puzzled look. can you run a chainsaw? can you run a weedeater? can you run a shovel? do you know how to clean a bathroom? skills? no, no, no, no. can you pick up rocks? no. they always seem to think they get high pay for no skills. then i explain i can hire a skilled gardener who has skills for that wage. more puzzled. kids are great, but dang i learned this stuff out the gate when hounding for candy/soda money as a grade schooler.
“We are not suggesting that the public education bureaucracy does not need to do a better job: plainly stated, it does.”
No, it needs to be reduced dramatically, and replaced by parents who are willing to contribute.
The “bureaucracy” is made up of educators that moved up the ranks. Once in the top levels they will do nothing to disrupt the system. Their pitiful fall back is always “more money”. It’s the union way. No matter how poorly they do their job they always feel they deserve more. They will never admit it, but you are right, they should all be replaced by stakeholders from the community.
This seems to be a threat to the serial polygamists in our country to like to father a few children with a woman, then abandon them and move on to another woman and repeat the process, over and over. Telling one of these fellows to grow up, be a man, and stand by his wife and kids would be perceived as racist… or something.
One might ask “What happened to American Families”? Here again “Thank a DEMOcrat”! The DEMOcrats’ long term goal of DESTROYING American Families has been 60 years in the making and has been very successful – IF – you measure success by the MISERY scale! Children born to single “mothers” (how many of them TRULY are MOTHERLY?) have a rougher life than children born into a Mother and Father Home – that is a FACT! Now there are exceptions each way but the overwhelming facts are there! This keeps people poor and dependent on Government! Black Americans have voted DEMOcrat nearly exclusively since the 60’s and look where that took them! Fortunately many are waking up to the realities. Now the single white women need to look at their lives. Many are simply insane – no other way to put it! They have been brainwashed by the media and “education” systems into believing they do not NEED a man in their lives. That’s very sad! I’ve seen PERSONALLY what a single Mom does to a child and most of you have seen it too – undisciplined, unmotivated to succeed, probably a skateboarding pothead, or just a pothead gamer! That’s not a life!! It’s early on a Monday (been up since 5 something – body not adjusted to DAYLIGHT Savings yet – and already entering 1400+ characters ranting! Hope you all have a great Monday! OH – and back from taking our SINGLE parent Grandson’s little girl and her half-sister to school!
Turns out the “Great Society” hasn’t turned out so great. It’s the perfect example of why the govt has no business in directing and manipulating the culture. $33t later and things are only getting worse. Every time we hear of a new “wealth re-distribution” scheme some segment of society is going to take a hit while another gets something for nothing. Unfortunately, if you can get enough people in the “something for nothing” column it’s nearly impossible to reverse the trend. (Gives you some idea why, in the past, only landholders were granted the vote. Voting yourself money from the public treasury, while you put none in, is bad math.)
This is an excellent article, but we need to be more blunt about the problem. The problem is more than the loss of traditional 2-parent families, but also the Christian communities that once made up this nation and who had a cohesive and coherent idea about what civic and academic education meant.
We should frankly acknowledge the “education bureaucracy” is not only aware of, but DEPENDS upon student dysfunction to justify its bloated budgets. Good parents and those in loco parentis do not work to enrich bureaucrats and administrators. We should not be surprised that problems increase when they invariably produce a financial reward and increases in bureaucrats and administrators to “manage” the problem while making salaries far in excess of teachers’ pay.
Finally, we must acknowledge that families create communities and culture. Our government has been actively destroying our nation and people and importing those who do not share our Christian values, who are actively hostile to us, our families, culture – even our very existence. There can be no effective “public” education when the public has no unified community or culture.
i suppose if the government really wanted to fix education and followed the statistics. every school administrator and board member would be a “family member” . meaning mother and father from un broken homes.
Family matters…. who da thunk it? How much money was wasted reaching that conclusion?
Provide more money to the boots on the ground (parents) and starve the beast (administration) and watch the test scores zoom off the chart.
So simple even a caveman like me could fix it.
We are witnessing the great “thinkers” of our time thinking and thinking and thinking.
How about we get off our asses and get back to the basics… reading, writing and arithmatic.
Shame on all of us for our derelection of duty towards our youngest and brightest.
Parent involvement in education has always been key. My wife taught for 38 years and it was always the kids with parents who made sure homework was done and interacted with the teacher who did the best. The “losing” end of the spectrum was represented by a mother who responded to a note (about her child not getting the work done) by saying, “Don’t bother me with this. I have my own problems.”
Forcing Teachers to belong to the NEA or to join some Union should be Unconstitutional No More Revisionist History no more of this Climate Change Scam back to the 3 R,s
Is there a typo on the chart? Should the title be “% married households” for the white line?
“Does the fault simply lie with the curriculum, the administration, the unions, or some combination thereof?”
Hmm. Something is left out. GIGO