I've been meaning to do a post about this for a while ... but this isn't it. (Sorry.) Until I get to write my post, read this article from The Progressive, written by a colleague in my school district.
Yesterday we opened our school year with a kick-ass general assembly of the entire instructional staff in the district. We were addressed by our brand new superintendent, who has been getting rave reviews from everyone who has already worked with him for the last two months.
There was live music -- lots of live music, including one of the payroll secretaries singing a somewhat incongruous country song. I'm hoping against hope that this signals a new era of support for the arts in the district. (Our previous superintendent, although his name is Art, once infamously said something to the effect of, "I grew up without arts instruction and I turned out fine.")
There was a promise from the new guy -- a promise that brought tears to my eyes -- that he would work to bring 4-year-old kindergarten to our district. You see, we used to have an excellent 4-Year-Old program; I was a teacher in it, briefly. The only thing was, it wasn't universal, meaning it was not offered to every single child in the city -- a state mandate. The powers that be (in their infinite wisdom) thought that the expense of expanding the program to be in compliance with state law was too high and canned it. The truly bizarre thing is, they are very tight-lipped in talking about it. Whenever the issue of 4K comes up in the media, the program we had for 15 years is not mentioned at all. We are one of the only municipalities in the state -- including many small towns -- that doesn't have a 4K.
So my hope is that, with a commitment to 4K will come a commitment to developmentally appropriate early childhood education in general. I have made a private commitment this year to make my kindergarten classroom much more play- and language-based. I've tried what Susie Hobart refers to in her excellent Progressive article -- the heavy doses of targeted literacy instruction that are supposed to "close the achievement gap" and bring up our test scores to meet our AYP (that's "Annual Yearly Progress", a NCLB term; if you don't meet it, you are designated a "failing school" subject to increasingly harsh sanctions.) I've tried it, and you know what? It's not working, because those 5 and 6-year-olds will persist in acting like, well, 5 and 6 year-olds. Hopefully I will be teaching appropriately with the support of my administrators.
Back to yesterday's meeting. We were also addressed by the honorable John Matthews, the executive director of our teachers' union for the last 40 years. His words to us were unabashedly political: This is an election year. Pay attention. At the state level, for 15 years we have had horribly damaging anti-education laws brought to us by ex-Gov. Tommy Thompson and the Republican-majority legislature. At the national level, NCLB. Vote for the party that supports education, supports teachers, supports kids. He said, pointedly, "It's not the Republicans." Yay, John! He is as tenacious as a bull dog when it comes to standing up for Madison's educators (and children. Because in education, the old adage definitely applies: "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.")
Anyway, the whole thing was inspiring. The words rang true. I hope that this change at our local level is a harbinger of more widespread change.
Man, did this get lengthy! Read the article. That's all.
