response to the quality school

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will be responding to this book

-- Anonymous, November 11, 1998

Answers

Reaction to "The Quality School, Managing Students Without Coercion" by William Glasser, M.D.

Wasn't the "quality school" the basis of the outcome-based education many school districts, including Proctor, attempted seven or eight years ago? Teachers had several days of training by various teachers from Johnson City, New York. The superintendent of Johnson City at the time was Dr. Albert Mamary whose quote appears on the back of Glasser's "Quality Schools" book. The objectives of each chapter in a subject were to be very clear to the students and the tests were to match those objects. Students could retake tests and receive A's and B's as soon as they'd completed the work and passed the test satisfactorily. Teachers spent countless hours examining and rewriting objectives, designing extra comparable tests, planning enrichment activities for those students who passed a test the first time, developing reteaching materials for students who needed extra time and practice to learn the concepts. Although Glasser says, "Time would never be a factor if a student was willing to learn", TIME, indeed, was an important factor. How much reteaching and time is reasonable waiting for some students to "make the grade" so the class could move on to the next unit of study? The Proctor school district supported the endeavor to a certain extent, (mostly as long as it didn't cost any extra money). The model from Johnson City, New York, used "Saturday School" and school during holiday vacations for students to do make-up work, receive more reteaching, and prepare them to pass a test with an "A" or "B" grade. This is one of the pieces of the plan that would cost additional money and was not attempted in my school district. Report cards of "A's" and "B's" using outcome-based grading did not reflect which students worked hard and passed the test the first time and which needed considerable reteaching to pass. Capable students, their parents, and teachers thought the new grading system did not reward their efforts. Soon "horror stories" of outcome-based education attempts around the nation were making the news. Some involved tales that objectives were being "watered down" so that all students could easily pass the tests. I remember attending a band concert at Hermantown and being met in the parking lot by some parents handing out fliers to "get rid of outcome-based education". Many in the community were not trusting their teachers to take the best parts of the program and make them workable. The words "outcome-based education" became a "dirty word" because of all the bad publicity and many teachers, including myself, stopped using the term. Many teachers have continued to use parts of the O.B.E. concepts such as reteaching, retesting, matching objectives to the items tested, etc. Could we have developed a "quality school" if the community had trusted its teachers, the district supported it in both theory and finances, and we weren't bombarded with negative publicity? The back cover states that there are over 200 schools in the Quality School Consortium. How effective are these schools? What problems have they encountered and how were they solved?

-- Anonymous, December 30, 1998


Hi Sondra! Don't you feel like a yo-yo with all of the ideas that come through that we should be doing in the classroom? An idea comes along that the higher ups (legislature, administration, etc.) thinks will solve all of the problems of society and public schools. Money, time and training are poured into the implementation of this miracle idea. And then for one reason or another it's dropped. I've only taught for 5 years, but it seems like teachers tend to hold on to the ideas that they see value in and go on with what works. I liked some of Glasser's ideas, but as an entire concept it doesn't seem realistic. I also would like more information on the Quality Schools that are out there. Do they really work like Glasser claims?

-- Anonymous, January 03, 1999

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