Supporting Students This School Year

 The podcast interview on The Tent with Becky Pringle, the National Education Association President highlighted some key insight into what is failing in the United States education system.  One issue the system is facing is teacher and staff shortages inside and outside of the classroom.  Another is the lowered test scores and increased achievement gap with communities among different socioeconomic classes.  The lack of resources was also discussed as to why there is a crisis in our education system.  All of these concerns were raised, but the question still remains why is this occurring, and what can we do about it?

    There is a staff shortage in the education system because of a lack of respect for the professionals who teach children, drive school buses, and support students, both inside and outside the classroom.  These professionals are expected to not only fulfill the job requirements as noted on their job description, but also supply school supplies, snacks, tissues, soap, hand sanitizer, and many other resources to the students out of their own money, even though their salaries are not always substantial to meet their financial needs.  These basic resources should be provided by the school system, not the professionals working in the system.  This leaves me wondering if the professionals who are involved with analyzing, evaluating, and creating a budget are doing what is best for the students and community that they are serving.  Staff are burning out at a faster rate because of all of the pressure and expectation that they need to fix all of the problems within their schools and are working around the clock.

Teachers face an enormous amount of pressure around student test scores.  School systems base student achievement on these test scores, and when they are not performing it becomes the blame game of teachers not doing their jobs well enough.  Becky Pringle stated, “The testing system, not only here in this country but in others as well, does not adequately measure what our students know and are able to do.”  A test is a snapshot of a student on one day of their life, not an ongoing process of their growth.  It has been mentioned in the news that there has been a decline in test scores since the pandemic, which is putting more pressure on teachers to teach their students to the test, and not how to think critically, how to become independent learners, and reduces time for teachers to build positive relationships with their students.  The decline in test scores should be highlighting the inequity across America with access to resources, such as home internet, computers, technology, and basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.  During the pandemic, students were learning virtually, if they had adequate internet access at home with a device to use.  However, it was evident that this was not the case and the achievement gap continued to increase.  The students were hungry and with many businesses closed, parents struggled to pay their bills.  The pandemic has caused trauma to our students, as some lost parents, their homes, they didn’t have food to eat, and the uneasy feeling of what the future holds for them during this scary time.  Instead of focusing on providing our students with the mental health services they desperately need, the country is focused on the decrease in test scores.  These students are not able to access their education to their full capacity when they are trying to survive, so of course their test scores are low.  America needs to have more educational professionals involved in decision making regarding our school systems, and less politicians who have no educational background or experience in education making decisions that are not in the best interest of our students.

The Universal Free School Lunch program ended at the beginning of the school year, causing some students to not be able to have food to eat during the day.  No student should go through the school day hungry and be denied food because they do not have the financial means to pay for it.  There is a Free and Reduced Meal program throughout the country, but it is not always easy for parents to access the documents that need to be filled out for students to be able to eat.  Many of the forms are digital, and in communities of high poverty, parents may not have access or don’t know that these are resources for their children.  There needs to be more options to reach every child in America, so that none of them are hungry.  Schools can provide technology nights, where parents can log on to school computers and have staff show them where to find forms and how to fill them out.  

We have many problems with our education system in America, and our students are suffering from them.  We need to provide solutions to increase the number of professionals involved with education and hire more mental healthcare professionals to help the healing process from the pandemic.  We need to close the gap on student achievement by creating equity in every community in America.  We need to make food easily accessible to our students, so they are not hungry, and can be available to access their education.  Teachers and staff are standing up and crying out for these resources, but we need to continue to be loud and force the government to hear us to ensure we create a better system for our students.

References

Leger, D. (Host). (2022, September 8).  Becky Pringle on Supporting Students and Educators This School Year. [Audio Podcast Episode]. In The Tent. The Center for American Progress Action Fund. thetentpod.libsyn.com/becky-pringle-on-supporting-students-and-educators-this-school-year