| How much of the school year at Paca is devoted to preparations for
standardized tests? To what degree has Paca’s
educational mission been compromised by “No Child Left Behind”?
When the actual test date draws near, is the whole school day, even
recess time, given over to cramming?
Are students at Paca being taught functional reading, writing and
arithmetic skills which will make them useful in a retail job, or
are they being taught the foundation skills which will enable them
to prepare for college?
How regimented are the class lesson plans? To what extent do teachers at Paca use scripted lesson plans
featuring rote and drill, stimulus and response exercises?
Is a balance struck between demanding efficiency and allowing room
for the natural spontaneity of children? How often are kids asked to
think creatively instead of answering questions with drilled
responses?
Do kids ask good questions?
Are teachers asked to write state educational standards with the
proper numbers on the chalkboard for each day’s lesson?
How much time must teachers spend filling out inventories which
chart student outcomes for learning objectives?
Do teachers feel comfortable with the lesson plans they teach?
How
frequently do teaching jobs at the school turn over?
How are classrooms and hallways decorated at Paca? Do they emphasize
student creativity as the measure of achievement, or are state
mandated learning objectives emphasized?
Do you see performance charts on the walls which inventory ‘student
outcomes to determine competencies’?
Are traditional subjects like history, geography, and science still
emphasized in the curriculum?
To what extent has the process of education (which encourages risk
taking, play, questions, and creative thinking) been sacrificed to
test cramming? Are arts and music programs being reduced in order to focus more
time on test prep? Do teachers or administrators receive bonus pay linked to
performance on standardized tests? Do Paca teachers use ‘token economies’ to ‘incentivize’ learning
activities? Are kids publicly humiliated by design as part of the school
curriculum? (Like the public announcement of Reading Levels at PS 65
(73)) Do teachers encourage their students to feel like successful workers
in an employment situation?
How much is the culture of the workplace
being transplanted into the culture of the classroom? Does Paca’s curriculum condition children to pursue service economy
jobs instead of professions that require advanced degrees? How do the teachers get kids to line up and move from place to place
during the school day? (Are the directions excessively regimented?)
How do the teachers handle discipline in the
classroom? |