A Right Denied

Dear Public Education Advocate:
Yesterday I attended the premier showing of A Right Denied produced by Bob Compton who also produced 2 Million Minutes and few other related documentaries about education systems in the US and the world.
In between watching the Masters or the Yankees lose a few ballgames this weekend, please review this information and in particular, the attached 240 slide PPT presentation prepared by Whitney Tilson who is featured in A Right Denied. Whitney’s research and factual data took a few years to compile and is the basis for the documentary. I have been following Whitney’s work closely for a few years and if you asked me if I could have dinner with any one person in America today who would it be; my answer (after my wife of course) Whitney Tilson. Please review his material and feel free to share this with those you know.
While the achievement gap among racial groups and the sad inequities based solely one’s zip code are illustrated, so is the decline in the U.S. education system on a whole – the data is alarming.
Some select pieces from the PPT slides (5.5MB PDF):
Why hasn’t additional money resulted in improved results?

  1. Teacher quality has been falling rapidly over the past few decades
  2. Our school systems have become more bureaucratic and unaccountable
  3. As a nation, have been so rich for so long that we have become lazy and complacent. Our youth are spending more time watching TV, listening to iPods, playing video games (up 25% in the last four years), going to sporting events, etc. rather than studying hard. These two pictures capture what’s happening in China vs. the U.S. (see slide number 15).

Americans watch more than twice as much TV as any other country. (Watching the Masters or Baseball is exempt however.)
Achievement Gap #1 – We are falling behind all economic competitors.

  • 15-year-olds trail almost all other OECD countries in Math and Science.
  • Our High School graduation rate lags nearly all OECD countries.
  • US is among the leaders in college participation but ranks in the bottom half or college completion.
  • The college completion rate in the US has stagnated and our competitors have surpassed us.
  • American students score highly in self-confidence. 72% agree or strongly agree; “I get good marks in Mathematics”, yet we are near the bottom internationally in mathematics.

Achievement Gap #2 – Academic achievement of low-Income, minority students is dramatically lower than their more affluent peers. You already know this but, did you know;

  • The black-white achievement gap is already one year in kindergarten?
  • The majority of Black and Latino 4th graders struggle to read a simple children’s book.
  • The achievement gap widens the longer students are in school.
  • Black and Latino 12th graders read and do math at the same level as white 8th graders.
  • Massachusetts and NYC have made great strides in math the past six years.
  • Very few children from low-income households are graduating from any four-year college, and this has stayed consistent for the past 40 years.
  • 74% of students at elite colleges are from the top quartile of households and only 9% are from the bottom half of households.
  • Even the better high school graduates today are alarmingly unprepared for college. Close to half need remedial courses.

Two general approaches to fixing our schools

  • Improve the current system and create alternatives to the current system. Adopt both strategies.
  • Too many school systems today are dominated by the “Three Pillars of Mediocrity.”
    • Lifetime Tenure
    • Lockstep Pay
    • System Drive by seniority (not merit)
  • Teacher Quality and Effectiveness. Teacher quality has been declining for decades. College seniors who plan to go into education have very low test scores.
  • Teacher certification has little impact on student achievement.

Please review the trailer http://www.2mminutes.com/films/ and the slide presentation attached which I know you will appreciate. I would encourage you to purchase the CD too or you can borrow mine if you like, I also have 2 Million Minutes and 2 Million Minutes: The 21st Century Solution.
Doug