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Teachers a part of learning process

Editor’s note: This is the first of two parts.

By TIMOTHY MAJKA

Let’s start off with an icebreaker. I am proposing a new political reform. A “Legislator Evaluation process.”

Every six months constituents would fill out an evaluation on their respective representatives (oh, and another legislator, rated “effective” or “highly effective” from another state will do this as well). If a legislator receives two consecutive scores of “ineffective” he or she is not allowed to run for re-election.

Sound preposterous? Did you chuckle? Well then you may want to give the New York state education ”reforms” included in the 2015-2016 state budget a read. You will be crying by the end. Unfortunately, they will not be tears of joy. You will however be shocked by the incompetence, lack of foresight, and general disregard for the teaching profession included in the “plan.”

In my almost 19 years as an educator, I have worked in two different public school districts, one parochial school, and spent 10 years teaching students from 12 different school districts as part of a regional summer school. I have taught everything from seventh grade U.S. history to 12th grade government and economics to GED and alternative education.

I spent 13 years coaching high school football. A few coaching seventh- and eighth-grade basketball. I have worn many hats, class adviser, curriculum coordinator for English and social studies departments, school safety team member, school-based improvement team member, chaperone, mentor, collective bargaining team member, building representative, and union vice president.

I have been trained in numerous pedagogical strategies. The Socratic method, implicit instruction, explicit instruction, discovery learning, active learning and cooperative learning. I have worked with many amazing teachers and administrators in my time, and a few that were not so amazing. The one constant through all of that time has been that the most successful students I have had the pleasure of teaching shared the following traits:

1. They had a work ethic.

2. They took an active part in class.

3. They missed very few days of school.

4. They worked and studied outside of school.

5. They completed their assignments – usually on time.

6. They had parents and/or guardians who were involved in their education and valued it.

It takes a collaborative effort between child, parent and teacher to make a successful student. As my career has progressed, student responsibility and parent involvement have seen a sad steady decline. The key to true education reform starts here.

Attendance – Let’s have a state-mandated attendance policy that includes a maximum number of days a child can miss – legal and illegal. If students fail to meet the required number of days they will not earn credit for the school year and my not sit for any Regents exams. Parent involvement can be encouraged with either a punitive or incentive based system.

There are laws already on the books that cover educational neglect by parents and guardians. Let’s mandate that districts start enforcing these to the fullest extent. Also, a child’s attendance could be tied to the amount of monthly benefits a family receives from public assistance. Schools are already charged with keeping accurate daily, period by period attendance records. Those records could be the basis for reports turned into the state. Poor attendance would equal a reduction in benefits.

Additionally, working families could be offered a tax incentive or a tax penalty based on their child’s attendance. Students need to be in school to learn. Educational success will remain as elusive as ending the cycle of dependence on government support without change in this area.

Parent involvement – Mandate a series of parent education classes that need to be taken every four years until your youngest child is graduated. Both parents would need to attend. Waivers can be granted to middle and high school parents whose children maintain an overall grade point average that is mastery level – 85 percent or above in the core subject areas. The first classes should start while the child is in the pre-kindergarten age group. The classes could be taught at night or on weekends by district teachers and would count toward the number of professional development hours a teacher needs to accumulate every five years.

Classes could include: stages of early childhood development playing is learning; importance of good hygiene, sleeping habits, and healthy diet; goals and expectations for the school year; best practices used by teachers explained; study skills and strategies for working with children at home; college and career readiness; filling out applications, financial aid forms, etc.

The state can offer a tax incentive to employers that allow their employees to attend these classes without loss of pay. Or make it similar to jury duty and leave employers out of it. The long-term benefit of an better educated and more job ready workforce could be touted. Similar to the attendance issue parents on public assistance would see a reduction in monthly benefits until the classes are taken. Working families would be given a tax penalty or a tax incentive. Mandated attendance at two parent teacher conferences would be introduced. Parents/guardians would bring a form supplied by the state that the teachers and building administrator would need to sign. The parents again would again see a tax penalty or reduction in benefits if the forms are not turned in.

MONDAY: Other proposals for education.

Tim Majka is a teacher and Dunkirk resident.

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