So, what is “worthwhile” in a school district?  How do we judge whether the schools are doing a good job?

With snow plowing, or parks, I can see the results, and even enjoy them. I can look at the streets after a snowfall and see that they are efficiently cleared, or take a walk in the park, and note whether the park is well maintained.

School districts are much harder to evaluate.  In the first place, school districts are huge, and they have a very difficult job to do.  ISD 197 is charged with educating about 4,400 students in grades K-12.  These students come from a wide variety of backgrounds.  Some don’t speak English.  Some have difficult home lives.  All need a good education.  Every parent and every student has a different set of expectations.  ISD 197 has to serve them all.

Where do we stand?  Does ISD 197 do a good job?

From what I hear and read, almost no one is satisfied with the schools.  Some of this is the natural desire to make whatever we have better, and to make the case that things are not nearly what they could be.

I am a software engineer, and the harshest assessments of a project are often from those working on it.  Engineers love to poke holes in their own work, because they like to fix things.  The bigger the impending disaster, the bigger the hero who averts it.

I hear a lot of that sort of thing in the SRAC committee, and with parents.  It seems everyone is an armchair quarterback, and willing to criticize, and then tell others how they can do their jobs better.  It’s natural, and not all bad.

That said, I am not convinced that we even know what the schools are supposed to do in the modern age.

I see a constant stream of critiques of education where high school students can’t read, and college freshmen don’t know who George Washington was, or can’t identify China on a map.  There is a drumbeat that the schools are “broken” and must be “fixed”.

SRAC was born of a desire to adapt to tightening budgets and rising expectations.  I had hoped that when I joined the SRAC, I would see a sharp focus on determining priorities.  What is really important in education, versus what is trendy and appealing?

Sadly, I do not see that focus.  The SRAC meetings have addressed a wide range of options for the future of the district, from the mild to the wild.  We have never seriously asked the question: what are the most important things that students in our district must learn?

Without a focus and clear purpose, it is very difficult to say whether ISD 197 is successful or not.  Without a clear vision of what the schools must do, and what can be set aside, decision making is impossible.

I see a lot of activity in ISD 197.  I see excellent facilities, talented and well paid staff, and happy students, but that vision is not clearly defined.

I can tell you what I  think that vision should be.

The schools are the training ground for citizens.  Citizens need to be able to read and write, so they can be informed about, and participate in, public affairs.  They must understand the workings of our government, and their duties as citizens.  Students must be grounded in the ideas and ideals that make the United States unique in the world, and how the Rule of Law, private property and individual responsibility make self government possible.

This vision is not about technology or sociology.  It is about learning in the classic sense, and is seldom honored, from what I see.

(next up: ISD 197 SRAC (part 3 – the cost))