The Socrates initiative

I went to a presentation tonight by Frank Anderson. It was about how to improve the quality of schools without having to increase our taxes. I like the suggestions I heard.

To remove ignorance is the sole goal of the school. Jacques Barzun.
Proficiencies has flat-lined for US achievement gap in the last 40 years.
Cost $166,000 per student from kindergarten to senior. In $1970 currency.
Things that have changed in education.
We are investing more money.
Specific teachers have changed. Retired.
Specific administrators, they come and go. Specific board members. Big turn over
Specific legislation changes.
Specific legislators.
Specific students
The problem of education has flat-line of 40 yrs duration. It has not changed by more money being thrown at it.
Not a problem caused by legislation or legislators.

What is the same?
Education & political organizations, bureaucracies and systems. And the way they work and interacts with each other.
It is a systematic problem.
Our combined federal and state educations systems are perfectly designed to give us the results we are getting.
Special Interests donate 93% to political candidates 3% is by the citizens.

Defining what is possible:
3 charter schools test results have scored higher than public school. One of them is Timpanogos academy. Students took Iowa tests and scored higher. The state moved to sage testing. So Timpanogos continued to pay with their money for their students to take Iowa tests.
Our schools now is a group wants to increase taxes for schools.
What has Timpanogos charter school done to fix school issues? Have greater teacher retention because they pay same as public school and $300 more. Pay for all insurance etc.
Top 5 schools at the top of the ACT test where charter school.
Class size range from 24-27 but in public school, some are up to 32 students.
The question of a trailblazer, Marva Collins, who taught in minority areas of Chicago. “Ask every student in your class if they know the lines to rap songs. Every hand rises up. What makes us think then that they become so learning disabled when they come to school?
Education’s philosophy: continue the process skills and tools over knowledge-based schooling. The process and tools support how to learn at all four levels of math. Give an example of how to ride a bike. Teach about how to balance, how to fall safely and other tools required to ride a bike.
Knowledgebase schooling> have the child ride the bike. Knowledge builds up by staking one level of knowledge on top of the other and avoid gaps in knowledge. Need to be consistent among all teachers. Knowledge stacked on top of knowledge is the key to reading comprehension.
Shared knowledge makes communication possible.
Equal access to knowledge promotes excellence and fairness.
To teach about how the different parts of the atom rotate around each other, the child should first learn how the planets of the solar system rotate around the sun. The solar system knowledge advances to the atom.
The structure and organization of public schools is one Board for all the schools of that district. Some charter schools have boards elected by parents of that school. A teacher at public school has to follow instructions by state and district.
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not into fighting the old but on building the new” Socrates
We can serve our children by reclaiming authority, accountable and access to our entire education systems. This can be done through the Socrates initiative.
The Socrates initiative has three missions:
Ensure Utah leads the nation in academic achieves.
Eliminate performance gapes regardless of background or income.
More dollars for teachers.
Autonomous school means a school that is not a part of the system. This is not just charter. Charters school need to figure out how to get your building and have no external finances to help.
If we could get 70% of parents of low producing school to take the failing school to become independent or Autonomous.
Need parents, educators, and taxpayers to support systemic change.
Whatever it takes, we will not accept a percentage of students from not being proficient.
Use core concepts which is core knowledge. This type of education was founded by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. He is the same person who wrote the series of books such as: What a first grader needs to know, second grader third etc.