SUNDAY STUDY!!! SPECIAL COMMENT: READER INSIGHT AND SUGGESTIONS FOR RETURNING KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FULL ACCREDITATION!!!
Politicos and KCPS bureaucracy often complain that critics of their efforts don't present their own plan for improving Kansas City Public Schools
Accordingly . . .
CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME TKC READER LIST OF SUGGESTIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS THAT OFFERS AN A ROAD TO REGAINING ACCREDITATION FOR THE KCPS!!!
What's great about this system is that it EXPLAINS its motives rather than relying on much of the same empty rhetoric that education officials have touted for years on end. Best of all, this method takes a real world approach. Check it out and feel free to offer your own suggestions for KCPS improvement . . .
THOUGHTS ON KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The reason KCMSD students are performing at a substandard way is the same reason that nearly everything in America is substandard these days. We ask people to work really, really hard so that other people can reap rewards. Kill yourself working hard so that a CEO can get a $10,000,000 bonus. Sacrifice your limbs and life in war so that military contractors can make millions. Neglect your family so that your boss can buy a home on the lake.
What happens if all the kids in KCMSD behave really, really good and get really good test scores? Dr. Green will get a big fat bonus and long contract, the board will get re-elected, the teachers will keep their jobs…and the kids will go right back to their poverty stricken homes and neighborhoods. They are asked to work hard, do the right thing, so that adults (who mostly live far away from them) can pay their mortgages and send their own kids to college.
In a capitalist society, profit motive is the key to success. Tangible rewards are what inspires people to do better. Idealistically, we say “Well, people should do their best out of pride”. But, it doesn’t work that way. If government jobs did not pay, do you think all these guys would run for Senator and Representative? If President Obama had nothing to gain financially from being President, he would be somewhere practicing corporate law.
Want to turn KCMSD around? This is what you do. Considering all the money that KCMSD has wasted on contracts, reforms, paying off superintendents, etc…this would not cost them any more.
1) Get each student a rechargeable Visa Card
2) For each day that a student does the following, add $1.00 - $5.00 to their card.
a. Arrive at school on time and with supplies
b. Go to all classes
c. Complete all assignments
d. Do not get more than 3 demerits from teachers
3) If a student gets suspended, deduct $5.00 for each they are suspended
4) Deduct $1.00 for each demerit (talking back, late, throwing spitballs, etc)
5) Add a bonus of $25 if the student makes honor roll that quarter
6) Add a bonus of $50-$100 if the student scores at Proficient level on the state testing
Within a year, KCMSD would be fully accredited again and discipline problems would drop dramatically. Now, when kids go to the Plaza, they would have money to spend…
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Should run for school board.
ReplyDeleteNot a bad idea but the demerit and suspended debits need to be much harsher. Just make it a simple $1.50 per day for a, b, c, Then at end of quarter every grade of A B C gets a bonus of a C's being a $1 B's $2.50 and A's $5.00. Only one demerit after that costs a $1 per day. $25 per quarter for making honor roll with a $100 bonus for making it all 4 quarters. Proficient level on state testing shouldn't be awarded unless all kids in state get the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for awarding the kids something. You know a lot of the parents in KCPS are not going to do any rewarding. But truth be known I would like to see all of the school districts do the same for all kids middle school and up. I think kids need goals such as this to motivate them and then reward them for doing good and following the rules.
more $$$$$ for niggers who should be doing more to get themselves off the plantation. stupid.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't see how this couldn't turn into fraud at all. Gawd, talk about just inviting corruption.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. We can get folks like Gwen Grant and Ron Hunt to run the programs and handle all the cash.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe the folks who made all that money disappear from the Green Impact Zone.
So many choices.
What could possibly go wrong?
Bribing black kids to study and behave? They get trained like that when does it stop? They go out into the world as an adult and expect to get paid to behave?
ReplyDeleteThis would be an administrative nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI used to get a real silver dollar for Vacation Bible School. Lived in VERY small county, 6 churches.
ReplyDelete6 weeks, 6 bucks. Fun and games, cookies and punch and a little love for above.
I don't have kids of my own but some of my friends kids are getting paid well from me for good grades,
it is an incentive.
Give them a gift card at the end of the year, not many will qualify.
Make parents attending PTC and being involved a bonus / requirement. I could probably fund that.
While I applaud your alternative thinking approach to this persistent problem, allow me to please point out the following:
ReplyDelete1) In your introduction, you suggest that there is currently no reward for students who "work really, really hard." Why is it then that some students within the district are working really, really hard? While they don't receive a lot of attention, these students are excelling in academics and activities like music, debate, art, etc. They go on to success.
2) "The kids will go right back to their poverty stricken homes and neighborhoods." If they live in poverty, then perhaps that will serve as a motivating factor to do well in school in order to escape their environment.
Think back to when you were a kid, and you wanted a new piece of sports equipment, new clothes, your first vehicle, etc., and it was up to you to earn the money for that purchase. If you "really, really" wanted the item, I'll bet you worked part-time and full-time summers to come up with the cash. You learned hard work brings reward!
3) I'm afraid your program to pay students for normal expected behavior would actually cause persistent problems to flourish. Remember how a young person's brain works! If you begin paying them for normal expected behavior, how long before they refuse to do anything unless rewarded? You're actually teaching them to behave badly!
Examples:
I'm not going to behave on the school bus unless you pay me!
I'm not going to take a test unless you pay me each time!
I'm not going to eat lunch unless you feed me hamburgers and pizza!
I'm not going to participate in sports, band, orchestra, clubs, etc., unless you pay me!
I'm not going to apply to college unless you pay me! It's endless!
4) Maybe what some kids require for motivation is to be shown the stark contrasts in life depending upon the education they receive. How about at the beginning of every semester, students are vividly reminded of their choices. Stay in school, perform academically, go to college/trade school/military and have a shot at a decent life, or do the opposite and likely be trapped in the cycle of poverty. This is similar to what the Kauffman Foundation was doing for an entire class at a KC high school.
5) Finally, let me suggest that both you and I are perhaps guilty of condescending behavior towards those "poverty stricken KCPS students." I was very fortunate to attend a highly rated public high school, and didn't know any students who were homeless, hungry, or without the basic supplies. You would think that all of these kids should have joined the professional class (doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.) yet only a relative few chose that path. So why is that?
My wife who is a teacher said it would be easy to do this they monitor all this stuff anyway it's all in the computer. But she says have to be a state wide program for all kids. But her opinion, it desires some thought.
ReplyDeleteBulldozer !
ReplyDelete7: 36 Might I dare suggest ;
ReplyDeletePot
Lazy
Parents that didn't care enough
Good schools can't always help crappy students
Knew somebody would take care of them.
Lack of a good beating when they said no/ pay me
7: 36 Might I dare suggest ;
ReplyDeletePot
Lazy
Parents that didn't care enough
Good schools can't always help crappy students
Knew somebody would take care of them.
Lack of a good beating when they said no/ pay me
Relax, shagger will be along to tell you what to do.
ReplyDeleteThose are prison wages!
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the state testing, this is similar to something I have also proposed(and been ridiculed for).
ReplyDeleteI proposed that $100 be taken out of the money we receive for each student. Each state test that a student receives a proficient score, $100 is dropped into a scholarship fund for that student. In addition, any money left over will be equally divided among students that receive advanced scores. With the number of kids we have not making proficient, this advanced bonus could be pretty large.
The student must graduate from a KCPS school to receive the accumulated scholarship funds. Considering that kids take a 2-3 tests a year from 3rd-8th grade, a pretty good sum of money can be accumulated. Moreover, if the money in the program is invested it may yield enough returns to pay for itself.
The system provided motivation to do well on state tests. It pushes better student to shoot for advance scores. It will help keep brighter students in the district. It may even lure smart kids into the district.
The one problem is that they might have to let go of one those 6 figure salaried directors that they have downtown.
Why is it that just about everything that society tries to do focuses on the bottom of the barrel adults and kids instead of spending lots more time and money on the kids who are trying their best and actually accomplishing something for themselves in spite of all the same difficulties?
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should pay the bad guys to stop being bangers. That would be Aim4Peace.
Or pay kids on the Plaza to not throw stones at cops.
Or pay parents to attend meetings at their kids' schools.
Or maybe we should just give everyone a chance to make use of what's available in schools, support the kids who want to make something of themselves, try to help kids understand the consequences of continuing their lives in the wrong direction, and then protect society from folks who have insisted on making bad choices.
Billions are spent every year and the behavior issues continue to get worse.