Education panel encourages teachers to find solutions amid budget cuts

Education experts urged teachers Tuesday to offer their own solutions for improving schools in light of numerous changes proposed by state legislators.

At a panel hosted by the UNC School of Education, participants expressed concern about measures to eliminate tenure for K-12 teachers, establish an “A-F” school grading system and create a new board with the sole authority to approve charter schools.

About 90 people attended the panel talk, including educators, students and members of advocacy groups.

“We cannot fire our way to excellence in education in North Carolina,” said Charles Coble, a former East Carolina University professor and former UNC-system vice president for university programs.

“We cannot test our way to excellence in education.”

Yet Lora Cohen-Vogel, UNC-CH education professor, said teachers still need to be thinking about how they can improve accountability for students’ success.

“I think it’s important to have levers to get rid of or otherwise rehabilitate teachers who need the extra help, but I don’t think it’s to take the rug out from under them entirely,” she said.

Edward Fiske, former education editor for The New York Times, said similar proposals across the country are part of an “assault on the concept of public education.”

“The whole thing is based on selling a myth — namely, that schools are broken,” Fiske said.

“It rejects the very notion of a coherent education system, one that looks to make sure you’re serving all students, not just those of privileged interests.”

He said education policies need to address challenges faced by students from low-income families.

The idea that all students should perform at a universally high standard, regardless of their background, is unrealistic, Fiske said.

Cohen-Vogel said the proposed school grading system could steer more successful teachers away from low-achieving schools.

“All of us know as educational researchers that the thing that matters for students’ own learning is good teaching, a good teacher and a bond with that teacher,” she said.

During the Q&A portion of the panel, a first grade teacher asked, “What do we do, other than come and listen to you, and agree with you and commiserate?”

Eric Houck, an education professor at UNC-CH, said educators not only need to tell legislators their personal experiences but also provide suggestions for improving schools.

“I think part of the reason that these (proposals) have salience and gained traction is because they stick on kernels of something that’s actually going on,” he said.

“We do have a minority achievement gap, and we do not do as well as we could with low-income kids.”

Coble said teachers need to organize and communicate with legislators, not wait around and expect others to improve the situation.

“You have a lot of power you don’t know you have, just by your own voice,” he said. “Speak it and write it.”

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.