Seeking better schools
Figuring out how to provide the best education for students is not an easy task -- that was evident after a roomful of school officials, union leaders, teachers, parents and politicians watched the documentary, "Waiting for 'Superman."
"The bottom line is the future of the region is dependent on the success of our schools. Our economy can be no better than the skills and ability of the people who live here, so at the end of the day that is the truth -- the kindergartners today are the future 20 years from now.
So understanding (education) and thinking about it, figuring it out is all of our responsibilities as a whole," said Steve PonTell, president of the Rancho Cucamonga- based La Jolla Institute, an economic and policy research organization.
PonTell helped organize the screening with a group of local leaders.
PonTell helped organize the screening with a group of local leaders.
About 200 community members from San Bernardino and Riverside counties attended the special screening of the film on Thursday at the Edwards Ontario Palace.
While the film made some cry and laugh, it also provoked the audience to examine the way the public education system works.
The documentary, directed by Davis Guggenheim, is a personal exploration of the current state of public education in the United States and how it is affecting children, according to the film's website.
"If we want to have the best schools, whether it's public or private, we have to have high expectations, the best teachers we possibly can and families and caregivers who are supportive of students getting a quality education," said Kenneth Young, Riverside County superintendent of schools.
A recent Associated Press-Stanford University poll weighed in on the subject of education and found 68 percent of adul ts believe parents deserve heavy blame for what's wrong with the U.S. education system -- more than teachers, school administrators, the government or teachers unions.
The poll found only 35 percent of those surveyed agreed that teachers deserve a great deal or a lot of the blame, while 78 percent think it should be easier for school administrators to fire poorly performing teachers.
Yet overall, the public wants to reward teachers -- 57 percent say they are paid too little, with just 7 percent believing they are overpaid and most of the rest saying they're paid about right, the poll found.
Tenure and firing poorly performing teachers were topics brought up in the "Waiting for 'Superman'" documentary.
They also stirred up comments from educators and lawmakers who watched the film on Thursday.
"One of the things that was stressed in the movie was accountability," said Gary Ovitt, San Bernardino County supervisor and a former teacher of 34 years.
"We all know the importance of teachers in our lives. We are who we are because of teachers. ... If we could, obviously, get rid of some of the poor teachers and encourage them to go into another career ... then every kid is going to have the opportunity to succeed.
"I taught next door to a teacher who wasn't up to the level you wanted them to be, and the kids really lost a year ... they really lost out," Ovitt said.
State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said if there is no accountability for adults, how do we expect students to be held acc ountable? "We have to have a change here -- stop making excuses. I'm tired of being up in Sacramento and listening to all the special interest power groups come up there and talk about more money this and more money that," Dutton said.
"I never hear them talk about the kids -- it's never about how we can do this better. A lot of people are going to make excuses about this movie, but there's a lot of reality in here -- there's a lot of fact and I'm just getting tired of the excuses."
It's not just bad teachers that people want set loose. Nearly as many in the AP-Stanford poll -- 71 percent -- say it should be easier to fire principals at schools where students are performing poorly.
While eager to send bad teachers packing, 35 percent say a large number of bad teachers is a serious problem in America's schools and 45 percent say teachers' unions are to blame. In contrast, more than half are critical of parents and federal, state and local education officials, and 55 percent say the inability to recruit and keep good teachers is a big problem.
Dutton said he does admit that while unions are part of the problem, they are also part of the solution, and everyone from superintendent to parents and even politicians are also to blame and part of the problem.
"Legislators are the same thing -- if you're going to be the type of legislator who is trying to end up being obligated to special interest groups or organized labor, then frankly you shouldn't be up here," Dutton said.
"You should be able to look at things objectively. You shouldn't do it because 'I owe somebody,' and that's where the problem is right now ...," he said.
Educating parents about how the school system works and welcoming them to get involved may also help their children, according to Joyce L. Epstein, research professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University, who focuses on school, family and community partnerships.
"Without programs to educate parents, everyone is working in some stage of ignorance," Epstein said.
To help school districts cope, the Obama administration has begun programs like the $4 billion "Race to the Top," which gave money to 11 states and Washington, D.C., in exchange for promises of innovative reforms to raise student achievement and improve graduation rates. Part of the requirements for getting the money included a teacher performance pay program and better use of student achievement data to make sure teachers are doing their jobs.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the poll results show that parents understand that teachers are not to blame for all the woes in public education.
"The scapegoating of teachers must stop and collective responsibility must start," Weingarten said. "This shoul d be a wake-up call to education leaders and policymakers that all of us have to do our part. Of course teachers are important, but they can't do it all, and policymakers have to stop blaming them."
However, half the poll participants say teachers' salaries should be based on their students' performance on statewide tests and on the evaluations they receive from local school officials.
About 1 in 4 say pay should be determined solely by schooladministrators' ratings, while under 1 in 5 say salaries should be based only on how well students do on statewide testing.
If there is suspicion a teacher is not performing, the teacher goes through a series of reviews by administrators, said Louie Rodriguez, assistant professor of educational leadership and curriculum at Cal State San Bernardino.
He said the process is negotiated between the district and the union.
"Even that doesn't guaran tee a teacher gets removed," he said.
Rodriguez also said teachers' pay should not be based solely on the test scores of students, "instead they need strong support to perform in the classroom."
PonTell said he believes the reason people went into a career of teaching is because they were excited to make an impact on a student's life. But not everyone is a good performer, and then it becomes a challenge to deal with that after the fact.
"It's just as much the administration as it is the union and the teacher's fault," he said.
The AP-Stanford poll on education was conducted Sept. 23-30 by Abt SRBI Inc. It involved interviews on landline and cellular telephones with 1,001 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Staff writer Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
"One of the things that was stressed in the movie was accountability," said Gary Ovitt, San Bernardino County supervisor and a former teacher of 34 years.
"We all know the importance of teachers in our lives. We are who we are because of teachers. ... If we could, obviously, get rid of some of the poor teachers and encourage them to go into another career ... then every kid is going to have the opportunity to succeed.
"I taught next door to a teacher who wasn't up to the level you wanted them to be, and the kids really lost a year ... they really lost out," Ovitt said.
State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said if there is no accountability for adults, how do we expect students to be held acc ountable? "We have to have a change here -- stop making excuses. I'm tired of being up in Sacramento and listening to all the special interest power groups come up there and talk about more money this and more money that," Dutton said.
"I never hear them talk about the kids -- it's never about how we can do this better. A lot of people are going to make excuses about this movie, but there's a lot of reality in here -- there's a lot of fact and I'm just getting tired of the excuses."
It's not just bad teachers that people want set loose. Nearly as many in the AP-Stanford poll -- 71 percent -- say it should be easier to fire principals at schools where students are performing poorly.
While eager to send bad teachers packing, 35 percent say a large number of bad teachers is a serious problem in America's schools and 45 percent say teachers' unions are to blame. In contrast, more than half are critical of parents and federal, state and local education officials, and 55 percent say the inability to recruit and keep good teachers is a big problem.
Dutton said he does admit that while unions are part of the problem, they are also part of the solution, and everyone from superintendent to parents and even politicians are also to blame and part of the problem.
"Legislators are the same thing -- if you're going to be the type of legislator who is trying to end up being obligated to special interest groups or organized labor, then frankly you shouldn't be up here," Dutton said.
"You should be able to look at things objectively. You shouldn't do it because 'I owe somebody,' and that's where the problem is right now ...," he said.
Educating parents about how the school system works and welcoming them to get involved may also help their children, according to Joyce L. Epstein, research professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University, who focuses on school, family and community partnerships.
"Without programs to educate parents, everyone is working in some stage of ignorance," Epstein said.
To help school districts cope, the Obama administration has begun programs like the $4 billion "Race to the Top," which gave money to 11 states and Washington, D.C., in exchange for promises of innovative reforms to raise student achievement and improve graduation rates. Part of the requirements for getting the money included a teacher performance pay program and better use of student achievement data to make sure teachers are doing their jobs.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the poll results show that parents understand that teachers are not to blame for all the woes in public education.
"The scapegoating of teachers must stop and collective responsibility must start," Weingarten said. "This shoul d be a wake-up call to education leaders and policymakers that all of us have to do our part. Of course teachers are important, but they can't do it all, and policymakers have to stop blaming them."
However, half the poll participants say teachers' salaries should be based on their students' performance on statewide tests and on the evaluations they receive from local school officials.
About 1 in 4 say pay should be determined solely by schooladministrators' ratings, while under 1 in 5 say salaries should be based only on how well students do on statewide testing.
If there is suspicion a teacher is not performing, the teacher goes through a series of reviews by administrators, said Louie Rodriguez, assistant professor of educational leadership and curriculum at Cal State San Bernardino.
He said the process is negotiated between the district and the union.
"Even that doesn't guaran tee a teacher gets removed," he said.
Rodriguez also said teachers' pay should not be based solely on the test scores of students, "instead they need strong support to perform in the classroom."
PonTell said he believes the reason people went into a career of teaching is because they were excited to make an impact on a student's life. But not everyone is a good performer, and then it becomes a challenge to deal with that after the fact.
"It's just as much the administration as it is the union and the teacher's fault," he said.
The AP-Stanford poll on education was conducted Sept. 23-30 by Abt SRBI Inc. It involved interviews on landline and cellular telephones with 1,001 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Staff writer Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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