Teach Effectively!

That’s the title of John Stossel’s look at education in the US. He’s got a strong indictment of what’s passing for education in US schools. Because I don’t get TV (in lots of ways), I didn’t see the broadcast. But I learned about it via this medium we call the Internet. Here’s one snippet from his print piece:

I talked with 18-year-old Dorian Cain in South Carolina, who was still struggling to read a single sentence in a first-grade level book when I met him. Although his public schools had spent nearly $100,000 on him over 12 years, he still couldn’t read.

So “20/20″ sent Dorian to a private learning center, Sylvan, to see if teachers there could teach Dorian to read when the South Carolina public schools failed to.

Using computers and workbooks, Dorian’s reading went up two grade levels — after just 72 hours of instruction.

His mother, Gena Cain, is thrilled with Dorian’s progress but disappointed with his public schools. “With Sylvan, it’s a huge improvement. And they’re doing what they’re supposed to do. They’re on point. But I can’t say the same for the public schools,” she said.

I’m happy for Dorian but a tad skeptical about the sudden improvements in his reading. It’s not hard to show such results when one starts at such a low level and then depends on what appears to be one standardized test. I’d be interested in seeing data about words read per minute in well-known materials. Still, on its face, this doesn’t look good for the quality of education Dorian got.

Stossel uses most of what he finds as an argument for privatizing education. I’m not yet ready to buy the conclusion, but I keep edging—in tiny increments—closer to thinking about throwing in with some folks who’d like to create a school predicated on teaching effectively.

Still, “Stupid in America” paints a pretty discouraging picture. It’s yet another illustration of the need for teaching to be predicated on students’ outcomes.

Link to the print article and link to the video segment.