Low-cost solutions
Here are eight free or cheap ways to help solve education’s biggest problems.
Originally published in the Moultrie News.
It feels like every time a new program rolls out in my school district, it comes with a hefty cost. Is this really the only way to bridge the achievement gap, or is there a more budget-friendly approach we could take?
Educational leaders are captivated by solutions that cost money. Maybe the money makes the solution more tangible. Or perhaps easy access to enormous piles of public funds has killed their creativity.
In truth, the best solutions cost little to nothing at all. Here are eight free or cheap ways to help solve education’s biggest problems:
• Rotate schedules — Studies indicate that students’ cognitive fatigue builds as the day wears on. This means a student taking math in the morning all year has an advantage over one who takes it at the end of the day. Teachers and schools can build more equity into their schedules by regularly rotating when courses are taught so everyone gets a chance to take their toughest course at an optimal time of day.
• Instill discipline — Most American studies fixate on the (spurious) negative effects of suspension on disruptive students. Researchers in other countries, however, are more attentive to the entire student body, not just the few who cause trouble. Their research affirms a “high degree of positive relationship between students’ discipline and academic performance,” as a 2021 Journal of Education study states. “Respect of school rules and regulation create a positive change in students’ academic performance.” You probably already knew that. Your local educational leaders probably don’t.
• Implement uniforms — Many think of school uniforms as plaid skirts and neckties, but uniforms just mean that kids wear the same thing (where I teach it’s a school t-shirt and jeans). Uniforms send students to school in a better mindset to learn. While uniforms in isolation probably don’t move the achievement needle, they bolster a school culture where academics are the focus, and such a climate absolutely boosts student success.
• Teach English to foreign language students — Over 10 percent of American public school students are English language learners, and they tend to underperform their peers. What would help most is teaching them to read, speak, and understand the English language, yet, shockingly, most schools don’t bother. At one time, teaching so many students in their diverse home languages would have been cost-prohibitive, but thanks to the proliferation of digital technology, every such student can have a formal English acquisition program at their fingertips at minimal expense. All they need now is for the school system to support them. So what’s the hold-up?
• Employ rigor and high expectations — Studies show that high expectations have a significant impact on student performance. When teachers dumb things down, give high grades for work that fails to meet rigorous standards, and assign lackluster busywork, achievement plummets. Ensuring that all courses are challenging and staffed with teachers who believe in their students’ abilities costs nothing yet changes everything.
• Use all 180 days — The idea of a school year lasting 180 days is one of modern education’s biggest jokes. There may be 180 days on the calendar, but many of them have nothing to do with learning. When you chop off the first few days and last few days of the year, ax the dozen or so standardized testing days, subtract all the non-educational field trips, and take away all the days where teachers often surrender instruction (“costume” days, days before holidays, half days, etc.), you’ll find loads of instructional opportunities ripe for the taking.
• Ditch phones — Phones distract kids from learning. Banning them costs zero dollars. Many states are wisely already doing so.
• Let teachers teach — Instead of burdening teachers with non-instructional responsibilities, constant curricular changes, and micromanagement, take the reins off and let teachers do what they’re trained to do. This will have the added advantage of redeploying instructional coaches, curriculum specialists, and other unnecessary micromanagers back into the classroom to aid the cause.
With a little creativity and input from those in the trenches, improving American education doesn’t have to be such a distant and costly goal.
Jody Stallings has been an award-winning teacher in Charleston since 1992 and is director of the Charleston Teacher Alliance. To submit a question, order his books, or follow him on social media, please visit JodyStallings.com.