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By Tom Blair
You don’t have to be a parent or grandparent to have a stake in the future of education in our region. You only have to be a citizen and taxpayer. Last month, in the first installment of our three-part series, we dealt with the political aspects of education in San Diego. Key among them was the issue of money (K-12 education is the biggest single public enterprise in the state, with more than $40 billion spent each year on some 6 million students) and the battle over control of classrooms and curriculum, with a hard look at San Diego’s controversial reform movement. Stories in our February installment may be accessed on our Web site, www.sandiegomag.com.This month, we’re focusing on issues of performance—not just by students but by administrators, teachers and parents, too.
Stories in this issue include an easy-to-understand analysis of various methods for gauging student performance—including state test scores—by Scott Grimes, director of research at San Diego Dialogue, the UCSD public policy center. Noting that only 10 percent of high school students ever earn a college degree, Cathy Clark looks at the move toward greater emphasis on technical education in our schools.
On another front, Jamie Reno chronicles a woeful lack of parent participation in the public-school education of their children. But Eilene Zimmerman examines programs and classes that help parents help their children succeed in school, including Parent University, a project aimed at the city’s 10 poorest-performing schools.
Also this month, Thomas K. Arnold takes a look at how stressed-out students, absentee parents and shrinking budgets take their toll on today’s teachers. Margie Farnsworth spends a day in two fifth-grade classrooms—one in a public school, one private—to see how the teaching strategies, facilities, students and parents compare.
And finally, Reno lets the students talk, in a lively round-table discussion among students at Junipero Serra High School in Tierrasanta.
Next month, Part III examines the possibilities for education in San Diego—the myriad progressive educational programs and teaching techniques in schools across our region that are leading the way to a new era in public instruction. Jonathan Freedman takes an insider’s look at progress on San Diego Unified School District superintendent Alan Bersin’s reform movement with “Blueprint Baby,” the chronicle of a crack baby and her struggle to learn to read. And Maureen Nolan, San Diego city schools middle-school teacher of the year, shares some positive notes on the state of education in our schools today.
Class is in session.
—Tom Blair
Editor-in-Chief
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