The Great Exodus From America's Schools

 The Great Exodus From America's Schools

The great exodus from America's Schools is upon us and we should have seen it coming. For decades, we have systemically ignored the inequalities, inefficiencies, and ineffectiveness in so many of our schools across the United States.

Ron Edmonds said it pretty clearly, back in 1978. "We can whenever, and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need in order to do this. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven't so far."

Edmond's encouragement and billions more in state and federal support, however, were not enough to avert the mass exodus of school children from schools across America and Washington State specifically, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Washington it is estimated that up to 5% of formerly enrolled students have opted out, which amounts to up to 50,000 students and parents making a different choice than sending their kids to neighborhood schools. According to Education Week reports, approximately 1.3 million students walked away, nationwide, during the 20-21 school year.

Many state and national leaders continue to dismiss the mass exodus as a "fluke" caused by the pandemic. Superintendents across the nation are bracing for the fiscal impacts both in 2022-23 and the future "if" these students don't return to school. Schools are funded differently across America, but similarly, it is all about some level of enrollment and engagement. If the kids don't reengage districts across the nation will be faced with cataclysmic fiscal cutbacks.

As an educator for the past 31 years, and father of six kids and two bonus kids who have each experienced varying levels of success through public education, I'm less optimistic about the future if we don't take this opportunity to pause and truly consider what it is that we're asking all kids to know and be able to do and why.

The COVID-19 Pandemic was a tremendous curse. We're currently sitting at over one million COVID deaths in America and over 13,500 deaths in Washington...tragic to be sure. The pandemic forced us all into quarantine and our homes for a period of time...and it exposed everything that is working and failing in America's schools. 

We truly got a glimpse (again and again) at the inequities that exist in the homes and lives of our kids based on the communities and households in which they live. Parents were able to watch (over the shoulders of their scholars) some of the best and most innovative teaching and also some of the worst and lowest standards imaginable. We (as educators) in many cases proved to the parents of our scholars that our education system has not caught up to the world in which we live. Because, of this, I believe, many of our parents have allowed/encouraged their kids to withdraw from traditional education and pursue other means of chasing their dreams. Put differently, my high school experience from the 1980's should look NOTHING like the experience of kids today....nearly everything in the world has changed. Why is it that so many high school classes still look like an episode of "Saved by the Bell?" What our parents learned over the past two years is that we aren't yet living up to Edmond's dream for the future. Instead of creating the schools that kids deserve and need to thrive in the future we continue to provide them with a model that we experienced as learners...10, 20, 30 or 40 years ago. The world has changed.

This blog isn't intended to be a doom and gloom reflection on the past two years. Quite the opposite! I believe that we have a brilliant opportunity to use the experience of the pandemic to more aggressively shift education to better meet the needs of every child, much in the way that Edmonds articulated over 40 years ago! Rather than talking about "learning loss" I dream of a reinvention of what we should be providing for each and every child. What if 100 years from now the historians reflected on the period from 2022-2050 as the "Educational Renaissance" in America? What would it take to pull this off?

Courageous leadership is a must...by boards, superintendents, principals, teachers, educators, parents and students. I dream of a place where the kind of authentic discourse by all the stakeholders noted above truly starts a movement to make education in America something that is so exceptional and uplifting that kids and parents eagerly engage instead of walking away.

We must re-think what we're teaching and why. If we equitably support access to technology, every kindergartener has more data, facts, and research power today...than the doctoral student possessed forty years ago. Kids don't need to memorize and regurgitate. Kids need to make sense of "their" world, using "their" tools of today...knowing that we can't even imagine the tools they'll have in their fingertips five years from now. Kids learn by doing and experiencing, so much more than when they are seated in a desk, in a classroom. (One of my favorite reflections when visiting classrooms is noticing the difference between compliance and engagement.)

The educational workforce must accelerate their evolution. In every school and district I've worked, and across Washington and our Nation, I've met teachers and leaders that are up for the challenge. They will quietly share their frustration with "the way things are." They work diligently in the shadows of their classrooms to cast a bright light on the way learning "could be" in schools...but are frequently held back by rules, regulations and policies from bringing their efforts to scale. I suspect this is why some of the best and brightest educators walk away from education...their frustration in the system that doesn't allow them to fully support the kids they love in the way they know they deserve.

Edmonds had it right. We do know what needs to be done. The question remains...will there be enough of us who capitalize on the opportunity exposed through the pandemic to create the kinds of schools that we know could and should exist? This isn't about skill. The decision all comes down to will and our collective commitment to the next generation. I'm in.....will you join me?

Andrew (Andy) Kelly is an educator and consultant who supports individuals, organizations, and systems in radically transforming their lives. He can be reached at: radicallytransforminglives@gmail.com .