[PurpleLove08]

It seems like Arkansas has a bad rap when it comes to education.
In your opinion, is this reputation unfounded or do you feel the educational system in AR needs a major overhaul?
In your part of the state, how would you rate the educational system? 0 being absolutely horrible and 10 being it's pretty darn good/the best in the state.

What things would you do to change the state of education in Arkansas ahd what do you predict for the future of education in AR?

[Stormcrow73]

Well, I would rate the education in and around Little Rock that my son is currently receiving in PCSSD at about a 8-9. It's without a doubt a better education with more opportunities than he was receiving in MD. However, my education that I received in rural Arkansas was nowhere nearly as good. Of course, it was quite a few years ago but I feel not much has changed when you get away from Little Rock or NWA. My teachers did the best they could with what they had but they just didn't have very much. My high school education I would give a 3. We had almost nothing but the teachers all worked hard. I can't think back on many teachers who really did not have the best interests of the students at heart. I just managed to do a WHOLE LOT with very little education resources. Most of my classmates couldn't be said to have done the same.

My prediction is that the higher standards we're seeing in our metro area schools will eventually spill over at a less than exemplary rate to areas that begin to experience growth. I really wish the Little Rock area school systems could get the stigmas they have out of the way so people could recongnize that many of them are actually very very good on national levels.

[DC at the Ridge]

I went to school in Northwest Arkansas, but before it experienced the big growth spurt. So there wasn't much access to technology, and the tracking system at the time was rather problematic. Still, I think that education is not just about the schools, or the teacher-student ratio, or about sharing books and other resources. Learning occurs all around us, at home, at school, on field trips and on vacations. Parents who stress the value of learning, of experiencing things and of putting those experiences into a larger context, coupled with teachers who create positive learning environments, who combine discipline with the magic of discovery, together they allow education to take place. You can't force children to learn, some children will only do what they have to in order to get by, some children won't even bother doing that. And some children will grow up to be the kind of people who are always learning, always open to new ideas, new puzzles and new challenges. Standards tests can tell you all about a school and its programs, but they tell you close to nothing about students. I want a teacher in the classroom who is free to break away from the curriculum of the tests, who will keep a jar of soda water on her desk with raisins floating up and down, who gets excited over the National Geographic, and meteor showers, and will tell you the little gossipy tidbits that make up history as well as when the Magna Carta was signed. I want teachers who don't ask students to write essays about what they want for Christmas, but instead asks them to pick a country and write what Christmas is like in that place, how do other people celebrate birthdays, New Year's or Independence Days? I was lucky I had some teachers who thought that the students had as much to teach them as they had to teach students. I hope that there are some teachers like that, excited to exchange information and ideas and thoughts and poetry with their students, in every school system at some point. If there aren't, then I was lucky, but I can still claim that I was educated in Arkansas public schools, and that my education was comparable to anywhere in the fifty states.

[Stormcrow73]

Reread the OP and wanted to clarify my 8-9...I was putting that on a national level. I'd put my son's current education at a 10 on the Arkansas level.

[Sneezyone]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

I went to school in Northwest Arkansas, but before it experienced the big growth spurt. So there wasn't much access to technology, and the tracking system at the time was rather problematic.

Ditto my experience, although I remember it in less benign terms. I went to school in Washington and SoCal before moving to NWA so the rigidity of the tracking was tough for my siblings and I to accept. Some of my AP teachers were less than supportive (I'm being charitable). Back then (waaaay back in the 90s), FHS didn't have any level IV/V language classes so I had to walk to UA for French. I'm glad the option to go to UA was there, but even the UA class wasn't as rigorous as what I'd had at my prior high school. So, at that time, I think the neg. repuation would have been completely accurate as FHS was considered among the state's top high schools and yet it still didn't compare to my suburban high school in SoCal. I think that's probably changed now; I'm pretty sure it has. It's hard to imagine a place continuing to gain residents while maintaining those same tracking systems/academic standards.

My DH was born and raised in a place like Stormcrow describes and since then things have gotten worse (BRAC base closing). He and his parents made the most of what they were offered and I'm quite sure his teachers meant well and did the best they could. DH is an amazingly smart guy, brilliant in all things leadership-oriented, electronic and financial, but he'd be lost without a spell-check and that's definitely a professional handicap.

What's it like in AR schools today? I dunno. I looked up the stats on the schools closest to our new house (on the state's Web site) and they weren't good, more like horrible, so our 4yo will be going to a private school next fall for pre-k.

What do I want to see? I want to see academic rigor, breadth, and depth with a focus (in the early grades) on language arts (phonics, latin/greek root words, vocabulary, reading and writing) and arithmetic. Inquiry-based science, music, art, social studies and geography are also important to me but I think strong foundations in language and math are necessary to fully appreciate the other ones. I benefited from a rigorous day/boarding school education in the early grades and I want that same foundation for my kids.

[Sneezyone]

BTW, DC, there aren't that many of us. Did we overlap? NWA was mighty small back then even with imports like me. There were only two or three black people I knew in AP classes at FHS during the 2-3 year span I was there, twins. Of course, maybe there were some at Benton, Springdale, or Rogers? All in all, a pretty isolating experience.

[Robert_J]

The same basic things are taught in all of the schools. It's up to the students (and their parents) if the teaching has an impact on them.

I graduated back in '87 from one of the lowest performing high schools (Dermott) in the state. I was a regular on the dean's list in college and went on to get my MBA. That has led me to a successful career in information technolgy. Some of my other successful classmates are CPA's, teachers and even a newscaster in Orlando, FL. I also have some classmates who are still serving time in prison for drugs and even murder. We all sat in the same classes and were taught the same things. The successful ones took advantage of the opportunities given to them.

-Robert

[strumpeace]

My son is--according to the stats--at one of the best schools in one of the best school districts in the state.

So, apparently, as far as Arkansas schools are concerned, it's a 10.

However, when compared to other states, it's more like a 2 or 3 at best.

[bchris02]

Two big problems with Arkansas education

1. Too many school districts as very small, rural ones don't provide the resources to provide the same quality of education that the larger districts provide. I was for Huckabee's school consolidation effort to an extent, although I think there should be an "out" for small schools that are able to meet a certain criteria. Many parents like to send their children to small, down home school districts and there needs to be options for them.

2. Misallocation of resources. In many school districts, football is the absolute top priority, and thats where the funding goes. I've seen school districts that raise local taxes to support a new football stadium yet have 10 year old textbooks, antiquated computers, a substandard building, and poor offerings in terms of AP classes, etc.

[Stormcrow73]

Originally Posted by bchris02

Two big problems with Arkansas education

1. Too many school districts as very small, rural ones don't provide the resources to provide the same quality of education that the larger districts provide. I was for Huckabee's school consolidation effort to an extent, although I think there should be an "out" for small schools that are able to meet a certain criteria. Many parents like to send their children to small, down home school districts and there needs to be options for them.

2. Misallocation of resources. In many school districts, football is the absolute top priority, and thats where the funding goes. I've seen school districts that raise local taxes to support a new football stadium yet have 10 year old textbooks, antiquated computers, a substandard building, and poor offerings in terms of AP classes, etc.

I definitely, absolutely agree with #2. Wasn't it Bald Knob school district that built a new multi-million dollar gym and then the following year was put on the fiscally distressed list? This type of stuff is happening all the time.

I agree on #1 to an extent. There are some school districts that are so isolated that consolidation doesn't make much sense either. I rode a bus 1 hour each way to get to a school that was only about 5 miles from my house! The furthest the bus got from my school was only about 15 miles but it still took it an hour to go the full route. Think about if kids like these were living 20-30miles from their consolidated school and they were riding the bus for 1.5 to 2 hours each way! One thing that's been happening with some districts is they consolidate but maintain separate campuses. This happened in Searcy County I think. I'm not sure how much sense that makes. It almost seems to me like that might be worse. You've eliminated one school board but you're still paying 2 sets of admin staff and maintaining 2 bus fleets and maintenance costs on two sets of buildings. I think there are some districts that could benefit from consolidation certainly. There just aren't many good solutions for some of these schools other than disproportionate money from the state with strict oversight of spending.