A Retirement Journal: Plan for fixing public schools despite almost failing Teacher Certification Test

I barely passed the writing or essay section of the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST), the certification needed to become a substitute teacher in the state. ?This happened a year and a half ago. Fortunately, my scores on the other two sections of reading and writing were enough to get me the credentials. ?My essay question was, “If there is one thing you could do to improve public education in the United States, what would that be?” I wrote several paragraphs that essentially said, “Get and keep better teachers”. I believe I write reasonably well. I thought I wrote an excellent essay. Yet I received the minimum passing score of 41. I don’t know who graded the essay, probably some bureaucrat in Sacramento. I am still hopping mad!

Substitute teaching is one of my retirement gigs. For the last year I have been enjoying subbing two days a week in my hometown of Palo Alto. I have been in almost every school in the district and every grade from kindergarten to Grade 12. I enjoy my interaction with the kids, especially the grade school ones. I hope to make a difference in at least one life each day I am in a classroom. When I have an opportunity to go back to a class where I have previously subbed and hear the squeals of “Yeah, it’s Mr. Chacko again!” my soul is filled to its core. I am a big fan of public education in the United States. ?My very first years in the United States were high school in Westfield, New Jersey (pictured above). Today, I sub at Palo Alto High School from where two of my daughters graduated.

Since I began subbing, I have been forming a broader point of view on our school systems. This is happening experientially as well as by reading and listening to others. ?I am indebted to Raj Chetty, a Harvard professor who has done research on the value add of teachers in students’ lives. I am also grateful to Professor Adam Grant who in his recent book Hidden Potential devotes a whole chapter to the education system of Finland, arguably a country that is #1 in this field.? While I still believe my CBEST essay was good and teachers are critical, I have come to realize that teachers are part of a bigger system. So here is Version 2 of my CBEST essay- a 6-point plan to improve public school education in America, something critical for our country’s future.

Six Point Plan to improve Public Education in the United States

1)??? Teaching needs to be valued and compensated as an important profession.

My CBEST essay thesis is still valid. We need to value teaching as a profession and pay teachers solidly at the middle class/upper-middle class scale like we do engineers, doctors, and lawyers. What is more important for us as a society? Arguably in the coming era of AI, teaching is a profession that is less susceptible to being replaced by intelligent algorithms than some of our other white-collar professions.

2)??? Drive toward an “Everyone forward together” slogan as opposed to “No child left behind” or other alternatives.

A friend of ours asked me to run for the Palo Alto School Board. I asked, “Why?”. It turns out this parent was incensed that the Board was dropping the very advanced, college-level Multivariable Calculus in the High Schools! In my view we don’t need to favor the gifted at the expense of others like so many wealthy school districts have done and are doing. I applaud the GW Bush administration for attempting the “No child left behind” initiative. My approach is more positive. Everyone needs to be given the opportunity to reach their potential. The naturally gifted and privileged will do fine. Finland follows this philosophy.

3)??? Encourage curiosity and love of learning.

Many, many years ago as I entered Westfield High School, the biggest difference I noticed between the Indian and U.S. systems was the encouragement of curiosity here. This, as contrasted to rote learning and memorizing in India. As the U.S. fell behind, many states and schools started using standardized test scores as their metric. I am not against these tests. Let’s however accentuate what made us good in the first place.

4)??? Teach moral values even in a pluralistic society.

When I was attending primary school in post British Raj India at the Catholic Don Bosco school in Calcutta, we non-Catholics had to take Moral Science. Our Catholic friends took catechism. While still separating church and state, we in America need to inculcate civic and moral values. I was not a fan of failed Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. I personally found his personality and policies extremely distasteful. Still, I appreciated his call for us to go back to basic values and morality.

5)??? Try looping (having the same teacher for multiple years), especially at the grade school level.

Teachers make a difference and the same good teacher for multiple years for an entire class can have an even more lasting impact. This was one of the innovations Finland tried coupled with many of the other initiatives above. It worked. I know in Palo Alto some classes are combined 2nd and 3rd grades, or 3rd and 4th grades. The School District is trying some looping. Let’s continue to experiment.

6)??? Enhance the role of qualified substitutes.

Currently there is a severe shortage of substitutes in the Bay Area. Elissa Miolene captured the situation well in a recent San Jose Mercury News article. I know if I wanted to, I could work 5 days a week. If we could solve the main teacher shortage with many of the programs outlines above, we could use substitutes such as myself in more meaningful ways than just covering teacher absences. We could be used as mentor-aides in a looping situation like described above. Imagine a classroom getting the benefit of a great teacher as well as a retired business executive over a multi-year period.

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Today I have merely outlined the main categories that should go into a detailed plan to improve public school education. I have thought about each of these areas in more depth and will continue to do so. I have met many talented albeit frazzled teachers and administrators just in one school district. Lorie Prior , the dedicated in every way sub coordinator for Palo Alto, comes to mind. In addition to enjoying substitute teaching and interacting with kids, I intend to continue learning. I will reach out to folks like Elissa Miolene and Brandon Mendoza, the young aspiring teacher Miolene profiled in the Mercury News article. I will socialize my thoughts with other educators. In the end, very few things are as important for our kids’ and country’s future than our education system.

What do YOU think about my “Six Point Plan” to improve public schools?

Jake