My response will go here.

-- Anonymous, December 30, 1998

Answers

My Response to the Book Quality Schools by William Glasser.

William Glasser with his books Reality Therapy in the 70s, Choice Therapy, and School Without Failure in the 80s and The Quality School in 1990 has had an influence on my teaching. I feel many of his ideas were present in the OBE model. In the early 90s, Proctor Schools began a movement to present Outcome Based Education (OBE) to its faculty and its community. It was an exciting time for the teachers in Proctor. We had six days of training and exposure to the Johnson City Model of OBE. Our key note speaker Dr. Albert Mamary then superintendent of Johnson City New York Schools praised the book written by Glasser. We met and talked with teachers from Johnson City. We discussed among ourselves grades, report cards, motivation, cooperative learning, and a mission statement. We were assured the full support of not only our superintendent and school administration but the Proctor School board as well. I feel it was much easier for elementary teachers, like myself, to buy-in and implement some of the OBE ideals and William Glassers ideas as well. All students who work will be able to learn. Students would not go on to new material until he or she demonstrated a good understanding of what had been covered so far. Students would be tested when they were ready and confident to pass them. They would then gain confidence and begin to work a little faster. Grades would reflect what the students knew rather than what they did not know. Teachers would reteach material to students who did not pass. Students would be encouraged to improve their grades by retaking tests and restudying the material. Report cards would reflect this A-B grade system. Cooperative group activities were easily implemented into all subject areas. Our slogan was success for all. Reading Quality Schools has allowed me to revisit the short life of OBE in Proctor after state funding moved away from it in the mid 90s. However, I still see the influence that William Glasser has had on my teaching career. I still believe any student willing to do the work will be able to learn. The question of how to handle faster and slower students still overwhelms me and with inclusion of the special needs child, the span of abilities is even greater. Glasser leaves me with one more ideal of a quality school that gives the student the time needed to learn and do quality work. I feel we do not give all students this time in the early grades. I would love it if we could offer a two year course in first grade for some children and not get hung up in failure and retention words. Children would be give the time needed to complete the course with competence and quality. I feel this would be time well spent for some children because in some cases we push children on before they successfully learn the basics to do quality work. These pushed children are easily frustrated by the pace and often times become discipline problems with low self esteem and who struggle every year in school. Students who were able to move ahead would be offered a one year program and would not be held back by a slower pace. In an attempt to prevent failure at my school, in January we will be starting a new classroom of twelve first graders who will be given this time. They will not be failing but they hopefully will be given the time they need to learn what they need to know before entering first grade next year. It is again an exciting time to be able to provide this opportunity to this group of first graders.

-- Anonymous, December 30, 1998