University President Teresa Sullivan participated alongside some of the region’s eminent educators and community leaders Saturday in a forum entitled “The State of Education in America: The Cause & The Solution.”
The symposium was hosted by the University’s chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and consisted of 10 speakers, including Charlottesville Public Schools superintendent Rosa Atkins, University History Prof. Claudrena Harold, Charlottesville High School Principal Thomas Taylor, Charlottesville City Councilwoman Dede Smith, and David Jeck, the superintendent of Green Country Public Schools.
In a welcome address, Sullivan highlighted the need to connect students with educational resources and inspire passion early on, which she said could increase their prospects of attending college down the road.
“If we want to build a bright future for America, our primary, middle and high schools all need to be excellent,” Sullivan said. “We can reach down where the younger students are and connect with them early in their lives.”
Student success often hinges on having a stable, positive relationship with teachers who believe in them, panelists said. One potential problem with this, however, is declining teacher retention — about 50 percent of teachers leave the field within their first five years, Jeck said.
The speakers said standardized testing is an additional barrier to excellence in schools. Harold noted that these tests create a culture of memorization and regurgitation, rather than one of intellectual stimulation and engagement.
“We need to cultivate intellectual curiosity, or we’ll get a group of students here at the University of Virginia who just survive,” Harold said.
Students need to be challenged rather than limited by bare-minimum requirements of standardized tests, the panelists said. The speakers proposed raising expectations and providing the appropriate resources for increased student engagement.
Taylor noted some positive developments in education, however. The dropout rate of Charlottesville High School decreased from 18 percent in 2007 to 5 percent last year, he said. He attributed the success to a holistic and systemic approach aimed at building a culture of determination to help students throughout the entire school system — from front offices to teachers of every grade level.
“Every kid deserves an adult that is crazy about them — somebody that loves them from the day the show up to the day the graduate and beyond,” Taylor said. “We need to take an every student every day approach.”
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