By James Lomuscio
Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon did not seem too impressed today by all the buzz about Davis Guggenheim’s new film “Waiting for Superman,” a documentary about the failure of America’s public schools and how charter schools may hold the answer to a turnaround.
Elliott Landon: touts Westport’s successes. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
“It oversimplifies a complicated issue,” Landon, who has been in the top post 11 years, told members of the Westport Rotary Club at the Inn at Longshore.
For one thing, Landon said, only one in five charter schools outperforms traditional public schools, “and 40 percent perform worse.” Add to that the fact that there are no unions in charter schools, “and the rules for admission are different,” usually an educational roll of the dice, he said.
“When you take a hard look at the issues in urban centers, it comes down to poverty,” said Landon. “These are the conditions that do not foster educational opportunity.”
And these conditions, from poor prenatal care to unemployment, he said, are not the purview of school systems focusing on basic skills.
Conversely, Landon said the success of the Westport school system is tied directly to having “parents supportive of kids’ education and engaged in their educational activity.”
He said that Westport has been extending a hand to urban centers through “Open Choice,” a program whereby Westport admits and pays for the education of one child from Bridgeport for each of the town’s five elementary schools through 12th grade.
“We currently have between 50 to 60 kids enrolled,” said Landon, noting that the students’ parents are fully engaged in their children’s progress.
“Waiting for Superman” and the challenges facing America’s public schools were just one aspect of Landon’s speech, which for the most part stood in stark contrast to the documentary’s thesis.
Landon touted Westport’s school system as “the only one in the state” for a number of curriculum advances.
Among those cited were: HeyMath for online math instruction; geometry for eighth grade students; 19 advanced placement (AP) courses, up from 12 when Landon arrived; and being the only Connecticut school district “with a science research program where we’ve had a student studying at MIT.”
Landon also spoke of the district’s ability not to sacrifice “art, music and social studies” curricula in the wake of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Nationally, a number of educators said the law forced them sacrifice learning for test scores due to federal math, science and language arts mandates. To hear Landon tell it, Westport managed to do it all, while preparing students for citizenry in the 21st century workforce.
He also said the Westport Board of Education showed foresight when it came to using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money.
Many school systems used to funds to hire more teachers, he said, only to be obligated to keep new teachers on the payroll after the money ran out and budget constraints hit.
“We took the money and put it into professional development, to training teachers,” Landon said.
Looking to the future, Landon said it is important for students to be equipped to take the reins in a global world of the 21st century.
Among the survival skills all students need, he said, are: critical thinking, problem solving, leadership skills, the ability to collaborate, written and oral communication skills and entrepreneurship.
