Video Gallery

"No Child Should Leave a Loser" - Phil Matero's TEDxYouthBuildCharterSchool Talk

Go to Video Gallery Added Jan 20, 2021 •

Copy this URL:
Embed code:	<iframe class="edlio-embed-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="360" src="//www.youthbuildcharter.org/apps/embed/?v=306289" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Change dimensions

Go HD

YouthBuild Charter School of California Founder/CEO Phil Matero gives a TEDx talk about the issues around traditional grading and standardized tests in schools and the harm they can cause young people. He offers up an alternative in which no child leaves school feeling like a loser.

Show Transcript

My name is Phil Matero and I'm the founder of YouthBuild Charter School. (cheering from audience) Now before I started working for YouthBuild Charter School of California I spent many years working for the Los Angeles Conservation Corps. I think what most people would call the work that I do maybe dropout recovery work or job creation or youth development work But over the years as I have listened to so many stories from young people who have been kicked around by the education system I think I've become more of an activist and an advocate for social justice in education. You see the stories I've heard over the years are heartbreaking. I mean literally young people in schools whose teachers are telling them they're never going to amount to anything. That they're never going to become anything in this life. And then you've got counselors and school administrators who are working hard to push young people out of their schools because they think they're going to drag their test scores down. I mean, it's outrageous. I can't believe what's happening. So my life work now is really about trying to find a way so that every young person can succeed and feel that they've really achieved the things that they want to in high school. I love my job. I love the work that I do. But all along, I really just wished that they system itself would do a better job of giving every opportunity to young people to succeed and that's just not happening. There's so much wrong with the system itself. But today I'm not gonna talk about everything that's wrong I'm going to talk about just one thing. Just one thing that I think is critical that we need to change in our school system. And I'm talking about grades. I'm talking about the way that we test and grade and rank students on a scale based on how they do on traditional academic assessment tests, standardized testing that's what we do with young people. I know we think we have to have grades in school. We think that's just how it works, right? But it doesn't work. What it does, is it creates a place in school where young people are sorted into categories of winners and losers. Those who do great on exams feel like winners. Those who don't feel like losers. So I just want to take a look at this and let's talk about how this works. So we have young people in school for 6 hours a day 180 days a year. 12 years. I mean, what's the goal of all this? I think at the end of this we're hoping that young people complete this education process and feel equipped to go out into the world and take on whatever challenges they want to take on. College, work, whatever their dreams are. And so how do we ensure that they're ready to take on those challenges? I mean do we make sure that the knowledge and skills that they gained in high school, that they're ready to use those to build better communities? Can we put them in work study to make sure that those skills are applicable and ready to be transformed into a work environment? No. We give them a standardized test with multiple choices and we give these tests to them and they're not even intended to determine what they're good at. No. The purpose for the test is to see how much the student can remember of what the teacher thinks is important not to see how good the students are and what their abilities are. It's all about teachers. And then we rank these students. We put them on a scale. And everybody's got a number, somewhere from here to here. And that's what we think we're supposed to do. Now when I was a teacher, I was an English teacher, I actually thought that my job was to make sure every student understood the material. I thought I was supposed to make sure every student achieved these learning objectives that we had for our students. Well, I don't know. I guess that's not the way it works because if you were a teacher and you achieved that goal, and you had everybody win in your class. You gave everybody an A, you'd get called into the administrative office and they would tell you you've got to distribute these grades evenly. Everybody can't be a winner in this system. You can't give everybody A's. You know, this system requires that there be some losers. So I don't know why we do this, it doesn't make any sense. The only thing that I know of why we do this is because it's a simple a way to determine the value of our system, so every student gets a number, those numbers roll up to the district, they roll up to the state, and now we know who are the good students who are the good teachers, which are the good schools. And from that they determine who gets bonuses, who gets to be fired, what schools are good. We use all those numbers in that way. But these numbers we know they're not real. We know they don't really mean anything. They don't mean what they think they mean. I mean we all know students who could explain to you how photosynthesis works, for example. But when you get on the test and they give you these really intentionally tricky options, like four different multiple choice tests. That student could get that answer wrong. Even though they understand photosynthesis really well. And then it's only testing what's on the test, right? I mean, you could have been a student and you could have really enjoyed the sections on stamens and pistils, and you could have really made some great connections about marine biology connected with human biology and you could have had some really good experiences in that reading, but if that's not on the test, you don't have a chance to talk about your off-handed discoveries in education. They're gonna tell you, "Hey, just answer the questions on the test. We don't care about that other stuff." Right? And really the only thing that's making... the way to succeed on these tests is good memorization skills and trying to figure out what the teacher wants you to learn. Figure out what they're gonna put on on the test. So, it doesn't account for the differences in our students it doesn't account for the fact that some students might be really good in math or science, and just not so good in English. It doesn't account for that kind of ingenuity that young people have, and what they have when they're excited about a subject and really want to go all out in that area. That's where we get some of the best innovations some of the best creations that we've made. But this kind of system just wants everybody to be good at everything or you're a loser And by the way, you know this arbitrary bar that we set as the standard, I mean that even holds back the students who are really good at tests because, I mean, if you get to the top you get to the bar, you've reached that goal, you're just gonna stop, right? There's no need to go further than that. "I'm there. I'm done. Great." So it's not even working for anybody this testing system that we have. And then of course, some students just don't connect to the whole testing thing anyway. I mean some students just are great, talented, creative people, but they just don't ever do well on tests. My sister and I went to the same school growing up. We had the same teachers. We took the same tests. And for whatever reason tests were pretty easy for me. I could always figure out what was gonna be on the test and study that and do ok. My sister though she struggled. She always got C's and D's on her tests. And of course my parents were upset and you know, "We've got to do something here."And so they gave her extra hours of homework that she had to do every night. They threatened her with all kinds of punishments if she didn't pick up her grades. And really none of that actually did anything for her. It didn't change anything. She was still just getting C's and D's on the tests. It's just the way it was. And I don't think that was ever going to change. So she just grew really more and more frustrated with the pressure on her to do better in school, and she just didn't feel like she could. So she ended up quitting, I mean she quit trying. And I'd say to her to her credit she started to rebel against the system and then my parents, and try to gain a little self respect back by saying, "I don't care about all that stuff. It doesn't matter to me anymore." But deep down I know that this was something that affected her life and I think that the fix was in on her I mean she really really walked away from high school feeling like she was a loser, that she was less than and didn't have the skills to compete. I mean, this is crazy right? This game that we're playing in school with the testing, it's rigged. I mean we try to, we tell students that it's a level playing field, and that everybody can win just work hard enough and you'll win. You'll get good grades, but it's just not working. I mean the people who win in the system the students who win are the ones who have a tradition of academic success in their family. They're good at memorizing. They have quiet places to study and resources to do that. Those are the ones who do well on these tests. For the rest, the odds are against you. I mean, it's tough to win in this game. Maybe let's do a quick informal study or survey here. How many people have ever been made to feel humiliated in school because you couldn't figure out something that was going on? How many people were told by your teacher that teacher that maybe you were a bad student or something? Look around, just look around. I mean look at all these hands. This is many hands. Lights up. (Laughter in the audience) What we're trying to do here with this testing thing are we really trying to humiliate our young people? Don't we want them to walk out of high school feeling confident? Feeling like they can take on anything? Don't we want to figure out what they're good at and help them develop those skills? I don't understand what we're doing here. So we can do better. I mean, we could create a school where young people are valued. Where their ideas about education are appreciated. Of course you'd still learn your math and science your social studies and all that. But we can do that in a way that is more applied that it makes sense. I mean, if you want to be a a web designer or a sound engineer or entrepreneur you could have classes that make sense to you that actually are applied in the field that you care about. It could be a way that you could develop your passions and kind of really get focused on your future and what you want to do. We can do that. But you know anytime I've asked school administrators and said, "Hey, can we use something other than just test scores to evaluate the progress of our students?" They'll always answer me in this very pompous way, kind of self-congratulatory way, where they'll say "Oh, well no. At this school district we believe that all students can achieve the highest level. We would never take the easy way out. And let any student graduate if they didn't meet our high standards." Right? Really? Easy way out? They're doing the easy way out, right? What could be easier? One test for all students. Right? That's easy! What I'm talking about is asking schools and educators to do the hard work of education to educate each student each one as a human being as an individual. Get to know that young person. Figure out what they're good at and help them develop those skills. And um... I think this reminds me of of John Wooden. Do you know John Wooden? The UCLA basketball coach. He's very successful. He had 88 wins in a row. One of the best college basketball coaches ever. Right? Well you must think, oh, he must have had a really great system of how he worked with his with his players in basketball. Well, John Wooden actually started out as a teacher And he did a TED Talk, and he talked about how hard it was for him as a teacher to give grades to students. Because he felt like it was so unfair that he would be ranking these students and say "Well, you're an A, you're a B, you're a C, you're a D." I mean, he just couldn't do it. He said no that's crazy. Everyone has their own individual capacity and strengths. I would never do that to students. So, he turned to coaching. And there he found a way he found that in coaching, you could value each individual and the way to success and to get the most out of each individual was to understand that they're not all the same. Right? Every young person, every player on the team needed to figure out what they're good at develop those skills and figure out how to contribute to the team. And he considered a success when everybody was doing their best and working their hardest and really committed to excellence. And why don't we do that in our schools? I mean, we could value students in that way and do that. At YouthBuild Charter School of California, one of the things we like to do is to have teachers and students work together and do a social investigation of their community and decide on a social justice issue that they want to take on. Teachers and students working together, figuring this out. You know, one of the examples an example of this is that some of our students have been working on the issue of sheriff brutality in the LA County jails. So, they did their research they put a plan together, connected with other community groups who were working on this issue. They had a couple town hall meetings brought testimony to the County Board of Supervisors and they even hosted a Candidates Forum for to replace the outgoing sheriff. I mean their hope is actually to be able to work on a Citizen's Oversight Panel in some point in the future. I mean that's exciting. That's great stuff. Young people really taking part and owning their education. And the teachers who work with the students on these projects make sure that everything they do connects to state standards. They're getting their objectives for learning that they need to do. But each student's learning analytical skills in their own unique way. And then they're and then and that really values their unique contribution to the team. And we're not alone in this. There are other schools that are doing that are also resisting standardized testing and doing a school in a way that really respects respects young people and their individual abilities. We're part of the Coalition of Essential Schools. It was founded by Ted Sizer and many of the values of that organization are about things like you know, respecting your creativity respecting student creativity, having curriculum that values depth and anaylsis rather than just skipping over a lot of topics. And making sure that students own their work and own their education. And teachers should function more as coaches than as task masters. And then, you know, there are also education theorists who are on this also and are calling out for us to do something different in our schools. Alfie Kohn wrote an essay called "The Case Against Grades." A lot of the stuff I'm talking about here he's developed in that essay. But I mean, really, there's a lot of ways that we could pull this together. And there's a lot of movement, a lot of effort to move away from standardized testing. We could do this. I mean, the goal is to have healthy, competent, confident adults, and then that should be our goal. We can do better than what we're doing right now We need to stop reinforcing negativity and competition in our schools and really start valuing each student. My sister, the "bad" student... she really needed some positive reinforcement in school. I mean, she didn't get it. It was tough on her. She needed some love in the system. But unfortunately over the years this growing lack of confidence it took her down a bad path and spiraled into some disillusion and despair that only ended when she took her own life. And I'm not saying the school system is at fault or complicit in the death of my sister. There were a lot of factors involved in that. But I think that if school had been a place where she could have found some acceptance some trust and guidance from people, and could have been appreciated for who she was. I think it would have helped a lot towards her getting any kind of shot at success. My God, I mean she was an amazing artist, an accomplished musician, a dedicated athlete, a loyal friend. I mean, what a waste of burning potential. So anyway, I think we need to rethink what we're doing in schools around this issue of grading. Let's make sure that no no student ever leaves high school feeling like a loser. (Applause)

Uploaded by Emily dos Santos.

Video Gallery

"No Child Should Leave a Loser" - Phil Matero's TEDxYouthBuildCharterSchool Talk

Popular Videos