Jacob Lauing
jacoblauing.md@gmail.com
It’s like the San Francisco 49ers asking the Oakland Raiders how to play football. But teachers in countries that outscore the United States in standardized tests are looking to American educators for inspiration, 2012 National Teacher of the Year Rebecca Mieliwocki said.
Mieliwocki, a 1990 Cal Poly alumna, spent the past year away from teaching, traveling the globe and visiting countries that academically outperform the United States. Mieliwocki said she found that these countries, despite their academic success, still strive to teach the American way.
“Everyone wanted to know how we do it and no matter where I went, even at the best school in the entire world, Shanghai No. 4, they wanted to know,” Mieliwocki said. “That blew me away.”
Critics dismiss the American education system using comparisons with other nations. But Mieliwocki has seen firsthand that, despite the United States’ relatively low international standardized testing rank, American teachers are still doing a good job, she said.
“While the rest of the world is looking to just boil kids and teachers down to a number, we are doing incredible things and are just waiting for the rest of the world to see them,” Mieliwocki said.
Since being honored by President Barack Obama this past April, Mieliwocki has visited schools in China, Japan and Singapore. She’s also Skyped with classrooms in Uganda and Ukraine.
In the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment test of 15-year-old students in 65 countries, the United States finished 23rd, 17th and 32nd in science, reading and math, respectively. Even so, teachers in other countries are using American approaches to education, Mieliwocki said.
“We have areas to improve, but what I saw overseas was teachers teaching the way we teach and teachers using our ideas to educate their children,” Mieliwocki said.
Mieliwocki, a seventh grade English teacher from Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank, returned to the area Wednesday to speak to Cal Poly students and the public about the teaching profession and education in the United States. She spoke to students in informal classroom talks yesterday afternoon, and then headed over to Arroyo Grande for a presentation at the Clark Center of the Performing Arts at 7 p.m.
Megan Guise, an assistant English professor who has been coordinating Mieliwocki’s visit since May, expected administrators and teachers from local school districts and universities to attend Mieliwocki’s presentation at the Clark Center, she said.
“We especially wanted this in February because teachers are going to be tired and worn thin at this point in the school year,” Guise said. “We wanted this to be this pick-me-up to help them be motivated and realize that the work they do every day is important.
“I think especially since she went from being a communications major to being an English teacher, the fact that she can talk openly about how she made that decision is going to be really helpful.”
After graduating from Cal Poly in 1990, Mieliwocki earned her credential in secondary English education from California State University, Northridge, and was named the 2005 California League of Middle Schools Educator of the Year for Southern California, a 2009 PTA Honorary Service Award winner and a Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment mentor.
Mieliwocki’s passion for the education profession is reflected by her unique methods of teaching in the classroom, and impact on the school community at Luther Burbank. They make her a prime representative for American educators, former Luther Burbank Principal Anita Schackmann said.
“I can’t think of a better spokesperson for a teacher across our nation,” Schackmann said. “I can’t think of anybody that would be more motivating and an inspiration to teachers around the country.”
The 2009 International Student Assessment test shows a vast difference between the scores of students in the United States and the scores of students in countries Mieliwocki visited. Japan, Singapore and two of the three participating regions in China placed in the top 10 of all three categories, while the United States hovered in the bottom half.
Mieliwocki sees it differently, and looks past the statistics. Despite what the numbers suggest, the United States education system is just fine, she said.
“This relentless focus on numbers and statistics is really killing the profession,” Mieliwocki said. “No matter how challenging the times seem right now, 3.2 million American teachers are doing incredible things in this country.”