Elkhart Truth correspondent Mark Shephard visited the Middlebury Public Library this week and asked, “What standards should Indiana schools and teachers be held accountable to — if any — as the new administration determines continued educational reforms for the 21st century? And what do you think the highest priorities should be?”



Kelsey Kauffman, librarian and college student, Goshen:

“The reading has always been a huge deal, and I think that as a standard should continue to be a priority. And I think that teachers need to be held accountable based on what they can achieve in the classroom with the students rather than test scores. Granted, test scores are great, but you can’t necessarily judge a teacher based solely on the test scores. So I think that needs to be something that needs to be looked into a little more so teachers get the credit that’s due.”



Joseph Yoder, retired tourist organization director, Middlebury:

“Teachers have to held accountable to produce our best students for the future because we’re already lagging behind some other countries in that area. So yes, we have to hold schools and teachers accountable, and sometimes you have to be able to get rid of some dead wood, some dead material that isn’t producing. And I know that’s difficult, even though I favor unions, but sometimes that has to be done just to get the more innovative styles of teaching that our going to produce our best students, because we really need good students as we go into this new century to get us on the cutting edge again as a country.”



Rita Henehan, public relations, White Pigeon, Mich.:

“I think they have to be held to standards, but I think teachers have to give input as to what those standards are. Students should be able to think, not just memorize.” Follow-up question: How do you feel about vocational education? “Oh, I think that’s very important for students who need that. Not everybody is academically inclined. I think that’s up to professionals to determine.”



Marion Nisley, plumber, Goshen:

“They should apply biblical standards. They should teach the word of God in schools. We actually pulled our children out of public school to go to private school this year because biblical standards weren’t upheld in the public schools, and that’s practiced in the private school. That was one of the main reasons. The kids in the private schools are all taught biblical values, so they have the same standards. There was a lot of stuff like the moral values in the children weren’t taught (like) what we were teaching our children. So it makes it hard to teach our children good moral values at home when they go to school and it’s just trash.”



Sharon Greenawalt, homemaker, Goshen:

“Being a home-school mother, my highest standards are getting back to the Bible truths, the basics of the Bible for my children, making that their standard for living. And in my opinion the public schools have seriously fallen away from that, and that’s very disappointing and discouraging.”