Report: Prayer in Schools Not Solution to Underperforming Schools

published April 15, 2014LOS ANGELES, CA – Strapped by diminishing tax revenues and the worst economic climate since the early 80s, three years ago the Los Angeles public schools began a new initiative designed to improve outcomes for the students and schools most at risk: the Divine Intervention Program, which re-introduced prayer in schools.In 2011 when the initiative began, California schools had the fifth-highest percentage of failing schools in the country. While the debate about what constitutes a failing school raged, the Los Angeles Unified School District decided to try a measure its staunchest opponents called drastic and its most fervent advocates called long overdue.“The district leadership met in [Superintendent Dr. James] Deasy’s office in the spring of 2011 to plan for the coming school year,” said Dr. Janalyn Williams Glymph, LAUSD’s personnel director. “We were trying to figure out how to better communicate about how the economic climate was impacting the performance of our students.”“There was no public consensus on how to effectively support school reform, but what we did agree on is that in the current climate, any reasonable person would acknowledge that we should be praying for our students.”“And that’s when one of the state representatives, Franklin Roosevelt, said, ‘Maybe that’s the solution we’ve been ignoring for three decades. If we are going to need to pray for them in order for them to miraculously get the benefits we all agree a student should receive from their public schooling, maybe we can maximize our resources and re-introduce prayer in schools, and get everyone praying for the students.’”“It was sort of like an a-ha moment for us,” said Williams Glymph. “Most of us had grown up in the 80s ourselves and were familiar with the Norwegian group that had made such a big impact on our musical taste. So we said, alright, let’s give it a try.”“Really, this was something that was a return to values,” said Representative Roosevelt. “Clearly one of our countries founding principles is a separation of church and state.”“But an even more fundamental value is that we as Americans should work to bootstrap ourselves up. Giving students the ability to pray in school again was a way to encourage entrepreneurship and allow students to take control over their own learning.”“Whatever our personal system of belief, there is almost universal agreement in this country and among our business and industry that entrepreneurship and innovative, outside the box thinking is the key to American competitiveness.”The program was initiated for the 2011-12 academic year. Initial results were mixed, but success at several schools led to the program being expanded district-wide.Some parents but particularly educators were anxious about the transition.“Some of the problems we faced and continue to face are systemic,” said public school teacher Manning West. “Many were because of a lack of funding. And a considerable number were because of a failure to reach consensus on what education should be doing, in its most basic form.”“But because children are our biggest investment in our future, we thought it was worth a shot. Put them in the hands of an omniscient power that can see into the future and provide for their needs.”“As a Deist, and lapsed Skeptic, I was skeptical,” said Pamela Watson, an active member of the Parent Teacher Student Association in her school district. “Although my faith may make me an anachronism, it also maps most closely to the religious outlook of our Founding Fathers, who were no less a product of their experiences during the Enlightenment than our students, and my children, will be a product of our time.”Initial results from the yearly assessments during the first year gave some in the district renewed hope.“In the past, I never got more than 25 percent of the questions right on the spelling tests I was askd [sic] to take,” wrote one second grade student, Melissa D. “But from what I learnt [sic] about the power of prayer, I decided I would pray to receive His blessings and also the ability to spell.”“Now I get at least 45 percent of the questions right.”But the gains turned out to not be enough. A report released today from the school district says that the high school dropout rate in 2007 was approximately 26 percent. Those figures haven’t decreased significantly in the seven years since, although the report cautions that “any increase or decrease could never be definitively ascribed to the Divine Intervention Program.”State lawmakers in Sacramento continue to debate an appropriate response to the report.“Look,” said new LAUSD superintendant Dr. Jonathan Lock, “I can only tell you what I see.”“I cannot argue against the value of religion as a way to help us understand our human strength and frailty, as well as our nature as spiritual beings, however you define that term.”“For many years, the Bible and texts from other religious faiths have provided a foundation in ethics and a basis for our social relationships that should not be ignored.”“And while the Bible can provide invaluable wisdom about how to conduct ourselves in the world, what it does not provide is a process for enacting lasting, systemic education reform that will prepare students to lead us all forward in a century defined by global competition.”“I am discouraged by the report, obviously,” said California State Governor Thomas Cruz. “But like faith, this is one of many possible options. We will continue to work for solutions.”# # #