This is my final post. I’d like to thank Eduwonk for having me as a guest on behalf of Senator John McCain. I’ve truly enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of a “living” education conversation. There is nothing like a healthy dialogue to get people excited and talking about an important issue. 

I have been involved in education issues all my life, and I am a believer in education. I am the daughter and sister of educators (My Dad was the first Black Assistant Superintendent of the Little Rock, Arkansas School District, two of my sisters were public school teachers and my mother is a retired public school teacher). I have been a DC business owner, Financial Director of a nonprofit organization; and, for the last twelve years, I have happily lead DC Parents for School Choice, an organization that I founded. Our mission is to empower parents by providing them information regarding all kinds of educational opportunities for their children…. wherever they choose to enroll them- traditional public schools, public charter schools, scholarships to private schools, homeschool, virtual schools, etc.. I passionately believe in a quality education for all children and have worked hard to make that happen.

My passion for education has led to many opportunities and, most recently, the opportunity to be a part of Senator John McCain’s education team. I am a believer in Senator McCain because I am a believer in his education priorities for improving education. I know under his leadership, we will see children learn in quality schools with excellent teachers, now and into the future. Senator McCain is committed to

· Building the national corps of excellent teachers and empowered principals;

· Supporting state efforts for consistent, high academic standards and judge progress by student achievement gains;

· Supporting family demands for high quality early care and pre-school;

· Making tutoring a reality for students, not a penalty for schools;

· Paving the way for educational innovation and technology in the classroom to customize instruction and learning; and

· Ensuring high school students are prepared for college or career success.

I listened to Senator Obama last night. Everything he said about education sounded pretty good. He talked about a world-class education system. He talked about higher pay for teachers. He talked about higher standards and accountability. He said that every child should have the chance for a great education. And, finally, he always talks about change. This sounds great. But, when I have listened carefully to Senator Obama (or members of his team) explain what these things mean, I am disappointed. If he is unwilling to challenge the status quo; unwilling to provide students options when they are attending failing schools (while his own daughters attend elite private schools); unwilling to articulate what high standards and accountability mean; and unwilling to link higher salaries for teachers to improved student achievement, these ideas appear empty.

John McCain believes that every American student should have access to the education that will enable them to participate fully in service to their family, their country, and the noble purposes of a lifetime. And, he has not been afraid to articulate what this means. Furthermore, he believes that our public education system must be built around the unique hopes and talents of students and not around the tired rules and constraints of a system that fails far too many. He believes education is the key to our future…and, so do I.

- Guestblogger Virginia Walden Ford, Education Policy Adviser, McCain08

Mark Warner’s comments last night about connecting education to the needs of today’s economy, made me wonder how, as a nation, we can ensure that “every kid will be trained for the jobs of the 21st Century.” This is a hard task, but technology is one clear catalyst. John McCain is committed to providing more high quality educational options for students and parents by expanding support for virtual learning. As opposed to the normal school day, virtual learning makes education available all day, every day, and provides the opportunity for instruction tailored to each individual student’s needs. Students can keep learning as long as they want and even on the weekends and throughout the summer. When one of my children fell behind in school because of a prolonged illness, he was able to take online courses in the summer which kept him on target with his classes when school began that fall. According to recent survey data, 47 percent of high school students want to take an online course. And, K-12 online learning enrollments are growing 30 percent annually nationwide. Senator McCain recognizes the importance of meeting this demand and encouraging its growth.

John McCain will target $500 million in current federal funds to build new virtual schools and support the development of online course offerings for students. These courses may be for regular coursework, for educational enhancement and support, or for dual enrollment into college. He will allocate $250 Million through a Competitive Grant Program to support states that commit to expanding online education opportunities (such as virtual math and science academies to help expand the availability of AP Math, Science, and Computer Sciences courses, online tutoring support for students in traditional schools, and foreign language courses). And, he will offer $250 Million for Digital Passport Scholarships to help students pay for online tutors or enroll in virtual schools. This investment provides opportunities for every student–those that don’t have access to a highly qualified teacher; those who may be falling behind academically, or those who want to get ahead.

Using technology as a delivery platform provides a cutting edge experience to students. It provides for unlimited learning, promotes student ownership of their learning and allows for more customization of the learning experience. Unfortunately, Senator Obama does not say a word about online learning in his expansive (and expensive) platform.

Today, over 85 percent of young children (and 94% of teenagers) with home computers use them for educational purposes, typing reports or surfing the Internet to do research. Enhancing our schools’ and families’ ability to use technology for learning is one way to ensure that more of our students are ready for the jobs of the 21st Century. – And, it’s a necessary one in this high tech world.

- Guestblogger Virginia Walden Ford, Education Policy Adviser, McCain08

I’ve been thinking about my daughter’s problems in finding a quality educational environment for my three year old granddaughter recently. Early learning has become a serious discussion in my household as in the homes of many American families.

John McCain believes a child’s education begins at day one, and the schools and centers that support early learning must be nothing less than excellent. Attention must be focused on providing access to high quality care and education in all programs serving our youngest children with particular emphasis on high quality preschool for low-income students.

Just as we have focused our attention for the past decade on the quality of K-12, McCain will look to create the same information and database for our early care and school readiness programs.

- Guestblogger Virginia Walden Ford, Education Policy Adviser, McCain08

As I squeeze in trips to both conventions while getting my three daughters ready to go back to school (our local public elementary school) I continue to hope for more focus on the important education challenges facing our country.  The ED in 08 and the Education Equality Project are doing great work trying to put this issue on the media radar screen. In fact, my colleagues and I on the McCain team were all smiles as we read Mickey Kaus’s overview of the Education Challenge Event on Sunday. The event, which featured a few of our favorite reformers such as Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee, took on the teachers unions like no public event we have ever seen. In this respect, hats off to groups like Democrats for Education Reform for finally nudging their party to take education reform seriously and giving political cover to reformers who are ready to take on the unions. But Randi Weingarten’s reaction (via Michele McNeal’s post) is a sober reminder of the tough road ahead for Barack Obama if he is going to heed the advice of those who were featured at this event.

Truth is, despite what the new Democrats gathered on Sunday at the Ed Challenge event had to say, Senator Obama will have a hard time embracing any reform that the unions oppose. Let’s take teacher pay for performance for instance or the notion of offering strong teachers higher pay and bonuses, a concept that is widely embraced in every other sector of our economy). So far, he has done what any good politician would do. He comes across as open to the idea while his official advisor, Linda Darling-Hammond, has rejected the idea in debates with my colleague Lisa Keegan. And his newly announced, VP candidate, Joe Biden had this to say about the topic during one of the Presidential debates: “An excellent teacher should be judged by whether or not that teacher, outside of the classroom, improves themselves and their teaching skills. My wife got two master’s degrees and a doctorate degree. That’s merit pay.” –That’s called professional development, last I checked.

Enhancing teacher quality by rewarding high quality teachers with greater pay is one of the cornerstones of Senator McCain’s campaign. He will provide performance bonuses to teachers who raise student achievement and enhance the school-wide learning environment. He will empower principals to manage their federal dollars and focus these dollars on raising student achievement. He will promote alternative teacher recruitment programs such as Teach for America, Joel Klein’s New York City Teaching Fellowship Program and Michelle Rhee’s former venture, the New Teacher Project.  And most of all, he will provide tools (such access to better public schools, tutoring and online instruction) to struggling students attending low performing schools.

At the end of the day, these are the types of common sense reforms that reformers, teachers and parent can agree on! 

–Guestblogger Jane Swift, former governor of Massachusetts and education advisor to McCain08  

John McCain has always been an advocate for what students truly need to have access to versus being tied to what the system promotes. When it isn’t working for kids, it isn’t working. But also, there is a big difference between McCain and Obama on how we evaluate what is working. Obama wants to maintain a system of negotiated agreements as to what a principal can review, and his plans do NOT require an assessment of student’s achievement in order to evaluate the competence of a teacher.We have to base our decisions about hiring, firing, placement of teachers…everything that happens in a school, on the performance of teachers and their ability to advance learning. As we know, two years with a bad teacher can depress students’ scores for years to come.

–Guestblogger Virginia Walden Ford, Education Policy Adviser, McCain08

….And while we’re talking about folks being confused…all the “celebrities” who have come to Denver in support of Obama might want to have a dialogue about where their children attend school…mostly private schools (including the Obama daughters who attend the private school of their parents’ choice). I’ll bet not one of them is in a troubled public school that is badly in need of reforming. I guess it’s ok for their children to have choices but the rest of us have to wait around while they carry out a “comprehensive plan to reform traditional public education” instead of providing solutions now for American families to have access to the best opportunities available for a quality education. Of course we all know that their plan could “take awhile” and in the meantime what happens to the children who are currently attending schools that are not working for them? Giving parents choices…public charter schools, private and public scholarship programs, home schooling, etc., have provided wonderful opportunities for our children. We see them working well for families such as those participating the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (see US DOE).

Since Caroline Kennedy has been doing work for the public schools in NY at the request of Bloomberg and Klein… I do wonder why she hasn’t suggested that Obama and Biden endorse the Education Equality Project. It would certainly make sense to me and put the emphasis back on the children and how to better serve them.

…And talk about a different dialogue… per Mickey Kaus a new young group of Black Democrat elected officials (DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, etc.) spoke at the Ed Challenge for Change event and truly gave “rousing messages” about education reform and the needs of children and then kind of “beat up” on the teachers unions. Seems like the Democrats are finally getting into the discussion!

––Guestblogger Virginia Walden Ford, Education Policy Adviser, McCain08

I’ve been around DC politics for a long time and was surprised that Obama chose Joe Biden for his running mate for many reasons, but in the education arena… I thought…umm…maybe since he wasn’t around in the late 90’s (I was!!) he didn’t know that Biden was supportive of voucher legislation for awhile (until the teachers unions got to him). His attitude as seen in his speech below shows how confused the Democrats are about vouchers and school choice. They seem to KNOW what is right and can even articulate it but chicken out when it’s time to DO the right thing about education reform. I find it truly fascinating that the Dems didn’t check this out or they would have known this would come up…someone needs to do their homework! John McCain has been a consistent supporter of school choice and will continue to support a parent’s right to choose the best possible educational environment for their children.Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE):

“I have come to the belief that the constitutional issues involved [with school choice] are not as clear cut as opponents have argued. While lower courts have ruled that vouchers used in private religious schools violate the first amendment’s prohibition on the establishment of religion, the Supreme Court has not yet weighed in on the question (that decision was made by the supreme court in June of 2002 when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a monumental decision, upholding the Cleveland school voucher program as constitutional…G.) In fact, the Supreme Court has ruled that State tuition tax credits for private religious school tuition are perfectly constitutional, and the Supreme Court has ruled that Pell grants–vouchers for college students–can be used in private religious colleges without violating the Constitution. … Even some liberal constitutional scholars have noted that vouchers to parents and children may be constitutional.

Even if vouchers were to take money away from the public schools–and I should point out that not all voucher proposals do–that does not in and of itself mean that public schools will be harmed.

When you have an area of the country–and most often here we are talking about inner cities–where the public schools are abysmal or dysfunctional or not working and where most of the children have no way out, it is legitimate to ask what would happen to the public schools with increased competition from private schools and what would happen to the quality of education for the children who live there.” Source: Congressional Record, Sept 30, 97, PS 10192

Certainly makes me concerned about the future of our children when potential leaders sounds confused on the matter. As JSM has repeatedly said…every American student should have access to a quality education. We have to look outside the box and make the changes necessary for that to happen. He gets it!!

–Guestblogger Virginia Walden Ford, Education Policy Adviser, McCain08

I’m excited to be a guest blogger this week… so much information to get into the hands of the American people and I think John McCain’s education policies are what they need to hear… so I’m going to take this week and share what I know to be his priorities. I have known and admired John McCain for a long time and truly respect his genuine concern for each of us, especially when it comes to the education of our children. As an education advocate for many years, I have fought alongside many legislators from both sides of the isle to improve education. I believe that every American school child should receive a quality education and we must have leadership that will ensure that this happens NOW. John McCain is that LEADER. He is dedicated to making sure that every parent, teacher and child is empowered and has access to the quality education they deserve.

–Guestblogger Virginia Walden Ford, Education Policy Adviser, McCain08

Next week a representative of the McCain campaign will blog here during the Democratic Convention. The following week, during the Republican Convention, a representative of the Obama campaign will be here blogging. We’re pleased to be able to bring you this content during this exciting election season but, as always, the views of guestbloggers are their own and do not represent an endorsement by Education Sector.

I know everyone misses Andy. I’m thinking if we all pitch in and buy him a nice present maybe he’ll return early. Tim McDonough from ACE came across this, a Barbie fishing pole. Look what it did for this granddad/granddaughter fishing team. Read all about it here. Andy might appreciate that; far easier to carry on planes than those spindly fly rods.

Well, thanks for tolerating me as guest blogger. Come visit every so often at Why Boys Fail.

Regards, Richard Whitmire

On a final note, I’d like to publish a more traditional Friday fish photo, passed along by Newport News education reporter Cathy Grimes. Here are students from Booker T. Washington Middle School on a field trip.

Neuroscientist Lise Eliot co-authors this piece in USA Today questioning the momentum behind single-sex schools. I need to start out by saying Lise Eliot is not only one the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but also one of the bravest. It wasn’t easy finding someone to debate Leonard Sax (won’t catch me doing that; he’s fierce) on this issue during the annual meeting of the National Education Writers Assn. in Chicago this spring (full disclosure: I was the moderator).

Not only is Eliot brave, but she’s generally right in questioning this surge, which is driven mostly by the academic struggles boys are having in K-12 schools. For the moment, set aside her thesis, that gender learning styles are nearly identical, and ask whether these single-sex educators are prepared for this experiment, regardless of whether their teaching strategy hinges of gender learning differences. Even Sax, the country’s biggest proponent of public single-sex education, agrees most are not.

If only Eliot had stuck with her neuroscience argument. Instead, she strayed into declaring that girls barely make better grades and boys outscore girls on standardized tests, especially high-stakes tests. Wow, I know Eliot can’t be thinking of the best indicator of academic gender differences, state exams where every child gets tested, because on those girls kick butt on both reading and math.

And surely she’s not relying on the national NAEP tests, which show huge gender gaps favoring girls in reading and tiny gaps favoring boys in math. She must be relying on the college admissions tests, such as ACT and SAT, which show boys ahead.

Quick quiz for Eliot:
1. In the ACT results just released, what percent of the test takers were female? (answer: 55%)
2. How many poor and minority girls took that test compared to poor and minority boys? (answer: ACT can’t tell you; nor can the College Board about the SAT).

Conclusion: College admissions tests are worthless for judging gender. Both the ACT and College Board agree that far more poor and minority girls than boys take their tests; they just can’t measure it.

Lise, to atone for that statement I suggest a tour of schools in your own hometown, Chicago, with this article story by crack Tribune education reporter Stephanie Banchero serving as your guide. One highlight of the tour: Gen. George Patton Elementary School, where 3rd grade girls outpace boys by 55 points. No, that’s not a misprint.

I know what you’re about to say Lise, that these gaps are all about race and poverty. Before you say it, get in your car and drive to tony Wilmette, where you’ll find this. 

After the tour wraps up, tell me again about how the grade gap is tiny and boys outscore girls on standardized tests.

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

Mayor Bloomberg, disregarding advice to upgrade his entry, elected to stick with, “The right idea for the time,” Sorry Mayor, you should stick to windmills.

The author of the offending subtitle, David Whitman, who wrote Sweating the Small Stuff and contends that “new paternalism” is perfectly acceptable for describing the KIPPs and Uncommon Schools, makes his case here in Flypaper. Um, negative on that.

Meanwhile, Eduwonk readers, once again revealing themselves to be the sharpest knives in the education drawer, continue to beaver away at this challenge. The latest:

College Now Schools
Laureate Schools
Global Focus Schools
Focus/Success Schools
LEAD Schools: Leadership, Expectations, Accountability, Data-Driven Decisions
BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) Schools
NoNoNo Schools: No Nonsense, No Excuses, No Shortcuts
College Cult Schools
Prescriptive Schools
Push Up Schools
Driving Schools
C.O.D.s (Charters Of Distinction)
Catapult Charters
Crusade Charters

I don’t know. There’s a jewel or two in one of those lists. I need more time to digest these. Just about anything beats “new paternalism,” even my “elite charters.” I’m not sure I can choose just one, but I do feel moved to bless Elizabeth Green of the New York Sun with a special award for her contribution:

“This naming contest is a terrific idea. My problem with the submissions sofar is that most of them describe goals, not methods. What I like about “paternalism” is it describes the method, or at least seeks to do that.

I think the difficulty of the contest is a symptom of a bigger problem. Aren’t these schools a part of a movement without a name? My editor banned me from ever letting the word “reform” follow the word “education” and I am glad for the lesson in precision, but I have never found a good substitute. The Wendy Kopp movement. The Teach For America alumni club. The people-likely-to-say-”relentless”-twice-in-one-sentence movement. HBS Grads for Change. Education warriors. Joel Klein, Paul Vallas et al.

The best description I’ve read was David Brooks’, “the thoroughly modern do-gooders”.

Anyway, my submission is the cop-out that maybe we first must solve that naming dilemma, and then get to the schools. As far as an actual name right now the best I can come up with is “reform schools,” and my editor would never allow that so it must not be good enough.”

Submitting a thoughtful analysis, of course, is no reason to receive an award. The real reason is her concluding sentence, “… I have now spent 30 minutes trying to think up names rather than write a story. Damn.”

For creatively squandering corporate time, Elizabeth Green is hereby declared to be the “winner.”

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

Here’s a good book review by the winner of the Eduwonk fish porn guessing contest. Ben Wildavsky takes on the logic (not sure logic is quite the appropriate word) of Charles Murray in his new book arguing that higher education should be reserved for the elite. Here’s Murray explaining himself on the WSJ’s op-ed pages. As Wildavsky points out, there’s no reason for Gates and Lumina and other higher education foundations dedicated to broadening the base of America’s college-going population to rethink their strategies.

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

Who would write such a commentary?  Reason Foundation writers, of course, who have discovered a gold mine in being the only outfit in the entire country willing to opine against preschool.

Who would print such a commentary? The WSJ opinion page, of course, where the editors equipped the commentary with this wonderful headline: “Protect Our Kids From Preschool.”

Preschool only produces a positive bump for those in extreme poverty, we’re told. Interesting, isn’t it, that the WSJ opinion page, a true believer in the wisdom of market forces, would print an op-ed concluding that all those masters of the universe dropping children off at New York’s famous 92nd St. Y preschool are acting against their economic interests. Turns out Jack Grubman endured that scandal for nothing.

Sure, some of the claims for preschool payoffs are over the top, but that’s mostly because few schools of any kind going to scale can maintain the quality of a research-supported incubator. But ask yourself this: Does that fact that real-world preschools produce gains at, let’s say, a mere four or five times the original investment render them useless? Um, my modest retirement portfolio hasn’t been doing that well lately.

I don’t see the need to defend the research behind the benefits of preschool, but here’s the latest I wrote on this.

(I do feel moved, however, to remind the McCain campaign once again that ducking the preschool issue is a bad idea. The families that need good preschools the most are working class Americans. Of course you could try telling these families that those upper-income parents across town flocking to high quality preschools are just wasting their money. Good luck with that one…)

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

Ben Wildavsky of former U.S. News fame, now at the Kauffman Foundation, who correctly identified both John Merrow (pictured left, of PBS and Learning Matters fame) and answered why Rod Paige never invites Merrow out for a little golfing fun (see Ben’s full response in comments). Ok, Ben had some advantages. He was in the audience when  Merrow repeatedly quoted from Rod Paige’s Ph.D thesis on the fluid mechanics of football linemen. Word of that spoofing leaked out and landed in U.S. News. To this day, Wildavsky insists he was not the squealer–but we have our doubts!

BTW, if you have not tapped into Merrow’s recent camera work on school reforms in Washington DC and New Orleans, you should. It’s found here.

Winner Wildavsky gets my Eduwonk-quick-on-the-draw award and an Eduwonk baseball cap (Andy, is there such a thing?)

–Guestblogger Richard Whitmire

Here is our mystery education biggie, warily watching out for Rod, er, the shark. The first reader who can (a) ID this mystery man and (b) explain why Rod Paige might wish him ill, wins the Eduwonk-fast-on-the-draw prize.  

Please list answers in the comments.  

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire  

This from the Denver Post, and this from the Rocky Mountain News.  

We editorial writers like to think we have clout. Strange how everyone seems to do just the opposite of what we advise. Reminds me of this great anecdote from today’s WPost profile of McCain’s “silver bullet” adviser, Steve Schmidt:  

 “… he and his colleagues have developed what they jokingly call the “Dave Gergen theory of the campaign”–a metaphor for all talking heads.

Gergen, a veteran of four presidential administrations, is a frequent pundit on cable news. If senior members of the campaign disagree on a strategic move, they watch what Gergen has to say. They then do the opposite.”  

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire  

This apparent shark was spotted on a scuba diving trip the mystery education guest took in Hawaii. Later, the “shark” turned out to be Rod Paige in disguise.

Question: Why would the former education secretary be inclined to attack our mystery guest?

–Guestblogger Richard Whitmire  

Sunday, Aug. 24, promises to be a lovely evening at the Denver Art Museum (see photo at right, courtesy of the Museum), an important convention side event tapping into education issues, a traditional strength of Democratic contenders (with a tail wind, Vegas books that as a potential 20-pt advantage, baby).  

Many of the nation’s most noted and successful education reformers will gather for a little chilled white wine and erudite paneling. They’re the kind of educators Barack Obama should love. Michele Rhee from Washington DC, with Mayor Fenty in tow (only on Eduwonk does the mayor get second billing). Cory Booker from Newark will be there, along with John King, the charter genius behind Uncommon Schools. Roy Romer’s a sure bet, along with Joel Klein and his unlikely political co-conspirator, Al Sharpton.  

Organized mostly by Democrats for Education Reform, the sponsors are a who’s who of winning education reforms, including New Schools Venture Fund, the bank roller of those high flying charter schools we’re trying so hard to “name.” (Ted Mitchell: We’re awaiting your vote on this matter!)  Mr. Eduwonk will be making a panel-moderating appearance, presumably in waders.  

Sounds like a perfect mingling opportunity for the candidate himself, but even if he happened to be Denver Barack Obama would find a reason to skip. As seductive as this event may sound, Obama finds himself in a bit of a situation here.  

The unions, both of which endorsed Obama, have their own advocacy movement, A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, backed up by their own long who’s who list of education notables. But those notables will be in short supply at the Denver Art Museum gala, in part because they take issue with the notion that schools can do much better than they do now absent massive social welfare improvements. The Broader, Bolder group favors bending school reform sharply in the direction of easing poverty.  

The Art Museum crowd has no objections to easing poverty, but insists on keeping the pedal to the metal on school accountability and regards the Broader, Bolder notion of school reform–reducing class size–as so yesterday. Something akin to cargo pants. (Besides, when did child health care and federal housing programs start getting their funding through ESEA?)  

Just to further muddy the waters, civil rights groups are feeling a bit out of sorts with the two unions these days, believing the unions could do a bit more to get better teachers into the neediest schools. The civil rights leaders are likely to be found sipping wine at the art museum.  

Wow, that sounds both complicated and treacherous for Obama, which is why he has no intention of choosing between the groups. Nor is he tempted to match John McCain’s stealth move of endorsing the hard-core-reformists at the Klein/Sharpton Education Equality Project (Who will be at the art museum). Why should he? Already, Obama has put out an ambitious education agenda, with many of his points overlapping the agendas of rival groups. No need to confront either the unions or the reformers.  

So my bet: Obama won’t endorse any of these “movements” and he’ll continue splitting the differences right through election day. Can his water walking strategy succeed that long? Hey, this is the candidate who landed in Iraq to find the prime minister endorsing his once-left-field position on withdrawing forces.  

That luck could hold. Most definitely. Only that’s not my wager. As a known negative nabob, I’m compelled to cast a vote against the water walking strategy surviving through November. At some point, in some way, he’ll be forced to tip his hand.

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire  

Important postcript: There should be an audio link to the Denver gathering. Seek it out through the DFER link.

Ok, I agree, our mystery guest reveals little more about himself in this new photo. Therefore, I will offer these two clues:

1. These are the grandchildren of the mystery guest.
2. Both shots were taken in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard.  

More clue photos coming later today…  

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire  

Top Bloomberg education adviser Christopher Cerf writes in to say “great stuff” about this post, which I choose to interpret as an ironclad confirmation that the Mayor has indeed thrown his hat into the Eduwonk naming contest.

The Mayor, who was tied up yesterday bolting another windmill to the roof of  Tweed Courthouse, lacked time to improve on his “right idea for the time” entry, but Cerf offered up his own: No Excuses Charters. “The basic premise is that if you go to school here, you will succeed and go to college–and that is your responsibility as well as ours to make sure that happen.”

Well, No Excuses has been around a bit. It’s ok; sounds kind of diet-like to me. (Not that I have anything against diet stories! They pay more bills than my editorials.)   In today’s WPost column about Sweating the Small Stuff, the book that contains the somewhat objectionable “new paternalism” subtitle that sparked this debate, George Will seems to vote for retaining the paternalism moniker. Isn’t that so like George Will to embrace paternalism?

Meanwhile, Eduwonk readers have been squandering company time working hard to suggest their own offerings. Beyond those already served up we now  have:  

• (Hard) Core Knowledge Schools
• Influential Charter Schools
• Transformational Charter Schools
• Success-Driven Schools
• A + B = C Schools (Achievement + Bright ideas = Charter Schools)
• Aspire Higher Charters
• Aspire Charters
• Endeavor Schools
• Striver Schools
• Quest Schools
• Chasing Excellence Charters
• Relentless Schools
• Successful Schools

Ok folks, one more round. Email me here.   

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

Pointed out the apples-to-oranges example I cited in this post about McCain and vouchers. The WPost article was about the dearth of NCLB transfer options. My observation remains accurate, as long as I substitute Cleveland as my example, as explained in this editorial I wrote. Appreciate that.  

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

Let’s bend the rules a bit on Friday fish porn and start a fish porn guessing game that runs through Friday. A kind-hearted Eduwonk reader who was clearly concerned about my personal safety should PETA get a peek at the photo of me holding an evil beaver (Hey, it was trying to turn my pond into a beaver frat house!) sent me a series of fish photos. Who can guess the famous education figure–yes, you all know him–holding this little girl’s hand?

(Unhelpful hint: That’s a scup she caught)

Next, photo, to be published tomorrow, will reveal more….

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

I mean, here’s Barack Obama, a strong believer in paying better teachers a better wage, arriving in Denver for the convention amidst this. As Time’s Kathleen Kingsbury reports, ” … if the two sides can’t resolve their differences in mediation talks, scheduled to begin Wednesday, the teachers have threatened a possible strike next week – just as thousands of Democratic Convention attendees begin to arrive in the city.”

Here, Mr. Eduwonk (the fish stopped biting) and Robert Gordon lay out the positives behind ProComp in the Rocky Mountain News. And here, the Rocky Mountain News reporters update with the latest.

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

The ideal vehicle for amending and updating the findings of the National Reading Panel is in place, Ed Week’s Kathleen Kennedy Manzo helpfully reminded me. Her article here explains it all. (subscription required). As this previous posting  explained, millions of children are about to show up in schools that offer children reading programs that may or may not be effective. Rather than gut the federal Reading First program, now under a cloud of suspicion, shouldn’t Congress force a review and update of the National Reading Panel conclusions? A lot of new reading research has become available in recent years.  

Well, pigs don’t need to learn to fly while awaiting action from Congress. The Commission on Reading Research is more than up to that chore, but the U.S. Department of Education keeps delaying its launch. How bad is the delay? Oh, nearly five years. Why the delay? Hard to say for sure, but it’s easy to speculate that DOE has feared a review would force a few curves into the department’s very straightforward reading strategy. Guess that leaves the review for the next Congress and new President.

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

… and hands out a grade of “I for incomplete.” Worth a read:  

“What little discussion there’s been by the two presumptive major-party nominees has fallen along the traditional fault lines of party ideology. Democrat Barack Obama wants more money for public schools while Republican John McCain espouses more choice for parents. But would either be willing to embrace the dramatic changes needed to shake up a system that fails far too many children?”

Oddly, Senator McCain and LKG have not contacted me for campaign advice, so I’ll offer it here: You might want to ease off a bit on the vouchers angle. It makes you look a bit dated. Vouchers always sounded good on paper, but in practice parents never had many good voucher choices. See this from the WPost earlier this week. The headline says it all: “DC School Choice Program Offers Few Options.” In the future, vouchers are likely to be limited to a niche, such as special education, and strictly state sponsored.

You’re right to push choice as a issue, but the choice option that’s working are these high flying charters we keep trying to name on Eduwonk (feel free to enter the contest; Mayor Bloomberg did). This flavor of choice actually creates good schools–something vouchers never managed to do.

Oh, and at the risk of upsetting the Obama people, I need to offer up one more bit of advice to the McCain campaign: Obama is going to have you for lunch if you keep ducking the preschool issue. The parents most in need in good preschools aren’t the poor or rich, who have options. Rather, working class parents (potential Red State voters) are the ones left out. Skeptical? See this from Politico. Just trying to be helpful…

–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? But at the same time I took up the challenge from Jay Mathews to “name” the high flying charter groups popping up around the country the Mayor called a press conference to announce new charter schools opening in New York City, calling them “the right idea for the time.”

Well, with all due respect Mr. Mayor, I think you’ve got to do better than that to raise your education creds with the Senator and LKG. Frankly, I prefer some of the other options offered up (for now, I won’t ID the authors):

• Harder Charters (think Better Cheddar)
• UPPiesS (Urban Powerhouse Public Schools)
• NUPPiesS (New Urban Powerhouse Public Schools)
• PUPPiesS (Paternalistic Urban Powerhouse Public Schools)
• Gap Reversers
• Gap Busters
• Accelerator Schools
• Growth Schools
• And Jay’s contributions: tough-love schools, teacher-driven schools, challenge schools, strong-principal schools, achievement-focus schools.
• And my own lame offering: elite charters.

Please, send more ideas to me. (And Mayor, feel free to fine tune your first try.)
 
–Guest blogger Richard Whitmire

Eduwonkette in her review of Leonard Sax’s Washington Post op-ed ruminating on what Stephanie Meyer’s popular “Twilight” series” says about the failings of feminism:

“I’m beginning to think that Leonard Sax was one of those boys I lapped on the track in junior high who never got over it.”

–Guestblogger Richard Whitmire

Still lacking a sterling accomplishment worthy of giving heft to your obit? I sympathize. But the great column by Jay Mathews I blogged on yesterday gives us all a come-from-behind opportunity.

As Eduwonk readers know, something truly significant is playing out in the charter school movement, with the “elite” charter groups separating themselves from the mom and pop charters that for years have barely risen above the pack of traditional schools. Not long ago, Mr. Eduwonk and I wrote about it here (subscription required) in Ed Week.

I call them elites, but that sounds like a country club where they make you wear ties and jackets to Sunday dinners in August. Calling them paternalistic is even worse.

Here’s Jay struggling with the dilemma:

“Here are some other names I made up, mostly out of desperation: tough-love schools, teacher-driven schools, challenge schools, strong-principal schools, achievement-focus schools. In his book, Whitman occasionally calls them the no-excuses school, a reference to Samuel Casey Carter’s 2001 book, “No Excuses: Lessons from 21 High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools.” I suppose we could use Carter’s subtitle and call them the HPHP schools, or the HP squared schools. My wife, an editor expert in turning complex thoughts into short headlines, had an idea I like: high-intensity schools.”

So I propose an Eduwonk-sponsored naming contest, with the winner revealed publicly on Eduwonk. Think about all those Uncommon Schools, Green Dots, Achievement Firsts, KIPPs and send your term of art to me.

–Guestblogger Richard Whitmire

In the coming days you’re going to learn about the biggest development in reading instruction that won’t make the front pages of any national newspaper. But it should. Here’s the biggie: Core Knowledge,  possibly the least appreciated of all the successful school reform efforts, is about to roll out a new reading instruction program.

Wait, you’re thinking, don’t students in CK schools already do well in reading? Well, yes, but that’s not the real point here. You see, Core Knowledge never had a separate reading program. Never knew that? Neither did I. The CK folks just relied on their deep-drip strategy of immersing students in real learning, knowing that reading comprehension, regardless of how reading skills were taught, would emerge. That worked pretty well, but now CK is getting more serious about targeting reading skills, and that’s a good thing.

On reading, I’m with Sol Stern here on the need to declare a Marshall Plan reading emergency. I’m most familiar with the boy-reading stats, so indulge me for a moment here: 54% of black male 4th graders scored below basic on reading on the 2007 NAEP. And don’t think this is a race thing: Among white male high school seniors with at least one parent who graduated from college, one in four score below basic in reading. That stat borders on breathtaking.

Naturally, Congress has stepped into this national crisis by cancelling the only federally sponsored reading program, Reading First, that targeted poor readers. You know, Reid Lyon, the controversial idea-guy behind Reading First, reminds me of Ronald Reagan. Sure, he was flawed, but he got a few big things right. And the biggest thing he got right was that tens of thousands of poor black boys were being sent to special ed not because they had reading disabilities but rather because schools failed to teach them to read. Soon, they dropped out of school and contributed to social disorder, thus presenting a public health crisis warranting NIH involvement. What has changed since that NIH assessment? Nothing.

The Democrats who feel righteous about scuttling Reading First need a gut check. Instead of dumping that extra money into the laps of school districts that have a dubious track record of handling reading instruction, perhaps it’s time to create a new National Reading Panel, which could review the previous findings and recommend adjustments. Ok, pigs will fly first, but I had to get that off my chest.

Which brings me back to the good folks at Core Knowledge. Here’s an outfit that might come up with something sensible, combining all the science of phonics with teaching children real stuff to apply to reading skills so that comprehension grows as well. CK just completed a year-long pilot of the kindergarten materials, which ran in more than 40 classrooms in the 2007-08 school year. Over the next three years, CK will field test a K-2 reading program that will include rigorous evaluation.

My (former) friends at Core Knowledge won’t be happy with me for revealing all this, but with a new school year about to launch, isn’t it a bit scary that educators still haven’t figured out reading instruction?

–Guestblogger Richard Whitmire