EEP!
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010Keep an eye on The Education Equality Project, which announced its new new co-chairs today: Michael Lomax of the United Negro College Fund, Janet Murguia of La Raza, and Joel Klein of the NYC schools.
Archive for February, 2010
Trees & Forests
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010It’s easy to see this latest debate in New York City (about the teachers’ union filing a grievance because plans to require teachers to set goals for each student constitute an increase in the workday) as just another example of teachers’ unions run amok. Or, as another example of fighting over trees, like three minutes in the school day, while losing sight of the forest. If it gets more media traction that’s likely how it will be played.
But this episode is really an example of a deeper, more far-reaching, and more destructive problem in public education: The almost complete absence in too many places of collegiality, professional decision- making and ability of professionals to solve day to day work challenges without resorting to fights over contractual rules. Rhetorically the mantra is that teachers should be treated like professionals, and it’s true they certainly should as it’s professional work. But this sort of thing is the very antithesis of how professionals conduct business and handle relations. And that’s a problem that goes far beyond one grievance in NYC, it’s cultural. And it’s going to take a new approach to contracts and organizing schools to get past it that meaningfully empowers teachers as professionals and establishes new norms for how a professional workplace operates. There are some promising models in places like MN, Colorado, and some charter schools but a long way to go.
Choice & Accountability
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010Kevin Carey has an interesting post up over at Q & E about the recent The New Yorker profile of Arne Duncan. Like Kevin I bristled a little at the writer’s division of the school reform world into free market types and liberal traditionalists. Where, for instance, would someone like Ted Sizer fit in that typology? To be fair though the author was writing for a general audience so a long unpacking of the Byzantine alignments within education was probably out of the question.
But perhaps more than Kevin I think the education world can be delineated pretty well by viewpoints on two dimensions: Choice and accountability. Rhee, for example, is as Kevin says a big government reformer but she’s also very open to choice schemes and pluralism in the delivery of educational services so she’s not strictlya government reformer. The simple 2 x 2 below looks at the two dimensions and you can see where various policy actors and interest groups fall along the two continuums. And it’s the actors in the upper right corner combining choice and markets via ideas like charters with a strong dose of public oversight and accountability (Duncan, Rhee, etc…) who seem to be driving the agenda right now.
Edujobs…Of A Sort
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010The Mind Trust in Indy (Disc-I’m a founding board member) is doing rolling admissions for a new cohort of fellows.
Say Anything?
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010Old NCLB meme: This law is forcing schools to dumb everything down and it’s all basic skills. But too many schools can’t clear its unrealistically high bars.
New NCLB meme: The standards in this law were unrealistically high. So we’re going to replace it with more ambitious ones…
Cored Out
Monday, February 1st, 2010Core Knowledge is going to give its curriculum away for free in an effort to link it to the forthcoming common standards and support their implementation. It’s raising some concerns about what this means for Core Knowledge’s sustainability, but I have a different concern: Brand. Core Knowledge is a good curriculum but if it gets weakly implemented in a lot of places it’s going to erode the organization’s well-deserved reputation.
Reauth Madness!
Monday, February 1st, 2010Arne Duncan said today while releasing the President’s budget request that “we’re going to continue to grow this pot.”* Subversive! Expect demands for an apology any minute.
But everyone is excited about ESEA reauthorization given the administration’s host of proposals today. Eliza Krigman has a solid write-up in National Journal. Justin Cohen has a great blog post laying out the issues. Meanwhile in The Times Rip Van Dillon seems to have missed the past eight years. He writes:
“Educators have complained loudly in the eight years since the law was signed that it was branding tens of thousands of schools as failing but not forcing them to change.”
Right…that was the complaint…not enough reform!
Meanwhile, Willingham thinks the psychology of Race to the Top is screwed-up. He’s right but only insofar as you define state desire as a comprehensive statewide function and consensus rather than some leaders using this as leverage to move the ball.
*OK, he was referring to Race to the Top funds…
