Headline: Goin’ Hog Wild

Thanks to Andy for inviting me over this week.  My name is Mike Goldstein.  I work at Match Education in Boston.

When Mitt Romney was elected governor, I was on his “transition” team.  That meant about 15 of us sat in a room one day, and Romney popped in a for a few minutes to shake hands.  I think there were salty snacks.

I was also on Deval Patrick’s “transition” team when he was elected governor.  That meant 100+ of us had several meetings, ultimately issued a report, and Patrick gave a speech at the end.  Lots of coffee.

There you have it folks, the difference between Rs and Ds.

Today’s Idea: Teacher Choice.  Context:

a. Reformist Vision of Schools: Hold each school accountable for results; give flexibility/freedom to get there.

b. Current Direction for Individual Teachers: Hold teachers accountable for results; do not, however, give much flexibility/freedom to get there.

c. Goldstein Gone Wild: Give individual teachers the same deal as a school.  If going to be held accountable, each teacher should get to make certain decisions, based on personal preference.  Here are some examples.

Political Upside: Teacher accountability polls at 70% or so, depending on phrasing/details.   Teacher freedom/flexibility (unpolled to my knowledge, but I’d extrapolate from other data to guess: quite popular).  Imagine being the first governor or mayor from either party taking a victory lap for accomplishing this.

-Guestblogger Mike Goldstein

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.