Mini-Nirvana: Copiers That Work; No Lunch Duty

The LA Teachers Union has a proposal: In this education nirvana, teachers would decide what to teach and when. Teachers and parents would hire and fire principals. No supervisors from downtown would tell anyone — neither teachers nor students — what to wear.

Eduwonkers will remember a similar notion from Toledo last week for failing schools there.

GGW sez: Philosophically, why not? If they’re willing to embrace the accountability side, why not give them a charter?

And sometimes axing leaders is addition by subtraction.

However…

One of the “innovations” of the 1990s was precisely a handful of “teacher-led” kibbutz-style high-poverty charter schools. My sense: most ultimately named principals. Why? Time cost to teachers in discussing every admin matter became overwhelming.

Kibbutzim themselves are…on the decline. Big time. Cautionary tale for teacher-run schools (and No Excuses, hard-charging charters): idealistic pioneers have their limits.

-Guestblogger Goldstein Gone Wild

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