Posted on by arotherham

Bad Press

Back again.  In the WSJ’s taste section Richard Whitmire and I take a look at how the political and media environment has changed and put the teachers’ unions out of position.   That said, they’re powerful interest groups so I surely wouldn’t count them out in terms of influence on policy development in DC and especially in the states and they clearly realize that they need to change their public game.  But, the issue environment and tone of the coverage has changed on them and it’s bringing a lot more scrutiny.

Now, back to the blogging Hassels.

2 Replies to “Bad Press”

  1. A/b the WSJ column:
    One factor usually UBmentioned when discussing charter school success is the element of student/parent and teacher CHOICE.
    And you certainly must realize that equating “good teaching” with “more teaching hours” (i.e. KIPP, etc.) is specious. This is not to say that KIPP schools are not just fine. Nor is it to say that more time in school may well contribute to better education.
    But you’re too intelligent not to know that more doesn’t necessarily mean better. And that “good teaching” requires much more than extended time.
    Of course, numbers of hours can be counted easily. The test scores are less certainly without quibbles even though some are improved. And, good teaching and successful learning have to do with many other things besides test scores.
    There is plenty of information with which to bash teacher unions without resorting to shallow comparisons.

  2. A/b the WSJ column:
    One factor usually UNmentioned when discussing charter school success is the element of student/parent and teacher CHOICE.
    And you certainly must realize that equating “good teaching” with “more teaching hours” (i.e. KIPP, etc.) is specious. This is not to say that KIPP schools are not just fine. Nor is it to say that more time in school may well contribute to better education.
    But you’re too intelligent not to know that more doesn’t necessarily mean better. And that “good teaching” requires much more than extended time.
    Of course, numbers of hours can be counted easily. The test scores are less certainly without quibbles even though some are improved. And, good teaching and successful learning have to do with many other things besides test scores.
    There is plenty of information with which to bash teacher unions without resorting to shallow comparisons.

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