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