Education Nation Kicks Off With Questionable Sponsor, New Teacher Survey

NEW YORK -- Hundreds of players in the education debate hunkered down in a tent staked over Rockefeller Center's ice skating rink this week for NBC's multi-million dollar, three-day panel fest "Education Nation."

This year marks the second iteration of Education Nation, which launched in 2010 on the heels of "Waiting for Superman," a popular documentary that increased the focus on education policy, while also drawing criticism for presenting charter schools as the ultimate solution. Some condemned last year's Education Nation conference for siding with the education reform movement, for excluding teachers and for presenting shallow content.

"This year is about going a little bit deeper and exploring some new areas," Steve Capus, NBC News president, said in an interview. "We did an hour and ten minutes on early childhood education rather than doing 20- or 30-[minute] long panels."

Education Nation kicked off Sunday with a "teacher town hall." Anchor Brian Williams polled various teachers and audience members about their work and the policies that affect them. The summit included a film premiere and panelists such as former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, several governors and former President Bill Clinton. Celebrities such as Jennifer Garner and LeBron James were on hand to voice their perspectives. The event also provided an opportunity for some major schmoozing, with refreshment rooms and cafes that rarely closed.

While some lauded the increased balance and depth at this year's Education Nation, retired New York City teacher and Grassroots Education Movement member Norm Scott gave Capus an earful on Tuesday. "People see an absence of the word 'class size' in these debates," he told Capus.

"This notion that somehow we're skewed too close to the reformers, I just don't buy it and completely disagree," Capus responded.

"How did a guy like Jonathan Alter end up as an expert on Sunday night's panel?" Scott asked. He was referring to the Bloomberg columnist and MSNBC contributor who has taken hard-line stances on charter schools and teacher evaluations.

"We had Jonathan Alter and 300 teachers," Capus countered.

Meanwhile, some harder-line reformers grumbled that this year's events were too soft.

"There's an incredible amount of passion around these subjects," Capus conceded. "Some people come at it for a point of view, and they're going at it to push their agendas."

Education Nation's panels focused on the importance of learning and college attainment. But one of the event's main sponsors has been accused of having different motives. The event took place in a tent whose central outside decoration was the logo of the for-profit University of Phoenix.

The University of Phoenix has 200 campuses and online degree programs. An ABC news investigation found that the school routinely makes promises about work eligibility that it can't deliver on, resulting in students mired in debt without the benefits of a degree.

A U.S. Senate committee investigation found that 66 percent of associates degree students and half of bachelor's degree students at the school withdrew after beginning their programs. About 22 percent of University of Phoenix students defaulted on their loans during 2008, while the school's owner, the Apollo group, devoted 22 percent of its spending to marketing.

Capus defended University of Phoenix's sponsorship of Education Nation.

"We have about seven decades worth of experience of building a dividing line between the ... commercial sponsorship side and the reporting side of NBC News," Capus said. The Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation and State Farm also sponsored the summit. "They don't shape the editorial content," Capus said.

But a University of Phoenix representative introduced the governors' panel that Williams hosted, saying he was proud to make Education Nation happen.

"If you want to view it from a conspiracy theorist point of view, we couldn't possibly meet all their concerns," Capus half-joked before adding, "The University of Phoenix has been subject to some tough news stories on NBC News."

Another major sponsor, the Gates Foundation, used the summit to release a first glimpse at its own survey results.

The Gates survey polled 10,000 teachers, asking their opinions on how to improve education.
The survey found teachers considered only 63 percent of their students who graduate high school to be prepared for college. More than half the teachers surveyed said they saw an increase in students with behavioral problems, more poor students and more English language learners since they began teaching.

When asked to list the ingredients key to academic achievement, teachers cited family involvement, supportive administrators and high-quality curricula.

While increasing teacher pay was a major focus of Education Nation, the Gates survey found money was not the most important incentive for good teaching. On a list of 15 items presented to teachers, it ranked 11th. Only 16 percent of teachers said merit pay measures help retain good teachers.

Comments

[Eric Mann]

10:51 AM on 10/01/2011

I know of several public school systems around here-reputable and good ones-that refuse to take U of Phoenix student teachers, citing their lack of preparation and weak accreditation of the institution. That place just rips people off.

[blood1]

12:30 PM on 09/30/2011

A cautionary tale: My neighbor teaches a "pre-Algebra" course at a local Community college. A student approached him and said that they didn't remember how to do "division".

In recounting this to another individual, their response was: but we have calculator's for that task, so why should we be concerned that a person doesn't know how to perform basic math skills.

HUH? Is this really what we want, individuals who can't do basic skills. The obvious question (at least to me), so what if there is no electronic gadget, or what if the electronic gadget generates a number that is wrong, perhaps because a person inputs the numerator for the denominator - and no one questions the "result".

[broui]

09:59 AM on 10/02/2011

For quite a few years there was a push in education (mostly from the administrative level) that teaching core skills (the kill and drill methods) of multiplication and division and reading skills like phonics, were not in vogue that students would gravitate towards learning them on their own if teachers focused on the higher level thinking instead.

Some teachers embraced this. Others went along very begrudgingly. Others rebelled.

This has proven to be a disaster. One can't work in the abstract with Algebra without having the concrete down first.

[SupportPublicEd]

07:32 PM on 09/29/2011

To say that Broad, Gates, or the University of Phoenix have no sway over the event or the shaping of its content as sponsors is an outright lie. Eli Broad does not throw money away, he insists on control be it in the arts or in education reform. The Gates Foundation presented at the conference. The University of Phoenix has lobbied the administrations of some of the participants. How can these sponsors not have influence over the proceedings?

[easydude51]

09:09 AM on 09/29/2011

The Gates lack accountability. They need to come mid America and meet real teachers and students. Let Mrs. Gates sub in a large city like L. A., Chicago South Side or Detroit for a week at a public school not a charter public school.

[broui]

10:01 AM on 10/02/2011

The first few "Gates" schools were poverty schools. Mine was one of them.

Trouble is they ignored the poverty data and focused on what they wanted to focus on. In the end they declared their experiment with us a failure despite the fact that in every aspect our numbers rose (with the exception of parent involvement and sometimes ELL and Special Ed).

They have an agenda, no question.

[lawdetective]

10:43 PM on 09/28/2011

Education has certainly gone down the drain. I remember when I was in school if you failed, you failed. Now there are students in college who are failing basic arithmetic and reading classes. There are also ideas, and in some schools happening, where science and social studies will no longer be taught. Whether it be Education Nation or anywhere else, if they can do something to help this ridiculous problem I am all for it. Also, high pay may not be an incentive for good teaching, but teaching in todays's schools just may be.

[broui]

10:03 AM on 10/02/2011

The conditions you describe - an F no longer having the same meaning - exist because of litigious parents and cowardly poltical school boards and states.

Of course, teachers take the heat for that too...

[PatrickOlsen1]

06:38 PM on 09/28/2011

Why on earth would the writer dredge up tired accusations about University of Phoenix in a story about Education Nation? And why for that matter would anyone question the value of events like Education Nation? The reality is simple: we are facing a true education crisis in this country, at the K-12 and college levels alike. Is Education Nation the silver bullet? Of course not. But the conversations it fosters are certainly a huge step in the right direction. Baseless criticisms of NBC and U of Phoenix are totally counterproductive, and just serve to perpetuate the problem.

[changing]

09:00 PM on 09/28/2011

You have to be kidding. Baseless?

[navigio]

08:55 AM on 09/29/2011

NBC trivializes and/or misrepresents the real problems. They are about sensationalism and want their brand to be included in the discussion, thats all. That deserves to be criticized.

[Edmund Benson]

11:47 AM on 09/28/2011

Teaching Life Skills Lessons can be very educational while fun at the same time. Here at ARISE Foundation, we have been working directly with Washington to get these Evidence Based skills into the classrooms.

[pgutpgut]

09:33 AM on 09/28/2011

This quote from Art Costa, the co-creator of Cognitive Coaching and Professor Emeritus at Cal State Fullerton sums it up perfectly: "What was once educationally significant, but difficult to measure, has been replaced by what is insignificant and easy to measure. So now we
test how well we have taught what we do not value."

[williamclinton]

08:18 AM on 09/28/2011

We’ve seen Washington’s role in education grow over the past four and a half decades, wresting control away from states and localities, while doing little to improve student outcomes.
But Obama apparently thinks time’s up for the usual Congressional processes. He is re-writing NCLB – the nation’s largest education law – from the White House. Once again, his administration is bypassing Congress, in areas in which they have little or no knowledge, in order to push policies that would not otherwise survive the normal legislative process.

[JFRED]

09:12 PM on 09/27/2011

Teaching is my forte. I taught university students for 27 years. My classes were the most popular on campus. To know my approach to education, check out my latest blog ("Toward a Revised Liberal Education") at www.iliberal.us If you're not teaching this way, you're not reaching your students.

[Gwenhevare]

11:47 PM on 09/27/2011

There is no "one way" to teach and popular does not always equal good.

[PirateJohn]

12:46 AM on 09/28/2011

My pair of shoes fit me perfectly. If you do not wear the exact shoes I wear, you are doing your feet a disservice.

[Siebenstein]

08:25 PM on 09/27/2011

Please sign and forward.

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/forgive-student-loan-debt-stimulate-economy-and-usher-new-era-innovation-entrepreneurship-and/jHfPW9c9

[nfsbrrpkk]

07:27 PM on 09/27/2011

Raise your hand if you want the Klein/Murdoch Wireless Generation contracts supported by Rhee and Duncan and paid with millions in tax dollars funneled through the USDE. Investigate!

[eric14]

06:28 PM on 09/27/2011

The Gates survey polled 10,000 teachers, asking their opinions on how to improve education.
The survey found teachers considered only 63 percent of their students who graduate high school to be prepared for college. More than half the teachers surveyed said they saw an increase in students with behavioral problems, more poor students and more English language learners since they began teaching.

When asked to list the ingredients key to academic achievement, teachers cited family involvement, supportive administrators and high-quality curricula.
-----------------------------------------
Very important findings. Teacher are right. Listen to your teachers.

[carr528]

06:34 PM on 09/27/2011

I found it interesting that money ranked 11th out of 15th. It seems like people always accuse teachers of being "all about more money". Look, if I wanted to get rich, I certainly would not have gone into teaching! I do, however, expect to be paid for what I do.

[navigio]

06:41 PM on 09/27/2011

well, i think you have to be careful with that question. while its probably true that teachers are invariably not in it for the money, i dont think that question really was intended to ask that.
first off it didnt ask about money per se but about merit pay. merit pay implies evaluations, which are generally pretty problematic for teachers to support given that most people just want to use test scores.
i also believe the question was asked in a way that it would be pushed down the priority list so that the gates foundation could continue to argue for lower teacher pay in general.
usually when you hear a teacher say 'im not in it for the money' someone responds, 'cool, we'll cut your pay then'. thats the political environment in which teachers have to exist.. and is part of the reason teachers unions exist.

[Herm]

06:18 PM on 09/27/2011

And so the ridiculous dance continues. Public education is a misnomer in this country and has been since it began. It is agenda driven, ego driven, class driven and more. I could go on but what would be the point.

The main thing that has been missing is children are not being taught what they will need to know to survive in the real world when mom and dad will no longer take care of them. Smart kids have some attributes that will serve them well as they progress through life. Remembering what is presented to them in public education classrooms long enough to answer the same question on an exam does not mean they are educated to a 'out the door with you, you are on your own' level that means they will be successful.

If a child is missing the will, the discipline, the inquisitiveness, the desire, et. al., to succeed despite the failings of public schools, the next most important factor is his parents. Absent those, he is pretty much fodder for any manner of predatory individuals just waiting for the gift that keeps on giving - our public education system

Not all districts are like ones such as I have described above, but far too many are.

[suelee]

04:32 PM on 09/27/2011

I watched the video. All the accusations were permitted but not a word of rebuttal.
Same old, same old. Rhee does not deserve the floor to spread her nonsense.
Truth is truth.
Only a few charter schools are doing better than public schools, and many public schools, who teach the WHOLE COMMUNITY ARE DOING BETTER!

The statistics, published in the NY Times and elsewhere prove this.
Waiting for Superman is pure propaganda.

What it will take for the public schools to improve is the return of the voice of the teacher-pratitioner.
The teacher is the grunt on the line, and in a nation that disrespects pedagogy as a profession and thinks that anyone can teach, silencing that voice, left the floor wide open to the spin put out by the very business people and self-proclaimed experts who brought the system to its knees.

What a shame this was.
For shame.

The voice of the teacher is NO_WHERE! SILENCED BY THE LIES!

If these opinionated pundits and experts, were required to teach for even a year, they would be singing a different tune.
Thrown into chaos, in schools run often by arrogant incompetent authoritarians, and required to spend thousands of their own dollars to supply a classroom, filled to the overflowing with modern kids with low attention spans, little exposure to hard work or real literacy at home, they would be singing a different song.

[Dovoid]

05:49 PM on 09/27/2011

What day were you at the event? When I was there, there was plenty of time and attention for current as well as former teachers. I am not following your argument against education reform. Am I correct to assume you are a teacher? If not, I would recommend doing a bit more research than the stats from the Times and "elsewhere" as there are numerous factors going into the success and failures of schools and teachers. I know a few people actively involved in the charter school system and they do not see it as an end all solution, rather its a temporary alternative to some pretty awful situations. Take a look at some of the failing public schools in the bronx or east harlem and tell me that the only issue is a voiceless teacher. And what about the teachers that dont want a voice? The teacher who couldnt care less about their students but love their tenure?

I am curious what Rhee has done to upset you so much. Would you mind listing a few examples? Additionally, Keep in mind you are watching edited excerpts of a multi-day event.

[navigio]

06:05 PM on 09/27/2011

well, you list one in your response. she is asking for lifting the cap on charter schools altogether when the people who run those schools themselves admit its not the solution. (i can corroborate what you say about their opinion about the solution as an end all).

i can list some more:
- she has helped pass a law in florida that requires that teacher evaluations be based at least 50% on student test scores (and likely 100% when there is no funding to use anything else) and that law explicitly disallows correcting test scores for poverty level. that means teachers will have career-threatening disincentive to avoid those poverty schools like the plague. that will make education WORSE for many, many kids in florida. She has passed other laws in other states with similar, though not identical content.
- she continues to push for 'reform' that is based on her myopic experience in Baltimore and DC, assuming that the same exact experiences apply to every single school district in the nation. that view is going to make things WORSE for many, many kids.
- she believes that we spend too much money on education and will stop at nothing to try to reduce that cost. that will make things WORSE for many, many kids.
i could go on and on, but there is a limit on words here..