My daughter believes in magic.
When our home's power went out last week because of a storm, she cast a spell to turn it back on. I love her magical world. I love jumping into it with her because -- even if it's just for a second -- I get to live in a world where a magic spell can fix anything.
It makes sense that in complicated times, we grasp for quick fixes. Sometimes the status quo seems so simultaneously unacceptable and intractable, that we believe in simple solutions because it's easier than the alternative. That's understandable. I visit my daughter's magical world as often as I can.
But when it comes to public education, unfortunately there is no magic spell to turn around decades of failure. As the Parent Trigger movement spreads across the state and even the nation, parents and policymakers must brace for the reality that we are about to embark upon a long journey. There will be ups and downs that none of us can presently predict.
I have worked on the inside of the system in a number of high-level positions when the doors are closed and reporters aren't in the room, and I have seen first-hand how seldom the interests of children trump the interests of powerful adults. The only way to alter that dynamic is to give parents power over the education of their own children. Parent Trigger is a necessary precondition to kids-first change. But it is not sufficient. In and of itself, Parent Trigger cannot transform our schools for the 21st Century because of vexing challenges related to policy, partnerships and politics.
We must accept with humility that we don't have all the answers when it comes to defining a kids-first policy agenda. Good policy research is being done right now, especially in the areas of teacher effectiveness. And some reforms are just plain common sense. Of course adults should be held accountable for student performance, and of course money should be invested in the classroom, rather than squandered in the bureaucracy. But common sense only goes so far. Today's classroom hasn't changed since the turn of the last century and we have a long way to go to reinvent it for this century. A lot of work remains to be done to discern how we turn around a failing school and transform a broken culture. And parents have lots of work to do not only to organize themselves, but also to educate themselves about how best to utilize their historic new power on behalf of their children.
Even more important than policy are partnerships and people.
Right now, parent union chapters across California are organizing to demand a teachers union contract that serves the interests of their children as well as their teachers. Many parents are working collaboratively with teachers and principals. These parents are organizing around the belief in common ground, not conflict. California's new Parent Trigger law gives these parents historic power. But with that power they seek partnership, because parents understand they can't have great schools without great teachers and great principals.
Finally, it's important to remember that parents are taking on some of the most powerful and entrenched forces in California politics. The defenders of the status quo are literally the biggest political campaign contributors in the state. Parents don't derive their power from campaign contributions or lobbyists. Their power comes from love. From a refusal to accept anything less than the future our children deserve.
Parents will ultimately prevail because they are right. If the protests from Wall Street to the Middle East tell us anything about these revolutionary times, it's that power cannot sustain in the face of truth and justice. But these movements also serve as an object lesson that the defenders of the status quo do not easily cede power, and the struggle for justice can be arduous and even brutal.
Unfortunately, the journey we are about to embark upon will not be a fairy tale. No magic spell will save us and no majestic hero will ride to our rescue. There will be bumps along this road, and we will take wrong turns. But we will ultimately reach our destination because we must. Because we have no choice. And because if we work together, we know this story can have a happy ending.
Follow Ben Austin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@parentrev
YES, parents need to be empowered, to step up and take a strong role in their kids' education. Here in California, if there isn't a PTA or PTO at their school, they should contact www.CAPTA.org to find out how to start one. They should start attending School Site Council (SSC) meetings and run for SSC themselves, to be truly involved in the governance of their school. They should take advantage of every opportunity to meet with the principal, confer with the teachers, volunteer in class and school activities, and be an active presence at their school. That's how parents make a difference in their school and improve education for their child and all children at the school. Falling for a con job from fakers is not the way to improve their kids' education.
The real magic trick here is how Austin tries to couch his neoliberal agenda in the guise of supporting parents. Parent Revolution's sister organization, the racist reactionaries at The Heartland Institute, hail Austin's "trigger" thusly: "This might just be the most powerful education reform policy since Milton Friedman advocated the school voucher. Begun in California, the Parent Trigger allows a majority of parents to petition to have their local school reorganized or transformed into a charter, or even to receive vouchers to choose private schools."
When organizations ideologically right of the teabaggers cheerlead your policies and compare your agenda to that of arch-reactionary Milton Friedman, you can be sure it has nothing to do with putting "kids-first."
The 21st century provides us with new tools and new ways to teach children, out with old and in with the new. Database management and electronic notebooks affords us the opportunity to offer IEPs to every student. Now we can do up to the minute assessment and identify students at risk within a week instead of within months. We can develop mitigation strategies for these students and emphasize mastery over promotion. The system is the problem, and unless we recognize that simple fact, we will again have this discussion a decade from now.
I haven't heard the word "poverty" once in your critique. Can you tell me why the lowest performing schools aren't in Scarsdale or Great Neck, as opposed to Camden and Brownsville?
After all, they use the same pedagogy that you dislike. They rely on unionized teachers. And they are very similarly structured. So what accounts for the difference in the performance of students at these public schools?
Say it, Michael...if you know how. Say "poverty", or try "indigent" or even plain old poor.
How long will people like you neglect the very obvious. Are you being funded by billionaires too or do you just believe this stuff because you want to?
Briefly, NCLB and RttT are about raising achievement so that ALL American students reach proficiency and the the "achievement gap" is history. In short, it is about equalizing outcomes. The methods "reformers" tout to accomplish this include excluding all variables but the teacher variable and making bold, sweeping, if untested, reforms to the teaching profession: basing teacher evaluations heavily upon student test scores, data-driven instruction, demolishing tenure, castrating unions....
Finland set about to reform their public education some years ago. They never tried to impose equal outcomes, data-driven instruction or punishing teachers. Instead they believed that all youngsters deserved equal access and opportunity. They, too, believed in the importance of the teacher, so they raised the bar for acceptance into teaching, they created excellent teacher compensation packages and professional working conditions. They largely did away with standardized testing and there are no private or independent schools in Finland.
Curiously when Finland elevated the role and prestige of the teacher and created far more equal opportunities for ALL Finnish children, their achievement topped other OECD nations and has remained highly ranked. They were surprised and at first doubted this data.
What are the lessons that we are ignoring?
By the way, it's not really a parent revolution if you have to name your organization, "Parent Revolution." Astroturf much?
Having said that, I do believe the parent can and should get envolved. Parents can and should be interested in the day to day operations of their own children's schools and truly be involved with their children's studies. By simply sitting down with their children and discussing the days progress at school the parent lets the student know that education is important to them and in doing so encourage the children to do well. And should a teacher call with concerns, support them.
Ironically, judging by your eh, less than accomplished "writing", you might want to look in the mirror before criticizing "today's parents"...
You lost me when you advocated a "parent trigger." Parents are enormously more influential and responsible in their kids' success than the school. If there's an area where kids are succeeding in large numbers, the parents deserve most of the credit for that. If there's an area where they're failing, parents deserve most of the blame. But a "parent trigger" gives additional power to parents in those "failing" areas: PRECISELY those parents who've proven they don't deserve it.
That's not the last ridiculous thing you supported. It's just the point at which you lost all credibility.
It's always, always about the money.