What is President Obama thinking? The administration's recently announced
School Turnaround Grantsrequire school districts to take at least one of three drastic steps: firing the principal and at least half the staff of a troubled school; reopening it as a charter school; or closing the school altogether and transferring students to better schools in the district.
This get-tough plan will damage and isolate schools that need federal support, not punishment. Indeed, the President's approach lacks any hint of the important systemic change concepts he politically espouses, like vision, clarity, leadership, and collaboration.
In what must have come a bit too late to affect the administration's strategy, Diane Ravitch, one of the most influential education policymakers of the last 30 years, appeared in the New York Times to criticize the very programs she once championed ("Scholar's School Reform U-Turn Shakes Up Debate").
For decades, Ravitch condemned the progressive pedagogy that shaped American schools for three-quarters of the 20th century and saw the US lead the world in high school qualifications. Yet today, Ravitch has decided it is time for an about-face.
Once outspoken about the power of standardized testing, charter schools and free markets to improve schools, Dr. Ravitch is now caustically critical. She underwent an intellectual crisis, she says, discovering that these strategies, which she now calls faddish trends, were undermining public education.
Ravitch's late turn around is embarrassing, and it will remain an embarrassment for as long as we continue to reject the progressive beliefs that led the world, for the test-and-punish educational strategies we have today.
President Obama missed Ravitch's revelation that punitive actions have little or no effect on improving teaching, schools or outcomes. Instead, he concentrates on performance incentives, piecemeal interventions, wholesale terminations and sanctions, community displacement and the aborted teacher/child relationships reform bandwagon.
Another important development escaped the President's attention. Michael Fullan, an authority on education reform, published a new book, All Systems Go, The Change Imperative for Whole System Reform.
Fullan has written many important works, so what is remarkable about this one? Answer: successful case studies from real life school districts of tangible, system improvement experiences that can help us "sustain change beyond simply reacting to a crisis."
Fullan masterfully presents the large picture. He details seven key ideas, which include successful, already in-practice examples of documented student improvement in as little as two years. While the book is not a universal road map, it does offer careful, intentional thought, antithetical to current US law and funding policies.
What if we supported the improvement of all schools? Not just the 5,000 currently labeled "failing," but all 90,000 throughout the country? When we support the whole system, and support success for all, everyone wins.
In education, accountability is critical, but if we are going to build a sustainable model, the whole system needs to believe that change is possible. Mr. President, shift the paradigm and focus on what Michael Fullan calls, "Collective Capacity." May I send you a copy of All Systems Go? I promise it is an engaging, profound read.
Large school districts have been acting like centrally planned economies. However, for the past 8 years, NYC has been trying to break out of that rut, giving parents more choice in the process.
The results have been impressive if you track the progress of the charter schools, most of which are trying new approaches or at least varied ones. Their test results have been well studied, and are indisputably good. Their impact on the whole child and on families would be even more impressive if it could be measured.
Moreover, the traditional public schools, with greater freedom to take responsibility and act, have been responding by raising their game. This competition is a win-win: all the city's students are benefitting.
I urge those readers who are concerned for the education of future generations of children in a democratic society to log onto (www.corestandards.org) in order to comment on the Core Standards that are being proposed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers and do so soon! The public comment period ends on April 2. For more information on the analysis of these standards presented by the Alliance for Childhood, "Crisis in the Kindergarten," and other related material, log onto their web site (www.allianceforchildhood.org),
and no, quality does not come from competition. I believe that economy comes from competition but it is clear in our society today that quality is not the necessary output of competition though it can possibly be if it is demanded. the fact that quality has come from works born out of solitude and from areas of ease and social excess testify to the ridiculousness of the assertion that quality comes from competition.
"By keeping a firm hold on Accountability, but expanding to the next level of reform – building the capacity of our teachers, our principals and our administrators, and working in partnership with key stakeholders – we can be successful, rather than have them feel as though they are stuck with the punitive aspects of Accountability. With Dr. Fullan’s guidance, this approach is presently being pursued in New Orleans, and it has set the stage for the transformation of education there if we will just stay the course." http://www.louisianaschools.net/LDE/misc/pastorek_032707.html
Pastorek is a major proponent of the charter school movement.
many parents haven't actually spent time in classrooms. visit one-you'll be shocked at the changes that have taken place. kindergarten is no longer a place of play, it's an academic do-or-die, you must learn to read and write whether your brain is developmentally ready or not. forget social skills-they've been kicked to the curb. it's all about getting you ready to take tests. the pressure's on to memorize lists of words. I met a mother whose daughter is already feeling like a failure in Kindergarten because her daughter is "behind" in memorizing her lists of sight words. yes, each month they're given a list of new sight words to memorize and this girl is feeling like a failure- in Kindergarten!!! Is their goal to weed out kids as they do in pre-med classes in college? Even if your child succeeds, what is it doing to your child's mental health? nothing good. That's why I chose to place my child in an expeditionary learning school. it's what learning should be-hands on, teacher guided and student led, in-depth research and lots of nature exploration.
Obama knows this school reform "No child left behind" is just total bu!! so why doesn't he just call it that? politics. And our children continue to lose.
video surveillance cameras
Seems all of these conservatives have forgotten the old adage, "You can lead a horse to water..."
You show me a student who wants to learn and at least has somewhere safe to go home to at night and I'll show you someone that the current education system can reach and more than adequately educate. And if they're not being served then all we need are the resources to be made aware in a timely fashion and the means to get the right people there to resolve the oversight.