Voice of the Day News-Leader.com Springfield News-Leader:
"Former California Governor Jerry Brown once famously said, 'A little vagueness goes a long way in this business.'* Obviously Springfield Public Schools officials have taken that advice to heart as concerns the proposal relating to Study and Westport.
Or perhaps, more accurately, it is not vagueness but prevarication that best describes the ever-changing explanations, rationalizations and fabrications that comprise the narrative 'spun' by SPS."
t has been publicly and privately asserted that "research" justifies this proposal and/or, alternatively, that one can "find numbers/data/research that say anything." Understandably, SPS doesn't really desire to engage in an open discussion regarding either the existing national research or the local experience relevant to this matter.
First, the "research" cited by SPS administrators is generally not research at all. Various lists provided at various times in various circumstances include virtually nothing of substance but rather consist of a motley collection of magazine articles, personal essays and the like. The one unifying element of these pieces is that they do not, in any manner, endorse the proposal at hand. Indeed, the one most compelling argument each makes is for the creation and/or retention of smaller schools-precisely opposite of the course of action pursued by SPS. The case that is being made therein for the relative virtues of new K-8** schools is contingent on the small size existing or proposed for such entities as against the larger middle schools prevalent in urban settings where such re-configurations are being undertaken.
"Former California Governor Jerry Brown once famously said, 'A little vagueness goes a long way in this business.'* Obviously Springfield Public Schools officials have taken that advice to heart as concerns the proposal relating to Study and Westport.
Or perhaps, more accurately, it is not vagueness but prevarication that best describes the ever-changing explanations, rationalizations and fabrications that comprise the narrative 'spun' by SPS."
t has been publicly and privately asserted that "research" justifies this proposal and/or, alternatively, that one can "find numbers/data/research that say anything." Understandably, SPS doesn't really desire to engage in an open discussion regarding either the existing national research or the local experience relevant to this matter.
First, the "research" cited by SPS administrators is generally not research at all. Various lists provided at various times in various circumstances include virtually nothing of substance but rather consist of a motley collection of magazine articles, personal essays and the like. The one unifying element of these pieces is that they do not, in any manner, endorse the proposal at hand. Indeed, the one most compelling argument each makes is for the creation and/or retention of smaller schools-precisely opposite of the course of action pursued by SPS. The case that is being made therein for the relative virtues of new K-8** schools is contingent on the small size existing or proposed for such entities as against the larger middle schools prevalent in urban settings where such re-configurations are being undertaken.
