Education Reformers Aren’t Simply ‘Demonizing Teachers’
Conor Williams makes another good point:
Let me close with a few things that are often lost in the shuffle: almost every leader/pillar/etc of the education reform movement is an advocate for dramatic pay raises for teachers. Cf. Michelle Rhee, The Equity Project, the New Teacher Project, etc. This is common knowledge (it’s an empirical fact!), but it’s almost NEVER brought up when these same people and organizations are getting trashed for blaming and hating teachers.
Again, this is what has been bothering me more and more about critics of reform and their near-constant attempt to paint all reformers with the same brush (and yes, I am using “reform” and “reform critics” here to describe the current debate, I am aware said critics have their own reform ideas, too).
Michelle Rhee’s two-track plan for D.C. teachers was a really smart idea that might have attracted really great