Trust me - an absolute MUST READ on education
to which I urge you to turn RIGHT NOW. It appeared in Valerie Strauss's Washington Post blog. The title isProof there is no proof for education reforms. Allow me quote Valerie's introduction:
This was written by Carol Corbett Burris, principal of South Side High School in New York. She was named the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State.
Burris offers a number of important links, including to the analysis of the invaluable Bruce Baker of Rutgers University.
She also offers the remarks of a key expert who presents on behalf of the NY State Education Department. You will find that interesting as well.
I don't want to quote. I want you to read. I am happy if you simply pass on the link to the Burris piece, although I would also be delighted if this diary helps make that piece more visible.
Let me offer just this much. In-school factors count for only about 20% of test scores, about the same percentage as cannot be explained by other factors - statistical noise/error. Of that, teachers are responsible for about 1/2, or a bit more - only around 10%.
To urge you to read, I will quote only one paragraph:
When the state puts the entire burden of closing the gap on the backs of teachers, while ignoring such gap-producing factors as poverty and underfunded schooling, it hides the truth from the public regarding the complexity of the issues that must be addressed. Perhaps most importantly, it takes the burden off society to address issues such as poverty and inequitable school funding. It gives politicians permission to not address serious problems that affect learning such as teenage pregnancy, truancy, illegal drug use, gangs, and uneven access to health care. And it ignores the effects of racially and socio-economically isolated schooling and classrooms and pretends that separate and unequal are just fine — if only those teachers would do their jobs better.
Pleases - go read, and pass on.
And thanks.
