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Education Reform’s Misguided Articles of Faith
Posted By The Editors | February 18th, 2012 (15 seconds ago) | Category: Education | No Comments »
Print This PostBy Kenneth J. Cooper
Writing about education over the last three decades, I have watched faddish reforms come and go, usually leaving behind little or no enduring change in schools. The country is once again caught up in a wave of supposed reforms whose effectiveness their supporters take as article of faith—and nothing more—because research or equity is not on their side.
Advocates of these mythical reforms are well-meaning. Some are frustrated with the fitful performance of public schools. Others assume they are experts on education since they (like just about everyone else) went to school.
They are all setting up the country for deeper cynicism about the value of free, universal public education, a defining feature of our democracy. The sooner the misguided get over their assumptions that are not-in-evidence, the sooner true education reform can focus on what’s most important—the recruitment and retention of top-shelf teachers—and sustained improvement can occur in public schools.
Here is my list of the most dismaying myths about reforming schools currently popular, despite being dubious at best.
Charter schools are the solution. Perhaps the best, broadest study of academic performance of these