John Thompson: New York Reformers Show Their True Colors
Guest post by John Thompson.
If nothing else, the controversy over publicizing New York City teachers' value-added scores has revealed the essence of test-driven school "reform." The contemporary data-driven accountability experiment was begun by idealists, who sincerely sought a "civil rights movement of the 21st century," but who were clueless about the realities of urban education, and now it is in shambles. Some honest reformers, like the Washington Post''s Jay's Mathews, seem to ruefully acknowledge that the bubble-in mania produced "sand castles carefully constructed on the beach."
Other accountability hawks, such as Stanford's Eric Hanushek, admit that New York's latest anti-teaching spasm is not about improving teacher quality and that, "nobody would ever advocate making personnel decisions through public posting of evaluations in the newspaper." He openly proclaims that it is a part of an "intense, broader battle underway throughout the nation." Hanushek then exemplifies the truism about war's first casualty by misrepresenting his enemies' positions. For instance, he ignores the substance of teachers' positions and claims, "the fight is between those who want to improve the schools and those who like the system as it exists
If nothing else, the controversy over publicizing New York City teachers' value-added scores has revealed the essence of test-driven school "reform." The contemporary data-driven accountability experiment was begun by idealists, who sincerely sought a "civil rights movement of the 21st century," but who were clueless about the realities of urban education, and now it is in shambles. Some honest reformers, like the Washington Post''s Jay's Mathews, seem to ruefully acknowledge that the bubble-in mania produced "sand castles carefully constructed on the beach."
Other accountability hawks, such as Stanford's Eric Hanushek, admit that New York's latest anti-teaching spasm is not about improving teacher quality and that, "nobody would ever advocate making personnel decisions through public posting of evaluations in the newspaper." He openly proclaims that it is a part of an "intense, broader battle underway throughout the nation." Hanushek then exemplifies the truism about war's first casualty by misrepresenting his enemies' positions. For instance, he ignores the substance of teachers' positions and claims, "the fight is between those who want to improve the schools and those who like the system as it exists