Education Reform: Socks Worn Inside-Out
I have touched on this idea a couple of times before, but with the Board poised to vote on the contract with Teach for America I think it is time to bring it back.
I am not an advocate for the status-quo. I'm surprised that I even have to write that. Holy cow, if I haven't established myself as a critic of the education establishment, then I don't know what you have to do to qualify. Just the same, for clarity's sake, I will spell it out. It is clear to me that the current practices that dominate public K-12 education are serving the bulk our students poorly with dreadful consequences and, in the case of students from low-income homes, English language learners, minorities, boys, and students with disabilities, the service is even worse and the consequences are tragic. I'm not a fan.
That said, the education reform landscape does not look promising either. Most of the "solutions" presented by the Education Reform industry have little or no promise. The dominant solutions are not centered on students. The charter school movement is about school governance and ownership, not about student learning. There's a whole set of issues around the teacher contracts - hiring, firing, pay, training, evaluations and more - that also
I am not an advocate for the status-quo. I'm surprised that I even have to write that. Holy cow, if I haven't established myself as a critic of the education establishment, then I don't know what you have to do to qualify. Just the same, for clarity's sake, I will spell it out. It is clear to me that the current practices that dominate public K-12 education are serving the bulk our students poorly with dreadful consequences and, in the case of students from low-income homes, English language learners, minorities, boys, and students with disabilities, the service is even worse and the consequences are tragic. I'm not a fan.
That said, the education reform landscape does not look promising either. Most of the "solutions" presented by the Education Reform industry have little or no promise. The dominant solutions are not centered on students. The charter school movement is about school governance and ownership, not about student learning. There's a whole set of issues around the teacher contracts - hiring, firing, pay, training, evaluations and more - that also
