Opportunity Knocks
Here's a new one for the ol' Reformy Thesaurus: the "Opportunity Culture" in education.
Sure sounds good, doesn't it? Who doesn't want our American kids to have more opportunities in life? Except--oops--this campaign, rolled out by Public Impact, is actually about opportunities for "teacherpreneurs" to make more money by teaching oversized classes--and of course, for school districts to seize that same opportunity to save money through "innovative" staffing models.
How did this exciting window of opportunity emerge? Public Impact explains:
Sure sounds good, doesn't it? Who doesn't want our American kids to have more opportunities in life? Except--oops--this campaign, rolled out by Public Impact, is actually about opportunities for "teacherpreneurs" to make more money by teaching oversized classes--and of course, for school districts to seize that same opportunity to save money through "innovative" staffing models.
How did this exciting window of opportunity emerge? Public Impact explains:
Only 25 percent of classes are taught by excellent teachers. With an excellent teacher versus an average teacher, students make about an extra half-year of progress every year--closing achievement gaps fast, leaping ahead to become honors students, and surging forward like top international peers.That's a whole lot of leaping and surging. Unfortunately, it's based on a faux statistic, sitting triumphantly on apyramid of dubious research, prettied up with some post-modern infographics. Like other overhyped blah-blah of