My Discussion with Matt Barnum Part 3
Dear Gary,
I’ve often heard teachers complain about the latest reform “fad.” It’s understandable insofar as veteran teachers have been around for many rounds of “reform,” only to see each and every one swept abashedly into a locked closet in the back of the class (right next to where I surreptitiously put those pre-tests I never got around to grading).
I think there’s a lot of truth to that, and I suspect that you agree. Where we’d probably part ways is the takeaway from this insight. You might say that this goes to show how temporal the current regime of reform is; I would say that the faddish nature of past reform shows that we need to stay the course.
You write that Michelle Rhee and Kaya Henderson’s reforms in Washington DC have not worked. (Disclosure: I previously spent a couple months working as an intern at StudentsFirst. And I had one very brief, very pleasant
I’ve often heard teachers complain about the latest reform “fad.” It’s understandable insofar as veteran teachers have been around for many rounds of “reform,” only to see each and every one swept abashedly into a locked closet in the back of the class (right next to where I surreptitiously put those pre-tests I never got around to grading).
I think there’s a lot of truth to that, and I suspect that you agree. Where we’d probably part ways is the takeaway from this insight. You might say that this goes to show how temporal the current regime of reform is; I would say that the faddish nature of past reform shows that we need to stay the course.
You write that Michelle Rhee and Kaya Henderson’s reforms in Washington DC have not worked. (Disclosure: I previously spent a couple months working as an intern at StudentsFirst. And I had one very brief, very pleasant