Top Twitter Feeds in Education Policy: Full of Klout
By Ray Salazar, Wednesday at 9:06 pm
Inspired by a blog post about BAM! Radio Network's push to take on taboo education topics, I'm writing about the inequality that must be leveled--too many voices in the local and national education policy conversation are white, thereby perpetuating the social structures that prevent low-income black and brown youth from achievement.
There--I said it.
On Monday, Michael Petrilli, the vice president of the Fordham Institute, a self-labeled "Education Gadfly" restless in its quest to improve America's schools, published a list of "The Top Twitter Feeds in Education Policy" to much acclaim and criticism.
Virtually no African American or Latino voices made Monday’s list. His selection rationale is based on, what else, but data, data, data: Klout scores, a measurement of one's online influence. And, it seems, the number of tweets and followers may have also played an implicit role. After asking, "Who did I forget?" Petrilli got some push back.
The list was modified Wednesday so that 11% of the voices in the top Twitter feeds list belong to African Americans and Latinos. That's an average representation of 5.6% for each group. The dominant voices in the education policy are white while, nationally, most students and families affected by this conversation are not. In Chicago, about 90% of our students are African American or Latino. About 9% of them are white. Whose voices should dominate the ed policy conversation?
Furthermore, Petrilli’s list automatically alienates the people who arguably--no--who do know the most about education: teachers. Teachers and effective instructional leaders do not have the time or resources to recruit followers and manage social media accounts. People like Arne Duncan
