Welcome to Relay Medical College & North Star Community Hospital
Posted on April 26, 2014
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Arne Duncan has one whopper of an interview available here: http://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/better-preparing-our-nations-educators-237066307522
Related to his new push to evaluate teacher preparation programs using student outcome data:http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2014/04/25/arne-ology-the-bad-incentives-of-evaluating-teacher-prep-with-student-outcome-data/
And his Whitehouse press release can be found here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/25/fact-sheet-taking-action-improve-teacher-preparation
Now, there’s a whole lot to chew on here, but let me focus on one of the more absurd hypocrisies in all of this.
First, Duncan seems to think the world of medical education without apparently having the first clue about how any of it actually works. In his view, it’s really just a matter of intensive clinical training (no academic prerequisites required) and competitive wages (a reasonable, though shallowly articulated argument).
Second, Duncan also seems to think that a major part of the solution for Ed Schools can be found in entrepreneurial startups like Relay Graduate School of Education. The Whitehouse press release proclaims:
Relay Graduate School of Education, founded by three charter management organizations, measures and holds itself accountable for both program graduate and employer satisfaction, and requires that teachers meet high goals for student learning growth before they can complete their degrees. There is promise that this approach translates into classroom results as K-12 students of Relay teachers grew 1.3 years in reading performance in one year.
Now, I’ll set aside for the moment that the student outcome metrics proposed for use in evaluating ed schools create the same bad incentives (and unproven benefits) that the feds have imposed for evaluating physicians and hospitals.
Let’s instead consider the model of the future – one which blends Arne Duncan’s otherwise entirely inconsistent models of training. I give you:
The Relay Medical College and North Star Community Hospital
Here’s how it all works. Deep in the heart of some depressed urban core where families and their