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Thursday, August 6, 2015

Is Public Education In the US Broken Beyond Repair? Well, Is It? | The Jose Vilson

Is Public Education In the US Broken Beyond Repair? Well, Is It? | The Jose Vilson:

Is Public Education In the US Broken Beyond Repair? Well, Is It?




On Sunday, I had the pleasure of watching Seattle teacher, unionist / activist, and colleague Jesse Hagopian verbally spar with former US assistant Secretary of Education Peter Cunningham, with noted education professor and friend to this program Pedro Noguera interjecting as the “research voice” in the middle. For a snippet, check below (for a wrap-up, read here):
First, let’s give props to Al Jazeera for actually asking an actual teacher to debate on policy matters. The dynamic went as well as one could have hoped for. Cunningham touted the successes of education reform of the last decade (if you say so …) and Hagopian outed Cunningham’s Education Post as a 1%-er vehicle for education reform (mouth was agape the whole time). There were solid moments in there too, like when Jesse discussed the New York Performance Standards Consortium and the merits of students demonstrating knowledge via performance and not through a standardized test.
But I also came away thinking this discussion merited more than a focus on standardized testing. I’ve grown increasingly skeptical that the talking points out there are actually working because, the more Is Public Education In the US Broken Beyond Repair? Well, Is It? | The Jose Vilson: