Shiny objects and false narratives: Time to refuse it all
Joanne Weiss is the author of an article entitled Competing Principles:Race to the Top, a $4 billion US education reform effort, produced valuable lessons on designing a competition-based program.
Here’s the main page at Stanford: Competing Principles (SSIR)
Weiss’ main conclusion is: “Competitions are an imperfect way to drive change. Yet as our experience with Race to the Top shows, they can serve as a crucible of reform for forward-thinking leaders. A well-designed competition can spur innovation, create a marketplace for new ideas, engage multiple stakeholders in a broad-based reform effort, and create conditions in which rapid change is possible—even in a traditionally change-resistant field. We will not know the full impact of Race to the Top for several more years. Already, though, it has provided important lessons for policymakers.”
But what else do we need to know about Joanne Weiss and her “competing principles”?
In research I did a while back regarding Common Core I noted:
“The director of Race to the Top is Joanne Weiss, who worked with the Broad Foundation, which also has as one of its acting members Chester Finn with the Fordham Institute. Broad Foundation is also a member of ALEC, which sponsored the bill called the Parent Trigger Act.”
Derek Furr, author of “Education in the Age of Neoliberalism,” states:
Joanne Weiss, Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s chief of staff, wrote glowingly that, ‘The development of common standards and shared assessments radically alters the market for innovation in curriculum development, professional development, and formative assessments. … The adoption of common standards and shared assessments means that education entrepreneurs will enjoy national markets where the best products can be taken to scale.’ Taken in total, these reforms and initiatives effectively created a bonanza for a private sector that scurried to cash in.”
Jane Robbins in her post “Feds Confess Truth About Common Core” writes:
Joanne Weiss was the director of USED’s Race to the Top (RttT) program, the vehicle through which states were bribed Shiny objects and false narratives: Time to refuse it all | educationalchemy: