I first met Bill Clinton in Little Rock in 1984.
When he was President, I heard him speak on many occasions.
I never heard anyone speak as eloquently about the challenges in K-12 education.
Tonight, I watched his boffo performance and was once again wowed by his ability to get deeply substantive and at the same time, chatty and personal.
The man truly has a gift of oratory.
He briefly talked about education. He talked about the importance of bringing down the cost of college and student loans.
He didn’t mention K-12.
I listened closely.
He didn’t mention Race to the Top.
Maybe it was an oversight but I doubt it.
How can you talk about cooperation and shared responsibility in the same breath with a “race” to “the top” for our children?
How can you say “we are all in this together” while you are telling children that they have to race to see who is best at taking tests and the poor kids almost always are the losers?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
USA leaders are still neglecting the lack of special programs to help high school students to read/cipher better.
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Paul, a lack of such programs is one of my biggest frustrations.
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That was my thought about last night’s speeches too. Education was only discussed in terms of student loans. I didn’t catch Jim Hunt and Arne Duncan tonight, but judging from the Twitter feed, there was little to like. I will vote for Obama for a dozen obvious reasons–but K-12 isn’t one of them.
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School started for me yesterday. We had twos of professional development which meant our principal and a few other suits lecturing us about what we needed to do to keep our school from closing. At one point the principal said, “if you have a problem with what I’m telling you, maybe this isn’t the right school for you” very nice on the 2nd day of the new school year.
Today our local superintendent came for a minute. He seems very sad. He looked defeated. He came to wish us well and tell us that NY state is now deciding which schools live or die. NYC is no longer in the loop. He said he doesn’t agree with the state but the bottom line is that everything hinges on the results of the ELA and Math state exams. He said it didn’t look promising.
I work in an urban school with a high percentage of challenging children. Each year as more children go to Charters we get those who nobody wants. The numbers of elementary students are declining while the numbers of middle school are increasing as Charters cherry pick the best students and leave us the rest.
This is not considered. ELA and Math scores only will decide our fate.
To have our Superintendent so defeated before one child has set foot into my school this year is troubling. He said he just wanted to be honest with us.
What a way to start a new school year.
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Probably not an oversight. Might be one area where they disagree – or a game that Mr. Clinton is just out of now.
The history in your book says it all … Nation at Risk ’83, Governor’s Conference (which included Clinton, Alexander, et al), Goals 2000 (should have been serious about birth to five) – then a gap as Clinton got to the root issues of poverty… – then we got Texas Miracle / NCLB and now RTTT. Seems in the past thirty years, only one who got it right was Clinton. So – nothing on preK-12 tonight.
Aside – a lot of people understandably blasting RTTT, Mr. Duncan, and ed.gov Just hope folks don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. We can go after RTTT and get ed.gov back to what it should be (defender of civil rights, IDEA, school lunch and that’s it) after November. I’d hate for the haters – or worse, the independents and undecideds – to hear the anti-RTTT commentary and not vote- or vote for vouchers, superman, and Mass.-like charters pre-Duval P.
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I hope for some gesture or sign from Obama about a possible change of course.
In time, there will be charters in Scarsdale and Bedford and Great Neck, luring your best students, and some of New York’s excellent public schools will be fighting for survival. Unless there is a change of course.
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Dr. Ravitch-
What you just mentioned is beginning to happen. A charter school is being planned for Jericho, New York. It is to be located on the SUNY Old Westbury Campus. Jericho is one of the best school districts in the nation. In spite of local opposition to the school, it’s my guess that it will be approved and built.
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The local opposition should be louder.
Do people realize it diminishes the budget of the public schools?
There is no special pot of new money set aside for charters.
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In the Chicago Public Schools district, a very successful CPS gifted elementary school, South Loop, is being phased out, and will be re-opened as a charter run by AUSL.
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I, too, listened closely–I think it was completely calculated on Clinton’s part. The man is savvy. He wouldn’t foolishly tout policies that had so much dissent–he obviously knows what’s going on. He didn’t dare mention RttT or any of the charter efforts that have been supported by Duncan. Maybe he is the man we should be writing to–would he bend the president’s ear on behalf of public education?
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LG I think you are onto something here!!!
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Disappointed as an educator; but for the sake of education, Obama’s plan is much less bad than Romney’s. Obama’s been hampered in getting more money to save more teaching jobs (300,000 fewer teachers, with a large increase in students — and they want to know what the problem is?). NCLB and Rat (RTTT) aside, Romney said we have too many teachers now. Sununu, campaign Jabba the Hutt, said we have declining population, and so we need fewer teachers (remember when people used to laugh about Sununu thinking he was the smartest guy in any room? Now it’s just sad). Even Arne Duncan isn’t that myopic. Vote for Obama, and make doggone sure you vote for pro-education candidates for Congress and state legislatures — Democrats in almost every case.
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I expect you are going to write something about Duncan’s speech. Other speakers have mentioned RTTT. And obviously Emanuel didn’t go back to Chicago. Makes me wonder what’s up with that!! The way Republicans held back information on their policies, I think many of the DNC speakers are holding back on their education policies until after the election. I fear the Democrats (with the exception of Warren) will push for the reforms once re-elected. One thing is evident. Obama needs Labor. Cuomo made it clear he did not and won. And it is clear he has Wall Street on his side. And we know Cuomo works surreptitiously which I expect all politicians are now doing. No more emails. No more cell phones. No paper trails.
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I am hoping that he didn’t say anything because Obama is going to reverse course. Pipe dream?
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Maybe Obama will take on this challenge during his speech on Thursday!
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He’s already taken it on-RATT!!
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I’m watching last night’s speeches on my DVR as I write, but the people I’ve heard so far haven’t said much at all about K-12. I think Dems think that college affordability is the biggest education issue today. Add that to the fact that nothing much has changed in K-12 policy anyway.
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“I think Dems think that college affordability is the biggest education issue today.”
Of course that is what they think is the main problem, for they are of the “educated” class, just as we teachers are. The politicians (or at least the vast majority) have no clue about k-12 education other than what they been spoon fed by the fawning corporate media, and the for profit education lobbying firms who have the spotlight at the moment. The politicos are to blinded by their own class rose colored glasses to see what is happening to public education k-12.
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Perhaps teachers unions could be more proactive in assisting lawmakers in fulfilling their constitutional obligations. That would require “costing out” alternatives to NCLB that fulfill US treaty obligations:
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (emphasis added; see: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/hr/treaties/index.htm)
“While welcoming the measures adopted by the State party to reduce the significant disparities in the field of education, including the adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), the Committee remains concerned about the persistent “achievement gap” … The Committee recommends … improving the quality of education provided to these students. …
“The Committee regrets that despite the efforts made by the State party to provide training programmes and courses on anti-discrimination legislation adopted at the federal and state levels, no specific training programmes or courses have been provided to, inter alia, government officials, the judiciary, federal and state law enforcement officials, teachers, social workers and other public officials in order to raise their awareness about the Convention and its provisions.”
The Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was adopted when many (from Newt Gingrich to Hillary Clinton) believed Dr. Deming’s approach to quality improvement (essentially the “design” version of the scientific method) would enable public education to fulfill its legal and ethical responsibilities to schoolchildren. But policymakers never succeeded in integrating Deming’s work into efforts like ESEA and Goals 2000–Commerce supported Deming/Baldrige and USED took little interest.
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Clinton has spoken in favor of all the “reform” nonsense that comes from the White House. I voted for him twice. Would like to do the same for Obama, but I honestly can’t see how I can do that right now. The argument that he stinks less than the other guy, for me, is less than persuasive.
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Bill Clinton: “I wish there were 10 times or 100 times the number of KIPP schools….”
http://www.redefinedonline.org/2012/08/bill-clinton-kipp-charter-schools-have-solved-the-no-1-challenge-in-american-education/
Clinton is on board the reform train that Duncan is driving…
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I had a recollection that Clinton endorsed charters but did not have the citation. Thanks.
Charters are not a systemic solution.
They drain the best kids from poor neighborhoods, leaving the vast majority of kids worse off.
They drain resources from shrinking budgets.
They have one big selling point: the rich and powerful love them.
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In Chicago, the UNO charter school chain is run by Juan Rangel (the campaign manager for Rahm Emanuel’s mayoral race). UNO primarily enrolls Hispanic children.Its expansion is relentless and very well funded despite the poor economy, and is cutting seriously into the Catholic schools enrollment here. I read they are expanding in New Orleans, thanks, I’d guess to Paul Vallas, former CEO of CPS.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-27/business/ct-biz-0827-executive-profile-rangel-20120827_1_juan-rangel-charter-schools-edward-burke/2
Some quotes to for readers interested in the nexus of politics and charters.
“We’re certainly not happy with his aggressive positioning to people with tremendous power in order to further the expansion of privatized charter schools that overwork and underpay their staff and prohibit union representation,” said Jackson Potter, staff coordinator for the Chicago Teachers Union. “They use slick advertising schemes to attract parents and lend a false sense of quality to many of their programs. … It doesn’t help that the mayor appointed Rangel to the Public Building Commission,” which builds libraries, fire stations, schools and other public buildings, “despite the conflict of interest that represents.”
Juan Rangle appreciates Catholic schools, however much his UNO schools hurt their enrollment. “I did very well in grammar school, so well that my parents thought it best to send me to a Catholic high school,” he told the freshman class at UNO’s Veterans Memorial Campus in Archer Heights two weeks ago. “I am forever grateful they allowed me to do that.”
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The Dems are trying to hide the looming K-12 debacle, imho, because there is so much money chasing after the billions in public funding. I am afraid that is also why the teachers unions are reticent on the true aims of privatization.
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Nor Clinton mention that Leave No Child Behind has its roots in his policies. He even gave it its name! CSPAN rebroadcast his 1992 Democratic Convention acceptance speech earlier this week — and lo and behold, Clinton explicitly called on the nation to “leave no child behind.” Whether what we have subsequently experienced is a case of unintended consequences of flawed educational policymaking by ill-informed politicians overly influenced by corporate interests, or from the get-go it was intended to usher in gradual free-market privatization of American public schools, Bill Clinton has played an influental, perhaps even pivotal, role in all this.
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Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism had a very good take on the abandonment of teachers by the Democrats with the help of the NEA, and the real reason for that abandonment.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/09/in-2012-democratic-convention-unity-without-unions.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29
The money quote:
Nothing illustrates the captured state of our politics better than a supposed union leader [Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association] praising a film [“Don’t Back Down”] dedicated to destroying the power of working men and women. Now, of course, there are certainly problems with teachers unions, as there are with any set of large bureaucratic institutions. But eliminating the one opposition vehicle to the transfer of a half a trillion dollars of tax revenue each year to privatize educational corporations is simply about graft.
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Diane, I agree, I think few people understand how charter schools suck resources from other publicly-financed schools. For a period I referred to them as vampire schools, but most people who read that phrase thought I meant they taught a curriculum including horror stories.
In any case, I’ve often argued that it might be different if charter school advocates would bring money to the table. Pragmatically, as funding works in most states that won’t make a lot of difference — even if charter schools funded themselves, the public schools that lose the students would also lose the per capita funding provided by the formulae used in most states. But if charter schools came with their own funding, so that they do not literally suck money out of public schools, would that make them any more acceptable?
Vouchers might make a huge difference, too, if they came with new money, and fewer restrictions. I think back to the huge voucher experiment in San Antonio a few years back. Parents were asked why, when their kids in “underperforming” schools, were offered a chance to switch, the parents did not enroll them in the fancy voucher-assisted, private school.
Answers were what you’d expect in some cases: The voucher didn’t cover the entire cost, and the family couldn’t make up the rest; parents worried about whether their students were ready for the private school. Another series of answer I didn’t expect. The parents liked the underperforming schools. They liked the teachers, they liked having a school close to their home, or their work, they liked public schools, they liked the athletic programs, they liked having their children go to school with their children’s friends . . . a host of reasons that vouchers couldn’t touch. A few parents then asked a question back: If the muck-a-mucks were serious about improving the kid’s chances, why not just give them the vouchers anyway, and let the students spend it at their “underperforming” school, to bring more money in, to improve things? One meeting I attended an administrator said, “That’s not how vouchers work, there’s not enough money, that’s not what they were intended to do.” And the parent responded with “That’s why vouchers don’t work, period.”
If we were serious about school choice, we’d honor the choices parents and students actually make. A large degree of choice has already been exercised to get the kids in the school they are in — we may not agree with all the choices, but unless we’re willing to go for equality-of-outcome style solutions that gift resources to families make different choices, we’re rather stuck with the schools we have.
Why not spend money and improve them? Even if it’s only the Hawthorne Effect working, it is likely to improve education for the children involved.
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Ed, I wonder where this is heading. I fear that the charters will produce a dual school system, with charters for the kids who have high scores, and under-resourced public schools for the rest. This is not good for our country.
As for vouchers, the real goal there is to undermine the public schools and encourage parents to flee them.
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Most current advocates of charters and vouchers fit your description, I agree. I do wonder what would happen if someone — a group of teachers, perhaps — were to take over the advocacy, argue that charters can’t work without adding money to the public schools from which students are pulled, and otherwise make the point that boosting the public schools is the best choice government can make to improve the choices parents have already made. It’s pie-in-the-sky. I’m not Bill Gates.
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Didn’t Clinton start the Reform ball rolling with his education legislation? I think it was called the Improving American Schools Act, or some such thing. Didn’t this legislation call on states to promulgate standards, and call for standardized testing to hold schools “accountable?” I think it also called for Charter schools. It wasn’t as bad as NCLB or RttT, but it got the movement started.
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It wasn’t only Clinton who did not mention K-12, even first lady Michelle Obama threw a stone at the teachers mentioning how she was inspired by the school district that went bankrupt and teachers taught students for free because everyone must sacrifice. I honestly think this was in indirect to the Chicago teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union strike possibility. Teachers and students already sacrifice by teaching and learning in less favorable conditions in the Chicago Public Schools.
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