Pedro Noguera, my colleague at New York University, took my place as blogging partner with Deborah Meier at “Bridging Differences.”
In his latest column, Pedro says that it is not enough to recognize that No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have failed. It is necessary to shape a new agenda.
Pedro offers these three elements to a new agenda.
1. “The federal government should call for the creation of a comprehensive support systems around schools in low-income communities to address issues such as safety, health, nutrition, and counseling. This should include the expansion of preschool and after-school programs and extended learning opportunities during the summer.” Since the federal government is unlikely to fund what is needed, states and localities should develop public-private partnerships to make it happen.
2) “The federal government must support a new approach to assessment that focuses on concrete evidence of academic performance—writing, reading, mathematical problem-solving—and moves away from using standardized tests to measure and rank students, teachers, and schools.”.
3) “The federal government needs to call upon the states and school districts to undertake careful evaluations of struggling schools to determine why they are failing to meet the needs of the students they serve before prescribing what should be changed. Instead of simply closing troubled schools such a strategy would require a greater focus on enrollment patterns (i.e. have we concentrated too many “high-needs” students in a school?) and ensuring that schools have the capacity to meet the needs of the students they serve rather than merely judging them under the current accountability systems.”
I heartily agree with Pedro’s diagnosis. If children are not healthy, if they are hungry, their ability to learn is negatively affected. The value of preschool and after-school programs is well-established. In state after state, these programs are being cut, while testing is expanded. I would go even further, as I do in my book, and say that class-size reduction must be part of the new vision, especially where the children with the greatest needs are enrolled.
The problem here is that we can’t get federal or state policymakers to change course unless they recognize that the present course–the strategy of high-stakes testing, accountability, choice, and school closings–has failed. I note that Pedro does not mention the Common Core standards, which has now become the linchpin of federal school reform.
Going forward, I think, requires that we persuade President Obama that Race to the Top is not working and must be replaced by a new vision. Pedro has well described the outlines of that vision.
But we can’t assume that the President will change course until he recognizes that four more years of the Bush NCLB strategy won’t help our children or improve their education. Twelve years is enough. It’s time to think anew.
I suggest we examine this statement by Nogeura carefully. “Since the federal government is unlikely to fund what is needed, states and localities should develop public-private partnerships to make it happen.” First, federal government officials always seems to find the money for what “they” want or don’t want (e.g., financial industry bailouts, failing to tax financial institutions based on risks they take, respectively, etc) Citizens should demand and expect a federal government responsive to their common interests without murky, third parties interference.
Second, public/private partnership for preschools is more of the same neoliberal reforminess that brought us RttT in K-12. In TN the public private partnerships in the TN Early Intervention System (TEIS) is primarily dictated by the private entities needs rather than family and child needs. As such, services have decreased, long waiting lists and exploding caseloads are the norm.
We need publicly funded early childhood and preschool programs for all children, similar to federally funded Head Start. Head Start was never intended to be funded partially or otherwise from private entities. We should demand as such for public preschools. Anything less is capitulation to edu- privatizers.
Thank you very much for pointing out this important detail.
In NYC, Mr. Noguera was instrumental in facilitating the aggressive invasion of charter schools into public school buildings. He has a habit of playing both sides against the other, and his recommendations and actions should be viewed skeptically.
We know early childhood programs work.
… It is necessary to shape a new agenda. …
Courts have been asking for that. They’ve asked for a cost-out as well. Could the success of ALEC be related to the unresponsiveness of “pro-education” groups?
I found this to be a powerful critique of the testing regime, from a business/research perspective. Gallup’s Education Director speaks briefly at Education Datapalooza: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_AHVfo60qY&feature=g-like
Reblogged this on Transparent Christina and commented:
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It would be nice if interagency cooperation was easy… but… as this article I wrote for education week a decade ago indicates… it ISN’T easy!
http://waynegersen.com/?s=homeland+security+bill+for+education
In the early ’90’s KY had the right ideas in its reform package. Free 4 year old education, Family and Youth Resource Centers next to the school that concentrated on barriers to learning, I.e. medical needs etc., the assessments were to be balanced w/ authentic assessments, school-based decision making that included parents. These programs worked, even the distinguished educator program as originally written had some good ideas. The school based rewards got mixed reviews. Everyone wants a quick fix or magic bullet to solve the problem. It doesn’t work like that. After seeing struggling, poverty districts over many years. It takes a minimum of 5-7 years to turn around.
Unfortunately, I am not as optimistic about President Obama’s willingness to listen as you are. Even though he no longer has to campaign and has more flexibility now, I doubt that any of the proposed tax hikes on the rich will be invested in support of early childhood nutrition, schooling, and the like. It is the least of his challenges in the upcoming years, and the most postponable. I predict he will throw the black poor under the bus. I still do not get WHY he has aligned himself with the privatization movement when it would seem to be counter to both national needs and the politics of his base. How do you, Diane, comprehend this strange incongruity?
The call for change in education requires transparency and public knowledge as to the agenda of reformers and activists. Reformers are always one step ahead getting into the heads of the public. We need to do more than to persuade Obama, as he would not/will not articulate exactly what the public needs to understand about the state of our ed. system until the public has an understanding of both sides. The public needs to be better informed, perhaps Obama himself, so that we can have the support we need to create the change we want.
Change also requires a change in our way of thinking and seeking social justice. I don’t believe that people really understand how much the majority are becoming the minority and vice versa. The GOP has learned a big lesson as to how Obama was reelected. I hope it brings clarity to the demise of our ed. system in that reformers have no interest in providing an equitable education for children who live in poverty, with special needs, and who are ELLs. We need the public to know that NCLB, RttT (common core) violates the rights for a certain population of children which eventually leads to their status in society. The public must understand this consequence and be proactive in preserving our place in the world.
Mr. Noguera was at my Seattle high school almost 2 years ago. In the gym, in public, he talked about systemic problems. In a staff meeting later in the day, he subjected us working stiffs to Blame-The-Teacher for about 1.5 hours.
Oh yeah, he was back out in the Pacified Northwest recently – at some dog and pony paid for by the lackey$ of Bill l’etat c’est moi Gate$.
He should get a real job.
rmm.