A blogger in Tennessee notes that Rand Paul of Kentucky is excited about what is happening in Tennessee.
He wants Kentucky to follow Tennessee’s lead.
But this is very odd because by almost every measure, Kentucky is more successful in education than Tennessee.
Unlike Tennessee, Kentucky has no charter schools. It does not aspire to enact vouchers. It is doing none of what the corporate reformers love.
And yet, having not followed the reform path to privatization, this is what Kentucky does have:
– Higher scores on the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) than Tennessee in seven out of eight categories.
– A higher ACT composite average than Tennessee
– A larger percentage of its population with 4-year college degrees than Tennessee
– A lower unemployment rate than Tennessee
Please ask Senator Rand Paul why Kentucky should copy Tennessee.
Plain logic suggests that Tennessee should strive to be like Kentucky.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
He was just on CNN with Wolf Blitzer saying he wanted vouchers for schools of choice (he specifically stated, charters), so students could attend a great school, just like Obama’s children.
Kids in DC or anywhere are not getting a $25,000-$40,000 voucher to Sidwell Friends, Miss Porters or Lakeside, etc..
Little does he know…there’s a HUGE difference between an AF, KIPP and these schools.
There does seem to be a benefit to charter schools in Washinton DC relative to the public schools there according to research done by Umut Ozec. His working paper can be found here: http://www.caldercenter.org/publications/upload/1001499-working-paper-53.pdf
This is the same author and same working paper series as the one Dr. Ravitch cited here (https://dianeravitch.net/2013/07/19/the-negative-effects-of-holding-kids-back-in-third-grade/), so perhaps folks here might find the results creditable.
Sorry, TE, charters work best by skimming and excluding. They undermine public education. Dual school systems end up separate and unequal. They increase segregation and social stratification.
Did you read the paper?
Peer pressure. Keeping up with the Joneses. The grass is greener. Catching the status quo. Brainwashing. Feeling like the global economy will leave you in the dust. His is bigger than mine envy. Hers is prettier. Sophomoric decision making. A lack of adult understanding of what democracy means. A forgetfulness of bringing up a society without imposing a market system on everything. What else?
(Just guessing. I know nothing about Kentucky except that one of my grandmothers grew up there, was trained as a teacher there, but settled in Florida where she had 8 children and a weekly column in the newspaper).
It’s the studious girl who sort of envies the more popular but kinda slutty girl. Totally middle school logic.
Where are the grown ups?
Always have preferred the “studious” girls. Some might be surprised as to how “studious” they can be “behind closed doors”! See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyoPaVxMyWY
Looks like another crony for-profit school contract just went out in Chicago:
http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/news/2013/07/30/21797/20-million-no-bid-contract-raises-questions-about-supes-academy
Shame about those kids getting stuck with an online gym class, isn’t it? What were they promised when their schools were closed? Anyone remember? Gardens. I think they were promised gardens. Instead reformers are planning on sticking them in front of a computer screen.
I’d say we need a federal investigation of the school reform industry, but then I remember Arne Duncan is in charge at the federal level.
Why doesn’t the “private schools are better” crowd ever acknowledge that the key advantage of private schools over public schools are their ability to pick their students and remove those who cannot or will not perform academically and/or behaviorally?
It’s not all about the schools being able to fire teachers more easily. I would say that it is easier for teachers to succeed in those schools.
Rand Paul is an embarrassment to our state.
Thank you, Diane, for point out the great things this state is doing. I was very pleased when we didn’t receive RTTT. We were finalists, yes, but the lack of legislation for charter schools kept us out. We had some legislators try to push through a charter bill–just because of RTTT–but one legislator in committee said “no, we need to slow down and study this.” A VERY wise woman.
Yes that was wise.
I am sorry our leaders in NC did not pause in that way.
yes NC should have been slow on the draw.
But once again no one knows what is really going on but us. I was teaching a classroom full of teachers today and only one of them really knew what a charter school was. When I mentioned a few groups against common core and high stakes testing they were taken aback and said…oh yeah those tea-partiers. The reformers are getting their message out there loud and clear. We are immune to it, though, we feel like we ‘know’ what is really going on but honestly everyone else is eating the reform spin up with a spoon….even many teachers )0;
I know what you are saying, Cee. Many of the teachers in my city have drunk the “Common Core koolaid”. That is what is being given out by principals and superintendents alike. I understand that they are happy to be out from under NCLB but I don’t think they have a clue about what is to come with that waiver. I hope that enough Kentuckians are aware so that they have a chance to prevent Rand Paul from doing any damage.
We live in a post-fact world.
Then is that an “ex post facto” world or a post factoid world?
Real idiot Rand Paul.
Sent from my iPhone
For sure, if ever there were a raw, unbridled, malicious, wicked, disgusting, sick attempt to destroy emerging quality in K-12 public education, state-wide, it would be Ron Paul going at undermining public education in his own home state, the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Prior to becoming Kentucky Education Commissioner, Terry Holliday instituted district-wide quality in K-12 public education as superintendent of Iredell-Statesville Schools, a small district in North Carolina, by leading the district on a journey that picked up the 2008 Baldridge National Quality Award along the way. Dr. Holiday writes about the district’s quality journey in his book, “Running All the Red Lights: A Journey of System-Wide Educational Reform,” co-authored with Brenda Clark.
teachingeconomist
July 30, 2013 at 9:30 pm
Did you read the paper?
Did you read the post? The comparison is between Kentucky and Tennessee. The question is, why would Kentucky adopt Tennessee’s “choice” strategy when Kentucky is beating Tennessee on every measure by using persistent, thoughtful, careful support of their public school system?
I have an additional question. Why do reformers insist they are relying on critical thinking, when they refuse to examine successful PUBLIC school systems?
What can reformers learn from public school systems? Is it arrogance or ideology that makes them set this up as such a narrow choice, where they deliberately and carefully ignore or exclude public school successes? We have more choices than the two choices reformers are presenting. It isn’t, actually, privatize or “status quo”.
Kentucky has improved their system without The Michelle Rhee Patented Program. California seems to be rejecting the dogmatic reform prescription, too. Is there anything reformers can learn there? WHY is that state moving away from the Duncan-Rhee-Gates plan that we have used for a decade now?
It is deeply dishonest and misleading to present this as “pick one! privatize or die!” and it ignores the facts.
I was not responding to the original post but to poster Linda’s statement about kids in DC and the educational opportunities there. A study of the effectiveness of out of district enrollment by a researcher whose work Dr. Ravitch has praised in the past ifs relevant to that point.
I can not answer your question about “reformers” and successful public school systems. I can tell you that my children have all attended traditional zoned public schools for their K-12 education, (though one took courses from several different schools while in high school), so it must be that I felt that public schools were better than the alternative.
Then you misread my comments as well. Rand Paul was stating that all kids deserve the same education Obama provides for his daughters and that is why there should be vouchers. I was pointing out that there isn’t a voucher system that is going to pay the full tuition for Sidwell friends or many other elite private schools (easily $25,000-$40,000), therefore his statement is false and he is misinformed.
I believe that the cost per student in the DC is around $29,000, though I know these figures are somewhat uncertain. That is in the neighborhood of the figures you cite.
More to the point, do you believe Dr. Ozec’s research is flawed? It was not only concerned with charter enrollment, but also the 31% of district students that attend out of boundary public schools.
” I can tell you that my children have all attended traditional zoned public schools for their K-12 education, (though one took courses from several different schools while in high school), so it must be that I felt that public schools were better than the alternative.”
But we’re not talking about individual schools.That approach too comes from a particular perspective, that of “choice”.
Rand Paul is saying his state should adopt the reform approach to ALL public schools.Kentucky has taken a very different path. Kentucky’s method applies to all public schools, as does Tennessee’s.
Reform “leaders” in government don’t just set policy for the “choice” schools they favor and promote. ALL public schools are under “reform” when one hires or elects a free market reformer. I would submit that the 5% of charters (nationally) are driving the agenda for all public schools under reform. I reject that. I didn’t in any way “choose” it.
You asked about the existence of successful public school systems. I provided some evidence that I think my local public schools do a reasonably good job.
Yesterday, Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Rand Paul stopped by Nashville’s KIPP Academy to talk about education issues and to allow Alexander a chance to be photographed next to Tea Party favorite Paul.
The topic of discussion was school choice and the two legislators were joined by Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman and House Speaker Beth Harwell.
I have to say, as a public school parent, this makes me angry. Mr. Huffman is paid by the people of Tennessee to run a public school system. Charter schools are a small portion of the public school system. Although I recognize that reformers have nothing but contempt and disdain for public schools, surely they can find some time in their busy schedule of selling individual charter school companies and appearing at photo ops with “choice” politicians, to pay attention to the REST of the children they’re supposed to be serving. How are Tennessee’s PUBLIC schools doing under Mr. Huffman? Does anyone in the “reform movement” care?
Has Rand Paul ever visited a “government school” in his actual state to get “ideas” on education? Or would that contradict the “failed and failing” schools reform political campaign?
“so it must be that I felt that public schools were better than the alternative.”
I seem to have fewer and fewer “choices” under reform, if I “choose” my local public public school. Right now I have the “choice” of raising money to replace budget cuts that state reformers supported, because they got a trade-off to expand the schools they support. As it is, under “reform” I have lots and lots and mandates to adopt techniques like KIPP’s. I didn’t choose KIPP.
The only schooling choices any parent has in my community are between whatever the public school offers, moving to a different catchment area or school district for whatever that public school/district offers, or a private school. I don’t think that is very different than the choices available fifty years ago.
My question has always been “why is choice such a magic word?” As I see it, most of the problems with education revolve around funding, mostly the lack of it, the wasting of it, the inequitible nature of it’s distribution. Do the “reformers” actually think that if a parent can just choose another school for their children, that all their problems will be solved? Can they be that naive? I think not. They see what is happening to our poorest cities and counties (both urban and rural). They know their policies and ideology have led to this crisis of inequality in this country. They refuse to acknowledge their own hand in this mess, so they trot out a “solution.” Give them a choice! Let them eat cake! These phrases don’t seem much different to me.