Readers of the blog may recall that I was asked to resign my non-paid affiliation with the Brookings Institution last June because I was “inactive.”
When I read this morning that Brookings will be hosting an event where the keynote speaker will be Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, I realized the institution had changed very considerably from the time that I worked there in the mid-1990s.
In my view, Bobby Jindal is leading an extremist rightwing crusade to dismantle public education in Louisiana as well as the teaching profession. He is clearing the path for for-profit vendors of online virtual schools that are known to produce a poor quality of education. He pushed through a voucher program that enables children to go to religious schools that teach creationism.
I note in the invitation below that Brookings, under the leadership of Grover Whitehurst, who worked in the George W. Bush administration, how has an “Education Choice and Competition Index.”
In my view, based on four decades of study, competition and choice have produced no benefit to America’s children. I prefer the Finnish way, where the nation’s social and education policy concentrates on improving the lives of children and families while strengthening the education profession and supporting an equitable public education system.
That view will not be heard at this conference, and I fear, will no longer be represented at the Brookings Institution.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
The word Conservative no longer fits the reactionary character of the faction in question.
It can only be described the Anti-Enlightenment, or maybe the American Revolution Undo Party.
They aren’t conservatives, they are regressives. They wan to return to a time when one could totally destroy the ecosystems in which we live.
I consider myself “conservative” in a lot of ways. I work with Ducks Unlimited to “conserve” habitat for all animals.
But I am not a “regressive”. I don’t wish to go back to the time of total environmental destruction that the “free market” determined would be the “best” utilization of resources which served to totally destroy the environment that has characterized this country for too long.
I’m speechless. Truly speechless that Brookings- an independent voice (during my godfathers time there; on and off during the 1960’s-1990’s) would host Jindal. I wonder where LA ranks on this list. What a disappointment.
For being speechless, you said it quite well. My sentiments exactly.
Brookings was perceived as being so liberal the right wing needed to create it’s own “independent think tank”: the Heritage Foundation… I guess now that the Heritage Foundation has appointed Tea Party darling Jim DeMent as its head Brooking’s needs to track to the right… after all, that’s what the Democrats have done! If the brakes aren’t applied soon we will one day look back fondly on George Bush as the last President to champion public schools.
Education Sector was once considered a liberal think tank but John Chubb is now its CEO. And John is a strong advocate for charters, vouchers, and virtual schooling.
http://louisianaeducator.blogspot.com/2012/12/bese-defies-court-decisions.html
it got worse today
As I say in my crude way, eff the dims and rethugs, they only want the most for themselves.
I have studied the awful path of misinformation and wrong conclusions of Chub and Moe that has damaged so many children and teachers – and our nation. Regardless of the ideological base of assumptions not based on facts, the results are in and the Brookings Institution bears a lot of the responsibility for not checking before they deluged the nuts with false information about schools, competition, and the so-called marketplace.
Shouldn’t the winners be the districts with the least competition? Congrats to whichever school district comes out on the bottom of their list. Someone should send them a trophy or at least take their superintendent to lunch.
I agree with Dr. Ravitch that Finland can provide a good model. It would seem to me that the easiest place to start emulating Finland would be in teacher training. Here are a few concrete steps that might start a discussion:
a) require new teachers to have an undergraduate degree in a traditional major and a masters degree in education. This could take the form of a five year BA/MA or BS/MA program.
b) increase the selectivity of these programs until it approaches the selectivity of these programs in Finland. This should both reduce the drop out rate of teachers in the first five years of teaching and address issues of poor teaching which drives much of the debate about assessment.
c) to pull these highly capable undergraduates into teaching, we also need to reform the pay schedule. Prospective students should not be forced to choose between teaching and making a good living for someone with their skill sets. Teaching should be a good living for someone with their skill sets. This will likely require that salaries are matched to areas taught rather than years teaching.
This would probably be best done in stages, beginning with high school teachers. Any thoughts?
Oye, TE,
Why should we emulate Finland????
Duane
Duane,
You may not be aware of it, but I have a reputation as someone who does not agree with anyone on here, so I thought I would take the opportunity to agree with Dr. Ravitch that we should take some lessons from Finland.
I agree, but don’t forget:
d) Load up their classes with Finnish children.
We need to help those children coming from homes where education is not valued for whatever reason. Until we get that problem solved, no exemplary teacher is going to make a difference in these kids’ lives.
A absolutely agree that education must be valued in the home, but that is a far more difficult goal to achieve than improved teacher training. Lets start with the low hanging fruit.
And we would have to pay those teachers for those Master’s degrees. When I came out of my teacher education program 20 years ago, my university told me NOT to get my Master’s degree because no district would hire me. They wouldn’t want to pay a beginning teacher a Master’s degree salary. At a time when the powers that be are cutting education to the bone, they’re not going to want to pay for all of those Master’s degrees.
Until we are able to convince policy makers that investing in teachers (REALLY investing, not just paying for another inane “professional development”) is important, this suggestion will just circle the drain.
I agree Jennifer, that is point c in my original comment.
starting in school year 2013-2014 the salary for Louisiana teachers will include pay for advanced degrees and NBCT ONLY if the parish chooses to and finds the funds. Local school boards are not all able to find funds and many are not even considering it. The salaries get frozen and once the merit pay starts your only chance of more money is a one time merit bonus.
It will defiantly be hard, but I think there is hope if we can convince the citizens that they are getting value for money.
In any case it seems easier than eliminating poverty or getting every parent to care about their children’s education. Lets crawl before we walk.
Hey, “teachingeconomist” (yeah, right…)
Do you think we don’t see the BS you’re pushing here? Why are you ignoring the VERY strong union that ALL teachers in Finland join?
Why are you ignoring that they do NOT differentiate in pay, based on their field or some biased, subjective “assessment”?
Do you think you can fool us by taking parts of the Finland system, repackaging them as “Ed Reform” snake oil and getting us to buy it?
Are you naive enough to think you can snow us?
It would be helpful if you could identify the things I have posted that you disagree with.
Look at the so called democratic partys DFER which is really a right wing organization. In California former State Senator Gloria Romero is head of it. They want to destroy public schools and teachers rights while saying nothing about the travesties produced by administrators. One of these is the breaking of child abuse laws. Well, what is the big deal about that the administrators give us our perks and extra free money we cannot evaluate them. Right!!!!! This is all simpleton politics as the public has been dumbed down to this level that they can play the simplest of tricks and they fall for them.
Reblogged this on Exist Now.