Peter Greene steps into a debate about whether schools are “working.”
One answer: let research tell us.
Greene disagrees.
Research, he says, depends on the questions you consider important. In the past, communities decided what they wanted their schools to do.
He writes:
“Because what works and what doesn’t work is not a matter of good research at all. Or rather, the research doesn’t matter.
“Only one thing matters– the definition of “works.”
“Does this raggedy philips head screwdriver work? That depends on whether I want to use it to unscrew screws or punch holes in a soup can. Does telling my wife she’s fat work? That depends on whether I want to make her happy or angry.
“If I get to define what “working” looks like, all the measuring, testing, researching, test tubial navalgazing introexamination that follows is secondary. Part of what gets folks’ backs up about the Reformsters is that they start with, “You do not understand how a school is supposed to work. You are doing school wrong.”
Well, I don’t agree with Peter that research doesn’t matter. I think that the corporate reformers choose whatever research fits their policies. If there is none, then they ignore research. They know what they want to do, and no research will change their minds. They decide that “no child should be left behind” and ignore research showing that such a utopia never happened without kicking kids out or otherwise gaming the system. They say that teachers should be rated by the scores of their students but when research says that’s a truly stupid idea, they ignore research. When they boast about the glories of vouchers, charters, and competition, they conveniently ignore the Petri dish of Milwaukee, where this combination has been a disaster.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
You’re both right, of course, even though you disagree. And you’re both on the side of the angels.
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Regarding research.
Facts to not speak for themselves.
Research is useful as propaganda when you do not question the assumptions and aims around which the research is gathered.
A perfect case is the National Council on Teacher Quality where research is supposed to provide a warrant for a specific set of courses for teacher education in addition to an endless chain of testing , etc. http://www.google.com/#q=national+council+on+teacher+quality
Some research has an enduring influence on how people think about education, but only in the sense that Warhol summarized as “Fame is a function of publicity.”
A case in point is this: In the mid-1960s, federal officials commissioned a report on the relationships among school resources, educational outcomes, and broader social inequities. Known as the Coleman (not David!) report, this study displayed the power of statistical analyses in understanding public education from a socioeconomic perspective.
There were several major conclusions:
(a) the socioeconomic status (SES) of students and their families were more important determinants of educational outcomes than differences in school resources; and
(b) irrespective of SES, teachers have a significant influence on students’ learning.
The Coleman report had several lasting effects on K-12 education and research. It supported rationales for the desegregation of schools.
In made “the achievement gap” an enduring part of discussions about education.
It spawned further studies that confirmed the dominant role of out-of-school factors, especially SES status, in explaining the achievement gap.
Concurrently, it enticed economists into educational research and theorizing about the influence of schools and especially teachers on achievement.
Today’s reformers do not want to address the role of out-of-school factors, especially SES, on achievement. So they exaggerate the influence of teachers on achievement—only one of the findings from the Coleman report—dismissing all the rest.
Coleman, J. S., Kelly, D. L., Hobson, C. J., McPartland, J., Mood, A.M., Weinfeld, F.D., & York, R. L. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
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Thanks for this reminder, Laura! It is very, very important that there be some among us who remember.
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Another awesome piece by Peter Greene.
Hands down, we in the Counterrheeformation, have better writers.
The deformers must get sick of listening to THEMSELVES after a while: it’s about time we got serious blah grit blah competition blah blah twenty-first-century work skills blah rigor blah blah. I mean, rheelly, Mike Petrelli and Chester Finn must have copies of Neil Gaiman and Caitlin Kiernan novels stuffed in their desks, copies that they peek at from time to time throughout the day just to keep from boring themselves to death, and they are the BEST writers the deformers have.
Do our schools work? Well, let’s see . . .
Do we have the best bubblers of bubbles?
Do our sixth graders outgrit the Singaporeans?
Blah blah rigor blah blah more grammar blah evidence blah blah
Can our kindergartners whip out their evidence and slay their classmates with it?
Blah blah rigor blah blah proficient blah blah falling behind
Have the learned all the skills on the bullet list on their race to the top? I mean, it’s time we got serious here about education as stairmastery because otherwise the Singporeans are going to buy up all our McDonalds franchises and turn all our Wal-marts into Singaemporiums.
Blah blah rigor blah failure factories blah blah good teachers blah blah
Who cares whether those high-school kids have a clue why Steinbeck wrote Grapes of Wrath? It’s time they focused on the really important things like what method of exposition the author used in paragraph 17 of that pig iron and pork bellies production outlook for 2023.
data
data data data data data data data doo wah do
Who cares whether they have any ideas? How are their technology enhanced evidence-based constructed response question answering skills for standard CCSS.ELA.RI.666.9b?
Because life is a test, and no one gives a $&#$&*#&*!!! what you think or feel and look left, look right–those are NOT your friends. They are the COMPETITION because life is a competition and your job is to crush them in the race to the top.
Give us a great grate blah blah rigor blah if you just fire the bottom 10 percent each year blah blah the data show blah low expectations blah blah unions blah and in conclusion, Pearson, Gates,
rigor
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The beatings will continue until morale improves.
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“Hands down, we in the Counterrheeformation, have better writers.”
And better commenters, too. It’s not even close.
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cxs: stuffed into, not stuffed in; Have they learned, not have the learned
of course
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Dear Chester and Mike: I am available, any time, to produce pieces like this for the Gadfly. In fact, I have written some software to produce them automatically. That was pretty easy to do. And the software will even adjust the pieces for Lexile level so that even members of ALEC and the NGA can read them.
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Bob Shepherd:
“And the software will even adjust the pieces for Lexile level so that even members of ALEC and the NGA can read them.”
Ah, always the dreamer:
“If you don’t talk happy,
And you never have dream,
Then you’ll never have a dream come true!”
[Happy Talk, from the musical SOUTH PACIFIC]
I think this is more a truly ‘impossible dream’ [ see THE MAN OF LA MANCHA]—but I like your ‘happy talk.’
😏
One small point. Definitions are absolutely critical in the ed debates. For example, “performance” and “achievement” are psychometric [think of the designers, producers, and testers of standardized tests] terms that are NOT equivalent to “learning.”
Yet the psychometric terms are often used as synonyms for genuine learning—which cuts off debate right at the very start. That is, many simply accept the numbers generated from standardized test scores as being ‘what education is all about’ rather than engage in the more thoughtful, time-consuming and crucial exercise of asking themselves and others—
What goals and values are important to us? Can some, or any, be measured numerically? What relative importance do we attach to the various goals and values we are concerned about? Why?
When an old dead Greek guy isn’t available, a relatively new French guy will suffice:
“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”
😎
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Agreed, Krazy, of course. I misused the verb “to learn” by associating it with David Coleman’s national Powerpoint bullet list, aka “the New, Higher, More Rigorous Standards.” Abracadabra hocus pocus the testing spirits are about to speak. I should have said “demonstrate proficiency on” or some other Rheeformish numerological, uh, output data-measurement-related, phrase.
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Bob Shepherd: I have no bone to pick with you over your use of words above. So no need to worry.
😏
And the French guy I forgot to mention by name? Eugene Ionesco. My bad.
Why forgetful? Must be all the ‘distractors’ and ‘misleads’ and ‘decoys’ I’ve been seeing on this blog lately. Makes a person want to give up closet, er, close reading…
Keep commenting. I’ll keep reading.
😎
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Super funny! – Summer is almost here – that means two months of not hearing it! – data, rigor, grit – blah, blah – and the pressure cooker it creates for us.
love Steinbeck – grew up on Steinbeck – read most of it, being a CA kid, even read Travels with Charley –
what is more important for today’s students?
I vote for exploring the reason ‘Steinbeck wrote Grapes of Wrath.’
Love your rant !
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🙂
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Unfortunately, in my state, summer will mean “summer reading camps” for some third grade students who fail the reading portion of the bubbling of the bubbles.
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Great piece by Peter. After Diane’s blog, Peter’s blog is always my second stop. And, as Howard said, they’re both right on this, just looking at it from different angles. Thanks, Diane, for posting Peter’s stuff from time to time; I would have never found his blog otherwise.
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Diane: I think you’re more in agreement with Greene than you think. When he says “research doesn’t matter,” I think he means it in the way you describe: “Reformers choose whatever research fits their policies. If there is none, then they ignore research. They know what they want to do, and no research will change their minds.”
The importance of agreeing on what you mean by “what works” reminds me of an observation from the late, great Daniel Patrick Moynihan, at one time or another an assistant secretary of labor, White House counselor, U.S. Senator, and Harvard don: “The crucial phase in solving a problem is the process by which it comes to be defined.”
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From the Rheeformish lexicon:
research. Means by which one formulates research questions, cherry picks data, chooses cut scores, or otherwise selectively attends to information and/or performs numerological prestidigitation to arrive at the conclusions sought by Pearson LLC and/or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. See, for example, any report by Students First, the National Council on Teacher Quality, or the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
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What would happen if, for the next three months, any time anyone in education used the words “data” or “rigor,” his or her audience convulsed with hysterical laughter?
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Cross-posted at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/CURMUDGUCATION-What-Is-W-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Debate_Good_School_Testing-140525-586.html
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I cannot recall in my lifetime a worse tactic and war on public education. Public education should be fully funded and teachers should be left to do their jobs, instead of bashed into submission. We were tested as kids, filling in bubbles, 2x annually as I recall, and were given paper slips to take home that stated what percentile we were in academically. That, in addition to handing in homework, pop quizzes, chapter tests, essays, reports, midterms and finals. Every child is not a rocket scientist. Every child didn’t go to college – but most of us whether we did or not, were employable and got jobs.
The end does not justify the disgusting means. There should be no profit in education. Has there always been? Was there a company like Pearson in the 60s and 70s? Did it seek world domination then? Does all of this privatization/profit-making off of education come from the haves wanting more, and hedge fund companies boring holes into and creating a market?
I mean, I’ve read how we have arrived here, but I just don’t get it. Its really a scummy thing to have happened, and have done to students, teachers, families, neighborhoods. How do we make it stop? It is a bipartisan effort–one doesn’t even know how to vote anymore.
How truly sad is it that all of those billions and billions of dollars put in “now” to make a profit “later” could have been better used? I can’t imagine, if “they” have any feelings at all, how they live with themselves.
How do we stop this?
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A school is working when its culture is healthy. What’s “healthy?” When students are more important and come before power plays for positions and union contracts; when kids are engaged and excited about learning and the entire school and district is student-oriented. This goes for public, religious, and charter schools.
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