John Kuhn is superintendent of the Perrin-Whitt school district in Texas. He first emerged as a national figure in the fight for better education for all children when he spoke at the national Save Our Schools march in 2011 and gave a rousing speech.
Education reformers have worked tirelessly for years to advance their preferred education policy ideas using a panoply of tactics, with mixed results.
As an example, reformers have steeped future big-city superintendents in #edreformthink through the (*cough-unaccredited-cough*) Broad Academy and then deployed them to try out their ideas in the real-life laboratory of various unlucky school districts. (Update: a refreshingly large number of these superintendents have gone on to transform urban education upend large school systems with no tangible positive results before being run out of town on a rail.)
Another effort aimed at advancing pro-reform policy has been the embedding of Teach for America alumni in congressional offices as staffers. Then again, there is the tried-and-true tactic of having a corporation-funded organization coordinate the development and introduction of model ed reform legislation nationwide. Or, if you’re a fan of the straightforward approach, you will appreciate efforts to just expend a ton of money to force the implementation of anointed ideas, ala Gates and Zuckerberg.
Back in the early years of the Education Wars (when Diane Ravitch was on Twitter and her blog didn’t exist yet) it became apparent that reformers—despite enjoying the generous fiscal backing of wealthy individuals and organizations and the political backing of influential officeholders from both parties—were losing the public relations battle, particularly on social media. Scrappy teacher-bloggers and Twitter-ers were running them ragged with asymmetrical PR warfare, and they knew it. So began in earnest the development of a Marvel Universe of pro-reform social media personalities and collectives.
In this short article, I will highlight a few of these actors—this is a back-of-an-envelope map of one corner of the reform echo chamber, if you will—and I will let you know what they’ve been up to this week. I will also let you know where each of these voices stands on a recent high-profile story, the infamous Success Academy video.
THE 74
Apparently named for the average IQ of its contributors (just kidding guys; I’m sure you’re all Ivy League), the 74 is the brainchild of Campbell Brown and hosts pro-reform Twitterfolk like Dmitri Mehlhorn and Chris Stewart. The 74 mixes pro-reform op-eds with a dab of more newsy education pieces (like one about a campaign to prevent student suicide, for example), apparently in an attempt to come across as neutral-ish. This is window-dressing, of course, as demonstrated by the fact that the top four articles on the page as of this writing are: Nevada parents hoping vouchers survive a court challenge; Chris Stewart trumpeting a slew of news stories about non-Success-Academy teachers being mean to students; a pretty balanced story on the effect of good teachers on students’ happiness; and a story about Trump University that spends one paragraph rapping the scourge of for-profit college scams before getting to “the real story” by indulging in a ten-paragraph call for the next President to “hold all colleges accountable.”
Position on the SA video: “but other schools do it too” and “stop hating”.
EDUCATION POST
Another slick effort to appear neutral and above the fray by offering a “better conversation” (for discriminating education connoisseurs, one would imagine), Education Post actually peddles orthodox ed reform ideas and is, per Mercedes Schneider, funded by Broad, Walton, and Bloomberg—not exactly the Triumvirate of Educational Neutrality. Contributors include Chris Stewart (again!), Eric Lerum, and Chris Barbic. Top articles today are one about a teacher acknowledging her own biases, one arguing that what TFA haters really hate are charter schools, one telling teachers to stop using lack of parent involvement as an excuse not to teach kids well, and a thoughtful article about the tensions of being in the education politics fight and having to choose where to send your own kids to school.
Position on the SA video: the video’s a bummer, but Success Academy is a target because it is so much better and everyone is jealous
EDUCATION NEXT and EDEXCELLENCE.NET
These are Fordham Institute/Michael Petrilli/Chester Finn vehicles. Instead of pretending to publish objective journalism ala The 74 and Education Post, these sites pretend to publish objective research. The duo are a vehicle for motivated scholarship, of the faux variety. Like the above online journals, they are really just political devices.
Top stories today at Education Next are: a story about how family background influences achievement and what schools can do about it, a story about how schools of choice expand opportunity for urban students, an article contending that teacher quality is the most important in-school factor, a paean to the Common Core arguing that it forced states that rejected CCSS to adopt tougher standards, a story on desegregation and a story about academic competitions. This carousel of stories—most of them related to the 50th anniversary of James Coleman’s report “Equality of Educational Opportunity” in an apparent effort to re-cast his report as a validation of reform orthodoxies rather than a call for equity—is followed by a reformer response to film critic David Denby’s New Yorker article calling out reformers for bashing teachers. Then comes an article by Petrilli arguing that NCLB spawned a bunch of smarter school policies. (Thanks, NCLB!) Oh, then there’s a call to end required union contributions.
Position on the SA video: conspicuously hard to find. A search of the site reveals the last mention of “Eva Moskowitz” to be in 2014, when the site chirped, “Talk about a ‘Tough Liberal!” and said charters like hers shouldn’t be criticized for lacking diversity. A search for “Success Academy” finally takes us to a 2/15/2016 post that summarizes a Vox.com article by Libby Nelson (with the telling quote “The video is undeniably upsetting. But…”) and then goes on to point to Education Post’s limp defense of poor wittle Success Academy.
THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION
Alexander Russo’s blog also pretends to be above the fray but really isn’t. However, unlike the others, Russo does directly criticize reformers on a fairly regular basis, probably because he fancies himself a gadfly with an independent streak. In reality, his pro-reform bias is evident to me, and maybe also to the casual reader. Where The 74 and Education Post dab on the makeup of objective reporting, Russo slathers it. He does a good enough job of posting too-numerous-to-count news pieces and fun/thought-provoking pieces that it effectively softens the blow of his bias and almost camouflages his running campaign to provide journalistic cover for the Broads and Waltons of the world. One blogger put it succinctly in saying that Russo “works the refs” for reform. He’s the guy in the bleachers who reliably highlights bad calls that go against his team and often ignores bad calls against the other team, unless they’re so painfully obvious that he feels he has to grudgingly acknowledge them. But at least he tells funny stories between being a total homer.
Top stories today are a video of Obama with Civil Rights leaders, a story on Detroit teachers trying to bring attention to their schools, a collection of news articles on various issues including how school safety issues are tracked and Common Core exam glitches. Where Russo shines as a reform ally is in his careful selection of others’ opinions that he broadcasts. The first quote one comes to today is from The 74, where Matt Barnum tries valiantly to jack the mojo of David Denby (the New Yorker film critic referred to above, who had the audacity to critique public school critics in his article called Stop Humiliating Teachers) by contending that what Denby wants is really the same thing as what the reformers want. (Really, Matt? Read the article again.) Russo earns a few objectivity points for the hilarious note from a CPS parent that says his sick daughter is feeling better and “eager to get back to school in hopes of achieving a high score on…Standardized Tests…given this year to insure that Private Corporations continue to receive huge and profitable contracts…” Russo has a soft spot for snark.
Position on the SA video: straddles the fence—SA didn’t respond well to the reporting and NYT didn’t report thoughtfully. Russo shared the video and followed up with SA’s response video and, later, a GIF of the original video.
DROPOUT NATION
RiShawn is a trench fighter for reform. Where Russo has snark, Biddle has meanness, and he has criticized people he calls “traditionalists” pretty relentlessly. If you think about the unending terrible treatment of poor American children of color, meanness is probably a proper response, though I almost always disagree with Biddle’s prescriptions for fixing the problem. I think it comes down to this: I believe we should force ourselves to fulfill the constitutional promises that we will provide a quality public education for all American children, and Biddle appears to believe that we never will fulfill that promise because we are helplessly racist, so we might as well give up on it and find salvation for poor city kids in school choice. It’s an honest disagreement—I personally think what Biddle and other reformers advocate is akin to the biblical tale of Esau trading his birthright for a bowl of soup. In this case, the birthright is the promise that the US and state governments will by constitutional obligation–prosecutable in court—ensure that all children are adequately educated; the bowl of soup is we can trust that chains of charters started by white-collar guys who want to make money will fill the void and educate everybody better than the government has or will.
It wouldn’t do me any good to argue with RiShawn because he’s as convinced that public schools are hopeless for minority children as I am convinced that charter schools are designed from the outset to keep most of those kids out. To use Michael Petrilli’s eternally useful phrase, they are meant to help the “strivers”. Of course, that leaves the non-strivers somewhere. Probably concentrated in whatever remains of the public school system.
Look, I understand “educate all children” is idealistic, and I understand that we are a nation that has never gotten past racial prejudice. I also understand that giving up the hill here—abandoning the notion that “educating all children” is what we SHOULD BE ABOUT and COULD BE ABOUT IF WE HAD THE COURAGE TO DO SO—giving up that fight ensures that we will never come back to the audacious promise of public education as the protector and perfecter of a diverse democracy. We will settle for less. Exponentially less. Bowl of soup instead of birthright less. We will settle for Taco Bell as a schooling model, we will give up courts for choice, and it won’t be any better—it will be the same or worse, but the upside of it—the maximum best it could ever be—won’t even PRETEND to be that it offers a quality education for ALL kids. We will forever abandon the notion that that was even ever possible in the United States of America, and that to me is intolerably depressing. The open arms concept of free and equal education for all will be lost to the archives and we will be stuck with a few lifeboat schools and a bunch of bobbing heads in the water.
But today I agree with RiShawn Biddle, because he has broken with Peter Cunningham from Education Post and Campbell Brown from The 74, in that he won’t countenance the notion that Success Academy merits a defense. In fact, his lead articles today are “Success Academy Merits No Defense” and “No Excuses for Moskowitz”. Biddle’s condemnation of Success Academy practices like the one captured in the video have resulted in harsh name-calling and criticism from fellow reformers like Michael Petrilli. And Biddle didn’t come late to the party. He wrote “The Hole Eva Moskowitz Keeps Digging” long before the video emerged, after John Merrow’s piece on disciplinary practices at SA emerged months ago.
I’m not naïve enough to think that RiShawn Biddle and I agree on much besides the fact that SA is wrong when it comes to its disciplinary treatment of children. Our views on equitable school funding are probably aligned, and maybe some other tangential issues too. But when it comes to the speculative promise of school choice versus the literal promise of school constitutional guarantees, there is a stark difference in where we two find hope for the nation’s future. Nevertheless, I have to pause and recognize that among all the reformers, Biddle is apparently the only one brave enough to call out what Success Academy and its defenders are doing wrong. How can we expect Success Academy to change its ways when its defenders rush forth with enabling op-eds? Where other reformers are scrambling to defend a model, Biddle is stepping up to defend children. If Eva Moskowitz is Ethan Couch, then Campbell Brown and Peter Cunningham are his mother taking him to Mexico to avoid punishment. I’m glad RiShawn Biddle is clearly saying this isn’t okay.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This weekend United Opt Out held a conference in Philadelphia where I moderated a panel on Media and Messaging to discuss, among other things, just that issue.
My short remarks:
*** Marshall McLuhan tells us that the medium IS the message and that every medium influences how any message is perceived. McLuhan wrote the following during the era of film, TV, Radio, and Print way before social media was a dream…. or nightmare ….depending on who uses it better.
“The world is now like a continually sounding tribal drum where everybody gets the message all of the time.”
“A princess gets married in England and boom, boom, boom go the drums. We all hear about it. An earthquake in North Africa, a Hollywood star gets drunk—away go the drums again.”
While we try to persuade the public differently, the drums constantly pound, much to our chagrin, as reformers have stolen our language of education and successfully use OUR vocabulary for THEIR own purposes.
For example:
REFORM:
Customarily, when Local educators and communities make changes in local education in order to improve student learning.
Reform Usage: Lobbyists support National or State Education policy to theoretically save American Education… but in reality these policies provides for profits for a few. BOOM!
REVITALIZING SCHOOLS:
Customarily, when schools and their communities make improvements to their schools as they see fit to benefit their students
Reform Usage: Districts close public schools and reopen them as profitable charters. BOOM!
ASSESSMENTS AND TESTS:
Customarily, teachers use “authentic assessments” to evaluate whether students know, understand, can do, and communicate what they learned while teachers provide immediate feedback with means to improve work.
Reform Usage: Administrators collect non authentic standardized test data and use it to evaluate teachers, close public schools, then open charters for profit. BOOM!
STANDARDS:
Customarily a level of quality or attainment in what students are expected to know and be able to do at specific stages of their K-12 education…
often accompanied by educator written, flexible syllabi, and sample, not mandated, lessons.
Reform Usage: Flawed COMMON CORE curricula and prescribed lessons not written by teachers is forced on school districts to supplement standardized testing evaluations. BOOM!
COLLEGE AND CAREER READY:
Customarily, when students have acquired the various hard and soft skills, and traits, not merely content knowledge, to be able to adjust to and succeed at life after High School
Reform Usage: As in NYS: Students must graduate with at least scores of 75 and 80 on HS Regents English and Algebra Exams PLUS scores on grades 3-8 tests that are the equivalent to an SAT score of 1630, 80 points higher than the College Board’s own college readiness score.
Any School that cannot produce enough of these students is a failing school and must be closed and replaced by a profitable charter. BOOM!
COMMON:
Customarily relating to a community.
Reform Usage: “Common” public schools characterized by a “lack of privilege or special status” in need of reform that must be closed and replaced by charters. BOOM!
CORE:
Customarily a basic, essential part…
For the purposes of describing it reformy use… the inedible central part of some fruits. I leave the conclusions to you. BOOM!
In this teacher’s humble opinion:
We must regain control of the narrative and OUR language.
We must be clearer in, not just our OBjections, but in our SUGGestions.
We know what works.
We know good teaching and teacher preparation.
We know what kinds of school environments work best for students and teachers.
We know our most powerful audiences – the people – and must be sure we speak to them, RATHER THAN PREACHING TO THE CHOIR, using clear, concise, and precise language.
In short, we must use every medium to inspire more parents, more teachers, and more students to rise up against the abuses of our education system by those claiming to reform it and create more positive public actions like OPT OUT and whatever else it takes.
Let’s keep banging our drums.
To help us understand more about this issue…
Here are our panelists:
Jonathan Pelto
Ruth Conniff
Fran Huckaby.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s laughable that they’re even concerned about an opposition.
They own all of the federal government – completely and utterly captured- and the vast majority of state governments. If all you read and listen to is television and most national newspapers, you would not be aware that ANYONE disagreed with this version of ed reform.
Listen to any of the Presidential candidates. Those candidates who mention public schools at all essentially recite the overwhelmingly prevalent ed reform line, complete with whole phrases and the same words.
This lock-step agreement is actually a point of pride in ed reform- they brag that Democrats and Republicans are identical on all the main bullet points, and that is true! This bipartisan, lemming-like agreement is promoted as further “proof” (as if any was needed!) that “market based ed reform” is the one and only right way to go.
They all sound exactly the same, from President Obama to John Kasich to Chris Christie to Michelle Rhee to Campbell Brown to any of the nonprofits or lobbying groups. Their “big debates” amount to process arguments on how quickly to put the same agenda in and which branch of government should do it.
LikeLike
Fascists reject opposition and will try to silence opposing views. They create a parallel reality full of fake research from like minded foundations and phony “scholars.” If you want to control the proletariat, control social media. Campbell Brown is the perfect shill for the job.
LikeLike
You have represented her perfectly. She reminds of those so many pretty, dominant-culture and often young women hired to tell me on television and through the radio that –because somehow they know this to be true, and we are silly if we just don’t believe them — fracking is safe. The production of an oil/gas-based energy must continue!
LikeLike
BTW, ed reform “rock star” Chris Christie turned out to be a self-interested, vindictive bully, just like public school teachers said he was from the time he arrived.
“Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard who had an official role with Gov. Chris Christie’s now-suspended presidential campaign, called his endorsement of Trump, “an astonishing display of political opportunism.”
Yup. But political opportunism pretty much describes his whole career, for anyone who has eyes and ears. A governor who gets elected based on beating up on public employees who have much less power than he does is probably NOT a person of good character and good intentions, no matter how many public schools he closes or unions he busts.
LikeLike
Thank you, John, for this excellent analysis of how the monied interests keep trying to wrest control of the coversation. I have one caveat, though.
Ethan Crouch, despite the term “affluenza” being attached to him, really is a child whose parents neglected him to the point of abuse. The comparison with Evita fails; she is just an evil grownup trying to raise her profile, not a victim.
“When Fred and Tonya divorced, in 2006, the court ordered psychological evaluations of them and Ethan. A social worker was assigned to interview Fred and Tonya separately and to talk to Ethan at both homes. The subsequent report runs nine pages.
Fred told the social worker that their marriage had been a ‘mistake from the start.’He said that Tonya had a pill addiction and that she’d given Vicodin to Ethan more than once. He said that she’d threatened to commit suicide and that she referred to 9-year-old Ethan as her ‘protector.’ At the time, Ethan slept most nights in a separate bed his mother moved into her bedroom.
The social worker also described Ethan as ‘polite’ and ‘patient.’ Ethan told the social worker that his favorite subjects in school were math and PE. He said he liked school and maintained good grades, despite being absent 50 days during his kindergarten year and more than 40 days of his second-grade year. Little Ethan loved his parents and wanted to see his dad more, but said that he ‘wants to feel secure.’ He said his parents yelled at each other a lot, and he wished they ‘wouldn’t put him in the middle.’ ”
http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2015/may/affluenza-the-worst-parents-ever-ethan-couch?single=1
LikeLike
Here in Dallas, we had a little blog that took off as it exposed our Broad-imposed nightmare named Mike Miles.
He lasted 3 years because the public, via the internet, was finally able to learn about every single failure– every 6-figure+ salary he doled out to other bureaucrats, every effective principal who quit in disgust, every plummeting test score, and every lie that was told. The blog also exposed presence of the ex-Goldman Sachs 1%er who assumed the role of the Dallas mayor’s “education advisor.”
Fast-forward to the NYT’s coverage of Eva and the teacher who tore up a 1st graders work–over 1,000 people commented and most were angry. Then, Eva lost her preK showdown.
The public is informed and the tide is turning, but we must keep it up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Cupcake, for the reference to the power of social media. Blog’s inform the public about issues that the mainstream media ignore. Mike Miles flooded the top ranks of Dallas with TFA, including the director of HR
LikeLike
“THE 74: Apparently named for the average IQ of its contributors (just kidding guys; I’m sure you’re all Ivy League)”
The so-called IQ of corporate public education demolition reformers might not be 74 but their SI is zero.
Social Intelligence (SI) is the ablity to get along well with others, and to get them to cooperate with you—not forcing others to do what you want through fear, bribes, cherry picking facts, lies, fraud and misinformation.
What is Social Intelligence? Why Does It Matter?
Social intelligence (SI) is mostly learned. SI develops from experience with people and learning from success and failures in social settings. It is more commonly referred to as “tact,” “common sense,” or “street smarts.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201407/what-is-social-intelligence-why-does-it-matter
LikeLike
The top three stories on The 74 right now are about charter schools.
John King and charter schools, charter schools group expose abusive teachers in public schools, and charter schools start lobbying to expand in WA state.
Yes sir, this a very broad and lively “debate” they’re having in DC and elite policy circles. Outside of testing, it doesn’t include public schools at all. It’s as if public schools are already gone. Our schools re-appear briefly during “testing season” and then it’s back to all charters. all the time.
I’m baffled why I’m paying the ed reformers who are in government. . Can’t Bill Gates or Eli Broad pay them? Obviously they have little or no interest in existing public schools.
https://www.the74million.org/
LikeLike
Spin control at the Gates Foundation is a big deal, and they have several projects that are designed to analyze, shape, and expand surveillance of a “portfolio” of media platforms used by teachers. (Parentetical comments are mine, of course).
This job opening at the Gates Foundation was posted online in January, 2016.
The Influencer Strategy Manager is responsible for managing a network of teachers per the needs of our client, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (Just what teachers need, management to fit the needs of the Gates Foundation)
This person will be in an influencer engagement role, working closely with these teachers to source and create relevant, authentic content for a set of social media streams. You’ll not only be managing an active group of teacher influencers, you’ll be discovering new influencers and reporting on the group’s activities. (Teachers!. You can become and INFLUENCER by providing “relevant, authentic content” to a mega-billionaire’s portfolio of social media platforms).
Overall Responsibilities Include:
Work with Senior Director, Digital Strategy to set key goals and identify potential partnership opportunities with educational influencers.
Assertive identification, outreach, confirmation, and logistics management of a large group of influencers in a targeted and seamless manner that maps directly to an editorial calendar and social insights. (Re that “editorial calendar,” and “social insights,” Lynn Olson, once a senior editor with EdWeek is now employed at the Gates Foundation, replacing Vicki Phillips the master promoter of the Common Core among other initiatives).
Collaborate with the Social Media Manager and client to manage lines of communication with influencers. I have not yet discovered who has the job of “social media manager.”
Structure and manage database of all influencer individuals and organizations.
Proactively identify opportunities for influencer involvement in various content, activities and events to maximize and execute against the project’s mission and vision. (The unspoken aim seems to be this: Seduce teachers into Gates-sponsored activities and events, amke the Foundation look good, engaged with teachers).
Manage delivery of influencer content to the senior editor.
Work closely with the Social Media Manager to pair content with trending topics, follow active users and stay up-to-date on events happening via social, i.e., Twitter chats, Slack chats, Facebook groups, etc.
Requirements: Bachelor’s degree and 2-3 years of relevant experience (experience with education and/or lifestyle publications a plus). Experience building and managing a network of brand ambassadors or influencers etc. More detail at
http://www.newjobvacancies.org/advertising-marketing-jobs/influencer-strategy-manager-for-gates-foundation-project-mind-over-media-culver-city-ca/
The Gates Foundation website has other job openings.
This one is for Communications Officer, Media and External Relations
The purpose of the Communications function is to ‘build and protect the reputation of the foundation.’ (The Gates Foundation functions as a brand and the brand is threatened by criticism).
Our vision is to create more and better advocates to inspire action on our missions and program goals. (The Gates Foundation has a marketing problem).
We seek to achieve this by proactively managing the reputation of the foundation; leading the development of cross cutting thematic campaigns that help advance our advocacy goals… etc.
” The Communications Officer will be responsible for proactive media relationship building, story placement, opportunity tracking, issues management, and management of media for foundation leadership trips and events.
S/he will act as a thought partner to government relations leads, the program-specific communications team, and other relevant partners around the foundation on communications strategy and approach.
Support communications strategy development and execution, with a focus on proactive media engagement relating to the foundation’s top strategic priorities, the creation of communications plans and key message development….
Lead proactive responses to breaking news as appropriate, ensuring we inject foundation voice into conversations with relevance to the foundation’s priorities.
Ensure all issues with implications for the foundation are closely tracked, and that we respond to issues as required.
Work with budget owners and agency partners to develop and maintain agency contracts in support of our media relations strategy and engagement. Facilitate strong relationships with key agency partners.
More detail at
http://careers.gatesfoundation.org/job/Seattle-Communications-Officer%2C-Media-and-External-Relations-Job-WA-98101/325879600/-
I think these job openings show the PR power mustered by the Gates Foundation in every activity it undertakes, no matter how poorly conceived, no matter the collateral damage, no matter how relentless the pursuit of programs to “scale up” and defend even when they are really shoddy (research, tech fixes), intimidating surveillance and ranting systems (the “data-quality” campaign and endless stack rating systems).
These jobs for US Advocacy, as well as the Gates Foundation’s grants data-base, clearly show how the Foundation has bought off civil rights groups and uses “civil rights/equity” issues to promote programs that actually retain or increase social inequities, strengthen the insularity of racial/ethnic groups, and foist grand experiments on “other people’s children.”
Note also how these jobs implicate a lobbying function–a huge array of contracts with PR firms and coordination with an in-house government relations team. These jobs are a drop in the bucket of job rotations between programs officers, staff, and fellows at the Foundation and the US Department of Education.
If you are working and lurking in the Gates Foundation’s surveillance operations, a lot of us “little people” out here are beyond the reach of that system and your PR apparatus.
LikeLike
Thank you for the insight into the insidious mind of Bill Gates. Instead of “influencer,” most teachers would call this position “brainwasher,” or better yet, traitor.
LikeLike
“Requirements: Bachelor’s degree and 2-3 years of relevant experience (experience with
education and/or lifestyle publicationsreform presstitution a plus). ”Fixed.
LikeLike
jdhollowell,
I could not have said it better. This blog is the epitome of negativity. But what do I know, I get either attacked or censored here for my viewpoints.
LikeLike
Let me call you on your bullshit.
Give us just one unique and original idea developed through the charter experience that the industry can export to the public schools. An idea that has not been discovered by traditional educators and is scalable for the nearly 100,000 public schools and their 50 million students. An idea that really works with ALL children, not just the kids you cherry pick; one that will work for even those you reject or cull out. The notion that all you charter folks have suddenly re-invented a better way to teach all children is a running joke for those of us in the trenches.
Now I’m fully expecting you to disregard this challenge because I have offended your sensitivities, but strap on your thick skin for minute and bring it on!
LikeLike
Thanks for your response (and challenge) Diane.
I would propose that you have it wrong in this way. There is no one response to fix all education. There is such diversity in the human brain, mind, and soul that no one idea is going to fix it all.
That is the beauty of school choice. Let different schools that define their mission in different terms be presented for students and parents to choose from. It’s that simple.
Think about this for a minute if you will. Look at the research for a cure for cancer. There is no one cure for cancer because it strikes in such a variety of ways on such a variety of physiological systems each with a different genetic makeup. Each person responds to a certain type of therapy in a different way.
Yet – only a person who has done no reading over the past 50 years would think we have made no progress on the cure for cancer. As we learn what type of treatment programs work for certain types of physiological and genetic makeup, survival rates are much longer and remission rates are much higher. Prognoses that were previously death sentences in the past are now met with 12-18 months of a treatment program followed by resumption of a “normal life”.
Each therapy is different and some work better on one person than another.
Would we say that cancer has been cured? Absolutely not? Would we say we have made progress? Undoubtedly.
In the same way, there is no one cure that fits all for the growth and formation of the human intellect. There is no one cure that fits all that will fix education for the 50,000,000 or so students in our schools. But a review of the research shows that there are many students who are thriving in a multitude of styles of teaching and learning in charter schools today along with the many excellent traditional public schools available. It seems small-minded of a scholar such as yourself to ignore the progress – imperfect as it is.
Have charters cured education? Absolutely not. Has progress been made? Undoubtedly.
LikeLike
JDH,
I am sorry you haven’t been following the blog longer. School choice does not improve education. It increases segregation by race, religion, and class. Every high-performing nation in the world has a strong, well-resourced public school system, with little or no school choice.
LikeLike
I do not have to follow this blog to keep up with research on the effectiveness of charter schools. I am a doctoral student at Creighton University and come across peer-reviewed reports of research all the time that demonstrate the effectiveness of charter schools. There are also plenty of reports that show no progress being made in others. Like cancer research, there are lots of dead-end therapies that we have tried.
Instead of running an echo chamber (if you weren’t why would you block my comments), you should join those who are are trying to have an objective conversation about what works for students and teachers.
Given your roots as an exceptional scholar, I do not understand why you should be afraid of the truth.
LikeLike
JDH,
The fact that you are here along with other charter advocates proves that you were not blocked. If you insult me, however, you will be blocked. You are on my blog, in my virtual living room, you don’t stay if you insult me or use foul language. Period. Yes, I have written many books. Yes, I supported charters in the 1990s and early 2000s. Yes, I testified for charters to the New York legislature in 1998 on behalf of a conservative think tank. The bill passed. But as I wrote in my last two books, I was wrong. Education is improved by collaboration, not competition. Too many charters are failures when judged by test scores (what you call “effective”). Too many get those high scores by excluding children with disabilities and ELLs. Too many are run by fast-buck entrepreneurs and frauds. Too many are abusive towards children. Too many use political connections to evade accountability.
I oppose privatization of public education.
LikeLike
You seem to imply that I have insulted you and used foul language. I am certain that I have not used foul language and I apologize if something I have said insulted you. I am trying to engage in courteous, thoughtful, and objective discourse.
Your seemingly carte blanche dismissal of all charters seems to me to be throwing out the baby with the bath water.
LikeLike
JDH,
Since you are new to the blog, I wanted to inform you of the house rules.
I will reiterate: charters take public money without accountability. If charters served the children who can’t make it in public school, if they were innovative and collaborated, I would see a role for them. Skimming the easiest to educate kids is not innovative.
LikeLike
Please let me give you one( of many) examples of what i am talking about. An oft-cited comprehensive literature review and analysis of charter school student achievement by Betts and Tang (2008) points to the mixed nature of the results as possibly emanating from the multiple ways that students enter charter schools such as self-selection, lotteries, and parental withdrawal from the local public school because of habitual underperformance of the student. Pointing to a possible source of much of the conflicting data coming from charter school research, Betts and Tang rejected many charter studies for their meta-analysis because they often did not “take into account the relatively disadvantaged backgrounds of students who attend charter schools” (p.3). Therefore, they caution, many studies on students in charter schools may not be representative of the charter school’s impact on academic achievement. As the number of charter schools continues to expand and as more traditional public schools close as a result of lost enrollment to competing charter schools, the debate will likely rage on regarding the effectiveness of these schools. However, for now, many students and families are voting with their feet as this popular form of schooling expands throughout the country.
Betts, J. R., & Tang, Y. E. (2008). Value-added and experimental studies of the effect of charter schools on student achievement: A literature review (Rep.). Seattle, WA: National Charter School Research Project.
The National Charter School Research Project brings rigor, evidence, and balance to the national charter school debate. Look at the report and those who were on the advisory board regarding the selection of methodology:
Scholars from Stanford, Columbia, UC San Diego, USC, Fordham Foundation, U.S. Dept of Ed are among those who participated.
LikeLike
I think you are totally unaware of the original purpose of charter schools. Educate yourself. Click on the link and read all about it.
“The original vision for charter schools came from Albert Shanker, the president of the American Federation of Teachers.
“In a 1988 address, Mr. Shanker outlined an idea for a new kind of public school where teachers could experiment with fresh and innovative ways of reaching students. Mr. Shanker estimated that only one-fifth of American students were well served by traditional classrooms. In charter schools, teachers would be given the opportunity to draw upon their expertise to create high-performing educational laboratories from which the traditional public schools could learn. …
“Conservatives were unenthusiastic. Responding to Mr. Shanker’s 1988 speech, William Kristol, chief of staff to William J. Bennett, secretary of education in the Reagan administration, said that while the department “didn’t have problems” with the proposal, “we think there is lots of evidence that traditional methods are working.”
“Over time, however, charter schools morphed into a very different animal as conservatives, allied with some social-justice-minded liberals, began to promote charters as part of a more open marketplace from which families could choose schools. Others saw in charter schools the chance to empower management and circumvent teachers unions.”
The missing element in the corporate for-profit assault on community based, democratic, transparent, public education is the fact that the original intent for charter schools was to put the teachers in charge just like Finland did for its public education system that has a strong teachers’ union—99% of the school in Finland are public schools and the 1% that are private are not opaque. They must follow the same ed code and be transparent just like Finland’s public schools and that explains why, in Finland, only 1% of the schools are private. Once the public schools are fairly and properly funded and professional, college educated teachers are put in charge of what is taught and how to teach it, the majority of the challenges that the schools faced will be solved.
The corporate agenda—based on avarice—is not built on the original concept for charter schools. It is built on high states tests (that corporations profit from), ranking and punishment—and teachers are not allowed to be part of the process. Teaching as a profession is being systematically dismantled and destroyed so technology, through software and the internet (that against profits corporations)—will take over teaching our children while the children of the rich and powerful will attend private schools with small classrooms where flesh and blood teachers are allowed to freedom to teach without high stakes tests that rank and punish the rest of the teachers, schools and children from 99% of the general population.
If publicly funded, private sector corporate charters schools were honest and doing a better job than the public schools, why are so many of them opaque and secretive in how they teach our children and how they spend our money? The only reason for this is because they are frauds and crooks and they know it.
LikeLike