Peter Greene: A Rare Occasion When Reformers Admit Defeat

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1. Laura H. Chapman says:

   December 16, 2016 at 10:38 am

   Impression: Chesster Finn is clueless about what Phillip Jackeson called “life in school.” He seems to be incabable of thinking about education without relying on test scores.

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2. Linda says:

   December 16, 2016 at 10:54 am

   If the irony of Fordham’s “competition selling”, while, taking money from the Walton’s, whose stores operate as monopolies in many of their markets, chastened Finn, it would be a gift to America. If Fordham was humbled and took action to redress, its seeming monopolization of quotes in Ohio newspapers (all of which operate as monopolies), it would be a gift to America.
   If Finn decided that heterogeneous charter schools, operated by religious cults, profit-seekers, foreign nationalists, market monopolists, etc. undermined inculcation of the shared lofty values of our nation, it would be a gift to America.
   If Fordham took responsibility for telling Americans that their schools were worthless, which when coupled with the loss of their home equity following Wall Street’s 2008 theft and, the 30-year swindle of labor’s rewards, for their productivity improvements, all of which, led voters to Trump, it would be a gift to America.
   If Finn had insisted on honesty in describing charter schools as education contractors in the privatization of America’s most sacred common good, it would be a gift to America.
   As is, IMO, Finn’s national value is negative. He and SIEPER will probably be awarded Medals of Freedom.

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3. Robert J. Manley says:

   December 16, 2016 at 11:01 am

   Thirty years ago, Dr. Edwards Deming in his book Out of Crisis informed all who cared that systems, such as schools, could not be improved by testing. Production and social service systems could be improved by increasing the knowledge of workers, improving training, redesigning purpose, planning actions, studying outcomes and continuing to improve the entire system inputs, process and outputs. He ridiculed those who thought that testing outcomes improved systems as leaders who waste time and resources.
   Isn’t it time for reformers to examine particular schools with very poor learning outcomes and decide how to help them to continuously improve. Rich Hawkins and I wrote a book on the processes Dr. Deming stressed for continuous improvement: Making the Common Core Work: Using Professional Development to Build World Class Schools. Many educators know how to do this but the testing industry and its advocates have overwhelmed many schools and reduced them to test prep centers especially if they have few resources and many learning challenges among their students.
   We need to reduce testing and encourage school leaders and teachers to work with parents very closely to improve learning for every child in the school. As public schools engage parents and show how their child is learning, public schools will thrive again and our diverse democracy will flourish. Robert Manley

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   • KrazyTA says:

     December 16, 2016 at 12:16 pm

     Thank you for reminding readers of this blog about the work of W. Edwards Deming.

     For those interested in a “better education for all” that are not familiar with him I recommend: THE ESSENTIAL DEMING: LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES FROM THE FATHER OF QUALITY, W. EDWARDS DEMING (Joyce Orsini, ed;, 2013).

     😎

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4. Lisa B says:

   December 16, 2016 at 11:14 am

   But Checker still stays the course for standards (Common Bore) and accountability (testing) and all the other “reformy” stuff. Here’s Chester’s article.
   https://edexcellence.net/articles/the-innovation-infatuation

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5. John Ogozalek says:

   December 16, 2016 at 11:58 am

   Sitting here reading this while woofing down my lunch….just gotta say, wonderful piece of writing, Peter Greene. Informative, funny….just plain great. Made me think of Lester Bangs’ work….

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6. retired teacher says:

   December 16, 2016 at 2:01 pm

   As Greene says,”when you’re hammering on the wrong nail in the wrong spot, the obvious solution is to hammer harder.” This is what we can expect from “reform,” a reboot of the Common Core and all its ad nauseam testing.

   I would think the “true believers” would feel they are shaky ground, but I am sure they will join in on the public education wars with Trump and DeVos. Likewise, I hope supporters of public education are ready to protest and litigate. Sadly, this phase of “reform” will be morphing into a Christian right movement. The goals are still the same: annihilation of public education and access to that all important public money.

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7. Máté Wierdl says:

   December 17, 2016 at 9:25 am

   It’s an interesting, sarcastic piece. Nancy Flanagan’s comment at the end is also revealing: honest admission of failure doesn’t mean much in reformland. I think these admissions are made so that they can use them to characterize their movement as objective and honest.

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