Lip Service

The U.S. Ambassador [Karen Kornbluh] to the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation recently posted an interesting piece on HuffingtonPost.com titled "Waking up to the need for education reform."  She has some interesting things to offer, including the lessons below which I respond to:

"What the data really show is that we can no longer pretend that we're doing just fine but also that it's far from hopeless. The report on lessons for the US that the OECD prepared at Secretary Duncan's request boils down to four lessons -- the four A's:

Ambition. The world's top performing education systems have clear, ambitious goals, and universally high standards. They match these high expectations with strong support systems, ensuring that quality learning opportunities are available to all students.

All. Commitment to educating every child. PISA researchers found that the best education systems share a belief that "competencies can be learned, and therefore all children can achieve." Shanghai transfers its best teachers to its weakest schools to make sure that disadvantaged students receive excellent instruction.

Access to good teachers. Leading education systems provide mentoring and a high level of professional development, lay out clear career pathways, and are transparent in their decisions. They treat teachers like information-age workers: providing opportunities for teachers to try new ideas and learn from their colleagues. They are careful to win support from teachers for reforms.

Autonomy, accountability and incentives at the school level. High performing education systems give individual schools -- not just states or school districts -- discretion, which they safeguard through effective accountability systems."

Kornbluh's list of the four "A's" is an excellent summary of what schools should be striving for. I hope she can encourage Arne Duncan to propose reforms that actually aim to achieve these goals as stated and not a corrupt version of these ideals.  From reading this article, I would be inclined to think that Kornbluh and the administration "get it".  Unfortunately, their actions show otherwise:

Ambition:  Standards just provide the framework for education.  The truth of the matter is that many of the standards and the tests that assess them stress fact learning and not transferrable skills.  Truly ambitious standards can only be assessed in a manner that transcends bubbling in answers.  Is the administration willing to think outside the bubble?  I have not seen any signs of that yet.

All: Public education should be universally available.  We all know that our culture does not operate in this manner.  Socialism is a bad word, regardless of the context.  The current administration has only perpetuated the model of haves and have-nots by supporting unsustainable charter school models (SEED has $35,000/pupil spending) that provide a private school-type education to a few students in poor neighborhoods.  Millions upon millions are left behind by this model.  That is not education for all.

Access: Firstly, the administration is not winning the support of teachers.  They are backing the voices that are leading the teacher-bashing and union-busting wave that is devastating public education throughout the country.  Teacher development and mentoring require time and money.  The administration has shown a greater commitment to preserving corporate tax breaks and military funding than to making any significant advancement in this area.

Autonomy and Accountability:  Can I quote you on this one?  Do you really think any reformed version of NCLB will give teachers local autonomy?  Do you really think high stakes testing and merit pay will give teachers autonomy? 

Lip service. 

Let's walk the walk, and reclaim public education!

Don’t Show Me the Money, Show Me Respect

President Obama recently spoke about the need to fix NCLB.  His solution is to keep the goals of the legislation in place but to provide the support schools need to meet these goals.  The thing is, the government’s contribution to education is a pittance, so what his declaration amounted to was a token request or plea for governors to not cut education spending.

That is great, but after a month of Obama standing by idle while Scott Walker ripped apart the support system for teachers in Wisconsin, this seems more like passing the buck than leading the effort for education reform.

Obama did say some good things, or maybe not, because it all seemed pretty ambiguous or just downright confusing.  Take this for example:

“So what we’re doing is we’re saying to states, prove you’re serious about reform, and we’ll show you the money. And because it’s a competition for less than one percent of what our country spends on education each year, Race to the Top has led over 40 states to raise their standards for teaching, learning, and student achievement…”

Show me the money, baby, all “less than one percent” of it!  This money thing is starting to confuse me, not to mention that it seems to me states are rushing through changes to meet the requirements of the competition without actually enacting meaningful education reform.  It has become about the money, not the reform.

I am glad to hear that Obama is calling the 80% failure rate of public schools a relic of the measurement system set forth in NCLB, but then he turns around and says this:

“That way of measuring success and failure, that’s the first problem with No Child Left Behind that we need to fix.  Instead of labeling schools a failure one day and then throwing up our hands and walking away from them, we need to refocus on the schools that need the most help. “

Wait a second, I thought the schools that got the most help were the ones that could meet the criteria of Race to the Top?  Here we go again…

Now, I really like how he said we need to change the way we measure and assess student progress, not more testing but better testing.

“Now, that doesn’t mean testing is going to go away; there will be testing.  But the point is, is that we need to refine how we’re assessing progress so that we can have accountability without rigidity -- accountability that still encourages creativity inside the classroom, and empowers teachers and students and administrators.”

Hmmm… assessing progress to have accountability without rigidity?  So, like making a teacher’s pay connected to a student’s performance on a test?  I am again confused.  The President is a champion of assessment based merit pay and yet he wants me to be creative in the classroom?  I think I already explained in an earlier post why those things just don’t jive.

There is an interesting change in tone here from Obama’s State of the Union address.  There is some nuance.  Unfortunately, whenever Obama starts to use nuance it tends to confuse people, like me.  It shows he really does understand the issues (hopefull), he just can’t quite do anything about it. 

I am getting a mixed message here, but perhaps a mixed message is better than an outright bad one:

I am hearing Obama say states need to support teachers and education and yet he stands by idle as Republican governors gut education and teacher rights.  I am hearing Obama preach creativity and yet he promotes a high stakes environment that forces teachers to walk a fine line.  I am hearing Obama promise that there will not be more testing, and yet testing still reigns supreme.  I am hearing Obama wanting to reward teachers with support and funding and yet all he can produce is a toothless request of unsupportive governors.

I don’t want you to show me the money, Mr. President, I want you to show me respect.  Show me respect by trusting me to develop my own systems of accountability, show me respect by allowing me to work in a truly flexible and creative environment, show me respect by believing that I know what is right for my students.  I don’t need more money to do my job better, I need more respect and space to reach my full potential as a teacher.

So don’t show me the money you don’t have, show me you really want to reclaim public education!