It seemed to me as mentioned in an earlier post that the candidates appearances before the delegates to the NAACP would offer critical insights for educators and the public on how each views public education. If you care at all about the future of public education and you have a little time both speeches are worth viewing. I read the press interpretations as well as the blogosphere reaction and found it far more insightful to see the entire speech. Keep reading →

Sam Dillon of the New York Times wrote a piece this morning about soon to be new president of the AFT ( American Federation Of Teachers), Randi Weingarten - “New Vision for Schools Proposes Broad Role”. She will be elected next Monday since she is running unopposed. Dennis Van Roekel, current vice-president, was recently elected to succeed Reg Weaver as the president of the NEA (National Education Association). According to Dillon (who received a copy of Weingarten’s upcoming acceptance speech in advance), she, too, will call for a complete makeover of NCLB. Keep reading →

Last weekend the National Education Association gave its endorsement to Barak Obama. The candidate accepted the endorsement remotely through a live hook-up. From what I have seen of his comments- I watched the video- he was well received by the 10,000 plus delegates. As an NEA member, albeit retired member, and activist I have attended many NEA Representative Assemblies as they are called. The press only covers conflict. In this case both the press and the blogosphere seemed to focus much attention on the fact that Obama received “only” 80% of the vote - I’d call it a pretty good day. And secondly, they focused on Obama’s comments on teacher compensation which evoked a bit of booing. Keep reading →

We are growing accustomed to delays in receiving test results particularly since the mount of standardized testing has grown exponentially under NCLB. With a handful of vendors - albeit huge entities - problems have increased. Imagine for a moment that we had a national curriculum and national tests as do our colleagues in Britain.

The Guardian reported over the holiday weekend an embarrassing delay in scoring the latest round of national tests known in Britain as SAT’s (School Attainment Tests, not to be confused with Scholastic Aptitude Tests). There is somewhat of a connection our SAT in that the scoring vendor is ETS Europe - the Eupopean counterpart of our own ubiquitous Educational Testing Service. ETS Europe, according to their website, has a presence in 42 European countries.

This has been a huge embarrassment for the National Assessment Agency (NAA) as well as ETS-Europe. We are talking about the scoring of approximately 1 million tests. Consider as a matter of scale what the challenge would be for the United States should we develop and administer national tests in just math and reading.

“No Child Left Behind - The No Child Left Behind Act has been a massive failure and should be abolished.”

Answer

The Texas Republican Party in their 2008 Party Platform- I kid you not! Birth mother of NCLB and the so-called “Texas Miracle”.

Thanks to Tony’s Curricublog for bringing this to our attention.

I mentioned in the last post a strand of education reform which relies upon the threat of “global competitiveness” in the 21st century. They are moved by international comparisons that purport the the United States is losing ground in the global economy and their viewpoint is carried to Washington by some well-heeled and very powerful individuals. Bill Gates would likely be at the top of this heap and has testified in Congress to promote the significance of this component of the “crisis”. There is no question that interest in math and science careers has waned in the last several decades and that India and China have clearly stepped into the breech. When we get back to a substantive discussion of how to actually make lemonade out of perhaps the biggest education policy lemon to emanate from Washington, this topic will be included.

I thought it might be useful to point to the message being put forthby the advocates of this position:

Ed in 08 is the campaign being funded in large measure by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to ensure that education is a major issue in the presidential campaign. The following is a PSA (Public Service Announcement) which succinctly lays out their position.

“Two Million Minutes” is a documentary film produced under the auspices of Bob Compton, an entrepeneuer and venture capitalist who personally investigated high school education in India and China and compares it with high school here in the United States. The film which has had a limited release has been adopted by ED in 08 as being consistent with their message.

The message is further reinforced at the Two Million Minutes website. I have not seen the film, but from detailed descriptions and reviews, it compares six upper middle class students here and in China and Japan.

Ironically, tonight (9pm EST) HBO will premiere a new two hour high school documentary, “Hard Times at Douglas High”, a cinema verite-style look at a traditionally all-black inner city high school in Baltimore.

Much to talk about.

Last week, as the head to head campaign to succeed George Bush began in earnest powerful voices and divergent viewpoints competed to get their message to the two campaigns.

On the heels of the release of the “Broader, Bolder Approach” on Tuesday (which David Brooks described as “the status quo position” a new coalition spearheaded by Chancellor Joel Kline and Al Sharpton released a “hold the line” position on NCLB accountability, equity (defined as rising test scores not necessarily resources), “closing the achievement gap is the new civil rights” argument, and a sprinkling of “teachers’ union contracts and ineffective teachers are a major obstacle.” One significant policy camp not heard from directly this week is the “global competition” crowd - Bill Gates et al, although Roy Romer, former LA superintendent, was present at this press conference. Most recently Romer is chairing Strong American Schools, an advocacy organization which has both Eli Broad and Bill Gates on its steering committee.

The only voice missing last week it seems was that of those who do the work - the teachers. They were busy bringing the school year to a close, and here in the northeast, in the midst of a heat wave which swept across the country. The successful candidate in November’s election who will ultimately shepherd the Reauthorization of ESEA through the next Congress would do well to not replicate the closed door process of 2001 and indeed listen to America’s classroom teachers and their surrogates.

This morning a new initiative was announced that hopefully will contribute to the broader policy discussion necessary for the future of America’s disadvantaged children. Lawrence Mishel, President Director of Education Policy, of the Economic Policy Institute is responsible for convening a broad-based and distinguished task force who together are asking U.S. policymakers to rethink their assumptions on how best to close the achievement gap in student performance between America’s most disadvantaged students and their more advantaged peers. What is most hopeful is that they seem to be saying with one voice that schools alone cannot be expected to eradicate the well documented impact of low socio economic status on achievement.

The task force issued a statement calling for a broader approach that expands the concept of education well beyond the current pre-occupation with formal schooling that occurs k-12. They want policymakers to seriously acknowledge the importance of ” high quality early childhood and pre-school programs, after school and summer programs, and programs that develop parents’ capacity to support their children’s education.” And secondly, they want us to look beyond the narrow definitions of basic academic skills and cognitive growth to once again look at the whole person, “including physical health, character, social development, and non-academic skills, from birth through the end of formal schooling.” Keep reading →

This week Senator Obama reached the number of committed delegates necessary for the nomination of his party. Until now education has not been prominent on the radar screen, but this will change. We have two candidates with widely divergent views and a lack of consensus across the nation as to what the appropriate role should be for the federal government in education going forward.

Barak Obama (D)

John McCain (R)

Public Agenda and the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality recently released the third report of a multi-year study called “Teaching in Changing Times”. The current issue is entitled “Lessons Learned: New Teachers Talk About Their Jobs, Challenges and Long Range Plans” and is available on either site. Previous reports have focused on new middle and high school teachers and new teachers from alternative programs.

The report caused me to reflect once again on my earliest teaching experiences. I began my teaching career in the Boston area over 40 years ago during “changing times” as well. The social and cultural turbulence of the 60’s and 70’s was in large part external to the school house when I began, but not for long. The reason I mention this is not to rehash those impacts in any great detail, but it is worth noting that the greatest changes I saw were the burgeoning diversity, first racial and then ethnic, and the changes in special education. My training did not adequately prepare me for even the tranquil classrooms of children I encountered early on. With little formal support I struggled on my own for the most part to accrue the necessary skills to increase my effectiveness. I find it striking that new teachers today with vast improvements in their training remain overwhelmed in these same two areas. Keep reading →