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Thursday, April 24, 2008

What we know about education reform

George Will has been reading Chester Finn's thoughtful and witty memoir of his lifetime fighting for education improvements, Troublemaker. Will briefly surveys where we are 25 years from the time that a national report told us we were A Nation at Risk due to the manifest problems in so many of our schools. Remember this sentence?
If an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. -- "A Nation At Risk" (1983)

WASHINGTON -- Let us limp down memory lane to mark this week's melancholy 25th anniversary of a national commission's report that galvanized Americans to vow to do better. Today the nation still ignores what had been learned years before 1983.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once puckishly said that data indicated that the leading determinant of the quality of public schools, measured by standardized tests, was the schools' proximity to Canada. He meant that the geographic correlation was stronger than the correlation between high test scores and high per pupil expenditures.

Moynihan also knew that schools cannot compensate for the disintegration of families, and hence communities -- the primary transmitters of social capital. No reform can enable schools to cope with the 36.9 percent of all children and 69.9 percent of black children today born out of wedlock, which means, among many other things, a continually renewed cohort of unruly adolescent males.
Schools have not improved by giving teachers unions a stranglehold on education. They have not improved by spending more and more per student. They have not improved by giving the federal government a larger role. They have not improved with adopting each new fad that sweeps through the education universe.
For decades, schools have been treated as laboratories for various equity experiments. Fads incubated in education schools gave us "open" classrooms, teachers as "facilitators of learning" rather than transmitters of knowledge, abandonment of a literary canon in the name of "multiculturalism," and so on, producing a majority of high school juniors who could not locate the Civil War in the proper half-century.
But we do have some models for what works. Unfortunately, what works requires hard work, dedicated teachers and administrators, and committed parents and students. Witness the success of KIPP academies. Of course, not all teachers are dedicated and willing to teach from 7:30 to 5 and prepare classes at the night while answering calls from students. And not all families are willing to commit or to carry through with the demands that such a program make on the students and parents. But we're not going to achieve success on the quick and easy.
Labels: Education

posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:25 AM 0 comments

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George Will has been reading Chester Finn's thoughtful and witty memoir of his lifetime fighting for education improvements, Troublemaker. Will briefly surveys where we are 25 years from the time that a national report told us we were A Nation at Risk due to the manifest problems in so many of our schools. Remember this sentence?

If an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. -- "A Nation At Risk" (1983)

WASHINGTON -- Let us limp down memory lane to mark this week's melancholy 25th anniversary of a national commission's report that galvanized Americans to vow to do better. Today the nation still ignores what had been learned years before 1983.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once puckishly said that data indicated that the leading determinant of the quality of public schools, measured by standardized tests, was the schools' proximity to Canada. He meant that the geographic correlation was stronger than the correlation between high test scores and high per pupil expenditures.

Moynihan also knew that schools cannot compensate for the disintegration of families, and hence communities -- the primary transmitters of social capital. No reform can enable schools to cope with the 36.9 percent of all children and 69.9 percent of black children today born out of wedlock, which means, among many other things, a continually renewed cohort of unruly adolescent males.

Schools have not improved by giving teachers unions a stranglehold on education. They have not improved by spending more and more per student. They have not improved by giving the federal government a larger role. They have not improved with adopting each new fad that sweeps through the education universe.

For decades, schools have been treated as laboratories for various equity experiments. Fads incubated in education schools gave us "open" classrooms, teachers as "facilitators of learning" rather than transmitters of knowledge, abandonment of a literary canon in the name of "multiculturalism," and so on, producing a majority of high school juniors who could not locate the Civil War in the proper half-century.

But we do have some models for what works. Unfortunately, what works requires hard work, dedicated teachers and administrators, and committed parents and students. Witness the success of KIPP academies. Of course, not all teachers are dedicated and willing to teach from 7:30 to 5 and prepare classes at the night while answering calls from students. And not all families are willing to commit or to carry through with the demands that such a program make on the students and parents. But we're not going to achieve success on the quick and easy.

Labels: Education

posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:25 AM 0 comments

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Thursday, April 24, 2008

What we know about education reform

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HOME Betsy neither necessarily uses, nor endorses, the products advertised on this site. The truth about Avesil Cheap Hosting Atlanta Bankruptcy Attorney Dallas Bankruptcy Attorney Wikio Get exclusive travel deals and book discount cheap flights Online Bachelors Degree Comments from an AP history and government teacher in Raleigh, NC. e-mail betsynewmark AT gmail.com Commissions earned from selling items through Amazon will go towards buying materials for my classes. Thank you. Site Feed		Thursday, April 24, 2008 What we know about education reform George Will has been reading Chester Finn's thoughtful and witty memoir of his lifetime fighting for education improvements, Troublemaker. Will briefly surveys where we are 25 years from the time that a national report told us we were A Nation at Risk due to the manifest problems in so many of our schools. Remember this sentence? If an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. -- "A Nation At Risk" (1983) WASHINGTON -- Let us limp down memory lane to mark this week's melancholy 25th anniversary of a national commission's report that galvanized Americans to vow to do better. Today the nation still ignores what had been learned years before 1983. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once puckishly said that data indicated that the leading determinant of the quality of public schools, measured by standardized tests, was the schools' proximity to Canada. He meant that the geographic correlation was stronger than the correlation between high test scores and high per pupil expenditures. Moynihan also knew that schools cannot compensate for the disintegration of families, and hence communities -- the primary transmitters of social capital. No reform can enable schools to cope with the 36.9 percent of all children and 69.9 percent of black children today born out of wedlock, which means, among many other things, a continually renewed cohort of unruly adolescent males. Schools have not improved by giving teachers unions a stranglehold on education. They have not improved by spending more and more per student. They have not improved by giving the federal government a larger role. They have not improved with adopting each new fad that sweeps through the education universe. For decades, schools have been treated as laboratories for various equity experiments. Fads incubated in education schools gave us "open" classrooms, teachers as "facilitators of learning" rather than transmitters of knowledge, abandonment of a literary canon in the name of "multiculturalism," and so on, producing a majority of high school juniors who could not locate the Civil War in the proper half-century. But we do have some models for what works. Unfortunately, what works requires hard work, dedicated teachers and administrators, and committed parents and students. Witness the success of KIPP academies. Of course, not all teachers are dedicated and willing to teach from 7:30 to 5 and prepare classes at the night while answering calls from students. And not all families are willing to commit or to carry through with the demands that such a program make on the students and parents. But we're not going to achieve success on the quick and easy. Labels: Education posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:25 AM 0 comments Comments: George Will has been reading Chester Finn's thoughtful and witty memoir of his lifetime fighting for education improvements, Troublemaker. Will briefly surveys where we are 25 years from the time that a national report told us we were A Nation at Risk due to the manifest problems in so many of our schools. Remember this sentence? If an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. -- "A Nation At Risk" (1983) WASHINGTON -- Let us limp down memory lane to mark this week's melancholy 25th anniversary of a national commission's report that galvanized Americans to vow to do better. Today the nation still ignores what had been learned years before 1983. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once puckishly said that data indicated that the leading determinant of the quality of public schools, measured by standardized tests, was the schools' proximity to Canada. He meant that the geographic correlation was stronger than the correlation between high test scores and high per pupil expenditures. Moynihan also knew that schools cannot compensate for the disintegration of families, and hence communities -- the primary transmitters of social capital. No reform can enable schools to cope with the 36.9 percent of all children and 69.9 percent of black children today born out of wedlock, which means, among many other things, a continually renewed cohort of unruly adolescent males. Schools have not improved by giving teachers unions a stranglehold on education. They have not improved by spending more and more per student. They have not improved by giving the federal government a larger role. They have not improved with adopting each new fad that sweeps through the education universe. For decades, schools have been treated as laboratories for various equity experiments. Fads incubated in education schools gave us "open" classrooms, teachers as "facilitators of learning" rather than transmitters of knowledge, abandonment of a literary canon in the name of "multiculturalism," and so on, producing a majority of high school juniors who could not locate the Civil War in the proper half-century. But we do have some models for what works. Unfortunately, what works requires hard work, dedicated teachers and administrators, and committed parents and students. Witness the success of KIPP academies. Of course, not all teachers are dedicated and willing to teach from 7:30 to 5 and prepare classes at the night while answering calls from students. And not all families are willing to commit or to carry through with the demands that such a program make on the students and parents. But we're not going to achieve success on the quick and easy. Labels: Education posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:25 AM 0 comments Comments: Post a Comment