Joe Williams' Blog
December 6, 2007
DFER Guest Blogger: E.D. Hirsch Jr. On Democrats And Education
We recently asked E.D. Hirsch, founder of the Core Knowledge Foundation and author of over a half-dozen influential books on education reform to reflect, in blog form, on what it has been like to be a lifelong Democrat who gets accused of being a right-winger because of his strong beliefs that content matters more than process. In my household, Hirsch is known as the writer who reminds us how much ground we have to cover in the summer months with our kids to keep them up to speed.
Dear Joe,
Thanks for offering me a chance to blog some of my fellow Democrats on the subject of school reform. In 1986 I started the Core Knowledge Foundation to encourage reform in the early grades. But it’s been lonely out here for me as a left-leaning Democrat, ever since my 1987 book Cultural Literacy with its advocacy of a core curriculum in the early grades was attacked as part of a right-wing plot to perpetuate male, lily-white American culture, and as a generally illiberal effort to continue the suppression of minorities.
Gradually, since that time, certain things have happened to help revise that estimate, and to encourage the realization that maybe the opposite is true, that, all the time, the Core Knowledge project has been what it said it was – a progressive effort to improve schools and empower low-income and minority students. Recently, for example, I was invited to keynote the annual conference of the Education Trust, the principal advocacy group for disadvantaged students. What happened?
Continue reading "DFER Guest Blogger: E.D. Hirsch Jr. On Democrats And Education"....
Posted by Joe Williams on December 6, 2007 10:09 PM
Linking Pre-K and Ed Reform Through Charters
DFER board member Sara Mead makes the case for linking the pre-K and K-12 ed reform efforts more seamlessly in latest The American Prospect. She raises a lot of great points.
Where I live, the biggest problem with pre-K seems to be the extremely uneven quality (I'm being charitable) of the programs and the often inability to tell what connection exists, if any, to the schools where these adorable little kids will be enrolled once they enter Kingergarten.
So why don't we start pushing charter schools (and the tremendous flexibility chartering allows) to take on the role of creating the kinds of "seamless" pre-K through third grade programs that Mead is talking about? That would seem to address the "quality" problem, especially if a charter had to show that some good was coming from the effort in order to remain open.
It would seem you could create some great charter schools that would take kids at age 3 or 4 and add sequentially to their early development. In this case, the pre-K wouldn't be treated like the unconnected step-child of the elementary school, as is often the case in NYC.
Posted by Joe Williams on December 6, 2007 6:47 AM
TFA is AFT Spelled Backward
I have no idea what that headline is supposed to mean, but it seemed clever when I started typing it. My second choice was going to be "TFA Gets an 'L'" but I figured only about 5 people would know what I was talking about.
AFT Michele, one of my favorite edubloggers (because she has a soul,) is leaving the union to go to work for Teach For America as vice president for federal and state policy.
In a previous blog life I once called Michele 'lazy' and it was a cheap shot I quickly regretted. She's been a fun person to have around in these blog parts and her passion for ed reform is hard to match. My only hope is that TFA lets her blog every now and then.
Best of luck.
Posted by Joe Williams on December 6, 2007 6:25 AM
December 4, 2007
Vegas TFA'ers Dig Obama
Via the Obama blog, TFAers had a kegger to profess support for Obama (as well as their concerns about NCLB.) I mention this, just like our homage to the budding political TFA movement (and football's west coast offense) over the summer. because at some point these "best and brightest" are going to pack a political punch that will be worth watching.
(Note to TFAers: Send us your Hillary et al pics and we'll post them too.)
Posted by Joe Williams on December 4, 2007 9:21 AM
December 3, 2007
Ripples: Clyburn Evangelizes Reform
Here's an extremely exciting update for those of you who joined us two weeks ago for our NYC conversation on education reform with Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who as majority whip is the highest-ranking African-American in Congress. (Make sure you read to the end of this post to see what Clyburn had to say about his visit.)
The idea was to join forces with a prominent elected official, provide access to the kinds of high-quality schools we're talking about, and introduce him to Democratic campaign contributors and reform-minded teachers, school operators, and education activists. We partnered with groups like the Council of Urban Professionals and 100 Black Men. Clyburn told us a lot about his earlier career as a high school teacher, his frustration that very little has changed in schooling since then, the lack of innovation in education, the challenges that his grandchildren face in their quest for a quality education, etc.
His visit to NYC left a mark on us, and it appears it left a mark on him as well. Sunday's Charleston Post and Courier newspaper features a touching and heart-felt op-ed written by Clyburn about his NYC DFER visit. (Full text after the jump.)
For those of you keeping score, South Carolina legislators have been trying (unsuccessfully) to pass a school choice bill for some time. One bill was vetoed by the state's Republican governor because it did not include private schools.
While the focus of our discussions with Clyburn (and with his op-ed piece) dealt with charter schools and public school choice, the Congressman made clear that while he does not support vouchers, he does support tax credits for middle class families who opt to send their children to private schools.
As a result, as the editors of the Charleston Post and Courier noted in this editorial, there is suddenly some movement on the school choice front in South Carolina - particularly from Democrats. Will this provide enough cover to strike a reasonable deal to enhance the options available to South Carolina families? Stay tuned.
Continue reading "Ripples: Clyburn Evangelizes Reform"....
Posted by Joe Williams on December 3, 2007 11:29 AM
December 2, 2007
Spitzer: No Pandering Zone?
Kudos to New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.
Over the summer. we remarked at how awkward it was to watch - in the era of YouTube - the candidates for president have to pander their way through the National Education Association's Representative Assembly in Philadelphia by offering lines from the union's talking points in exchange for cheap applause.
Awkward, for sure, but something you get used to seeing if you follow education politics and the powerful grip the teachers unions have on debate. (One reason Democrats historically look so impotent on education is the perception that the union leaders won't let them out of their policy cages.)
This is why it was so astonishing to read the Q+A with Spitzer, a Democrat, in the latest issue of New York Teacher, a magazine that is historically an informative and extremely effective propaganda arm for the state's teachers unions.
When most politicians - from both parties (in fact it is usually even uglier to watch the Republicans have to pander to the teachers) - are on a stage and conducting an interview to be published later with the teachers union president, they can't help but switch off the brain and simply say what the union leader wants to hear. That's how it is supposed to work.
But Spitzer, who is under fire from all quarters to play by these sorts of old-school rules, made the curious decision to stick to his guns on two very controversial issues for the union: charter schools and tuition tax credits.
Continue reading "Spitzer: No Pandering Zone?"....
Posted by Joe Williams on December 2, 2007 10:19 AM
$350,000 To Make L.A. Schools (Look) Better
I need to make clear I don't think that it is a bad thing for school districts to be pro-active about getting their good stories out to the public, especially since debate in the public square is best when people are familiar with the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The more you push the good stories, the more people who are familiar with the bad stories will speak up -- and it's important to be realistic on both ends.
Look at what just happened in Los Angeles, where the decision to pay big bucks for some P.R. work became a news story in itself. It gave L.A. Times columnist Sandy Banks an opportunity, for example, to say what is on a lot of people's minds:
Continue reading "$350,000 To Make L.A. Schools (Look) Better"....
Posted by Joe Williams on December 2, 2007 9:45 AM
