Joe Williams' Blog
October 9, 2007
It Seriously Pains Me, Sox Fans But...
The DFER Happy Hour in Boston from 5 to 7 p.m. this Friday is now officially a Red Sox-Indians pregame fiesta. I will do my world renowned "Carl Yastrzemski Sucking a Lemon" impression if you bring along a couple of friends to talk shop about ed reform and the Democratic Party.
On behalf of Yankee fans everywhere, I'm buying the drinks.
For more info and to RSVP, go to http://www.dfer.org/events/Boston
Play ball!!
Posted by Joe Williams on October 9, 2007 11:48 AM
October 7, 2007
What Happened To The Cardozo Kids?
The Washington Post on Sunday did a rather amazing job of tracking down 127 students out of the 243 who started high school together in 2001 at Washington's Cardozo High School. The most depressing part is that this is pretty much an everage DC high school:
Continue reading "What Happened To The Cardozo Kids?"....
Posted by Joe Williams on October 7, 2007 11:47 PM
There's A Warm Meal Waiting For Jon Kozol At Shoemaker
I'm pretty sure this is one of those stories we're not supposed to talk about because it rips to shreds a lot of the usual excuses we all like to make about how some schools and students can't and shouldn't be expected to achieve at high levels.
It has the kind of storyline that we're usually supposed to ignore: Long-struggling and violence filled city school in West Philly continues to fail its students, year after year, until someone with guts decides that public education would be better represented (perhaps even SAVED!) if somebody else was actually educating the public.
So Shoemaker Middle School finally gets turned over to the folks at Mastery Charter School, and one year later it is an entirely different place. Classroom violence has all but disappeared. Test scores improved dramatically.
Oh yeah, and it was the same kids who came to school from the same families with the same problems.
"I think what we've demonstrated is that with a radical change, you can break that pattern and create a very successful school . . . where kids will achieve . . . and will graduate with the skills they need to do whatever they want to do in life," said Mastery founder Scott Gordon. "There are a lot of schools that could use that intervention."
(This isn't Mastery's first successful conversion of a failing school. They seem to be on somewhat of a roll, which begs the question: Why don't we get more top-notched operators involved with taking over our worst schools? It's clearly a tough job, but people are getting it done. How much longer do we allow people to keep their keys to school buildings if the kids enrolled there aren't getting anything close to the kind of education we all want for our kids?)
This Scott Gordon man must be stopped before he and others like him manage to restore this nation's faith in public education once and for all. But until he is, his name and quote will appear in our DFER Quote of the Day.
Posted by Joe Williams on October 7, 2007 9:27 PM
October 5, 2007
Thanks, Dear
Regarding this post, my wife reminds me that she has a great sense of humor.
Posted by Joe Williams on October 5, 2007 4:33 PM
October 3, 2007
AFT Endorses Hillary
Perhaps it was because the presidential campaign seemed to start a decade ago, but today's news that the American Federation of Teachers is endorsing Sen. Hillary Clinton for president made the race start to feel somewhat exciting again.
So what happens now? Does Obama finally come out of his shell? Does John Edwards hammer hard by suggesting thet the children of organized labor deserve a better education than we're giving them? Is it the beginning of the end? Etc.?
Seems like we're at that proverbial fork in the road...
UPDATE: NYSUT's Dick Ianuzzi says the Illinois contingent wanted to delay the announcement to help keep Obama in the running for a bit, but the union opted to go for Hillary now because it won't be meeting again until February and the presidential race will be over by then.
UPDATE II: I forgot to disclose that my wife and I both maxed out to Obama for the primary, for personal reasons.
Posted by Joe Williams on October 3, 2007 5:55 PM
October 2, 2007
DFER Heads To Beantown
Please forward this post to any Boston-area friends who may be interested...
Democrats for Education Reform is taking its traveling support group for frustrated Democrat/ed reformer types on the road to Boston next week. Please join us if you'd like to tip back a drink with like-minded folks and find out what we can all do together to ease the pain!
When: Friday, Oct. 12, 2007
Time: 5 to 7 p.m.
Where: Croma, 269 Newbury St., Boston
Special Guest: Bucky Dent (Just kiding!)
Space is limited, so RSVP today at: http://www.dfer.org/events/Boston
We hope to see you there!
Posted by Joe Williams on October 2, 2007 8:29 AM
September 30, 2007
Why Keeping NCLB Strong Is Inherently Democratic
Trying to understand why the details matter in the current battles over the reauthorization of NCLB? In this DFER Briefing Memo, Charles Barone explains what the fuss is all about - particularly in terms of what changes to the law might do to its legislative soul.
Barone, a former staffer to Rep. George Miller (D-California) and the top Democratic staff member for the House Education and Labor Committee in 2001 when NCLB was passed, traces current federal education policies back to both Brown v. Board of Education and the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
Continue reading "Why Keeping NCLB Strong Is Inherently Democratic"....
Posted by Joe Williams on September 30, 2007 7:16 PM
