Joe Williams' Blog
Washington Post Editors: Don't Make NCLB A Charade
First it was the New York Times which decided that enough was enough and called Congress and the powerful National Education Association on their attempts to turn back the clock on the most important aspects of the No Child Left Behind law.
Now the Washington Post editorial board has jumped in as well. It's such a well reasoned/written editorial that it is hard to pick out the money quote (though I will put one on the "DFER Quote of the Day.")
Read the whole thing after the jump. They absolutely nailed it:
THE DEBATE on No Child Left Behind begins in earnest this week, and the outcome will be determined by one fundamental question: Does this country want to make schools better -- or just make schools look better? If Congress is true to the noble idea that all children, no matter their races, family incomes or circumstances, can learn to read and do math, it must reject suggestions that make a charade of standards and accountability.
Continue reading "Washington Post Editors: Don't Make NCLB A Charade"....
Posted by Joe Williams on September 10, 2007 8:43 AM
Cutting Through The Fog
DFER Board Member Dianne Piche, of the Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, bypasses all the hysteria coming from the National Education and others (who claim that is is unfair and unrealistic for kids in American public schools to be able to read and do very basic math by the year 2014!!!) to explain what is really going on here in the latest Education Next.
Piche makes the case that unless the federal money attached to NCLB is used to force dramatic change, achievement gaps will be here with us to stay. "The status quo is a powerful player to be reckoned with in the struggle for educational equity."
From the piece:
Continue reading "Cutting Through The Fog"....
Posted by Joe Williams on September 10, 2007 7:59 AM
September 7, 2007
Malcolm Smith On The Farm
On the same week that we posted our bit about New York Senator Malcolm Smith's work on ed reform, Liz Benjamin posted some great pics of Smith on his swing through upstate New York farm areas. Insert your own caption below...
Posted by Joe Williams on September 7, 2007 3:43 PM
NY Times Edit Board: Don't Let NEA Gut NCLB
The New York Times, which over the weekend noted that Democrats were trying to "soften" the federal No Child Left Behind law, this morning opines that Congress shouldn't lose its wits by giving in to the powerful National Education Association.
Interesting timing, as things start to get heated up. Full editorial after the jump.
UPDATE: Alexander Russo rounds up the editorials on this here.
Continue reading "NY Times Edit Board: Don't Let NEA Gut NCLB"....
Posted by Joe Williams on September 7, 2007 9:00 AM
September 5, 2007
Tilting At Windmills in DC?
So Michelle Rhee seems to think that as chancellor of the Washington, D.C. schools she should be able to unload, oh say, the guy in charge of delivering textbooks if he, uh, doesn't actually get textbooks into the hands of teachers and students in real, live schools.
It's been a pleasure knowing you, Michelle!
Hope you get a nice faculty position at some education school or something.
This story is so typical it is sad.
Congratulations to Donald Winstead, for contributing to today's DFER "Quote of The Day."
Posted by Joe Williams on September 5, 2007 11:09 AM
September 4, 2007
Back To School In NYC
For those of you who don't call New York City home, it is a rather remarkable thing to see when 1.1 million public school kids return to the classroom for the first day of school. Traffic patterns change, the sounds of morning in many neighborhoods change, etc. It is no small undertaking as moms and dads begin anew their schoolday rituals with their kids.
I'll get the scoop from my kids later, but my fourth grader's experience is proving to be an interesting barometer of change in some NYC schools. He is attending what feels like a vastly improved elementary school since my older son went through the same school in Chelsea a few years ago. Some of it seems to be tied closely to the larger citywide changes in the system, others seem to have to do with a parent-UFT uprising a few years ago where we collectively helped get a "promotion" for the former principal (which he didn't want). We ended up with a great new principal who came out of the city's Leadership Academy and the quality of the teachers has been progressively on the rise in the time since. The good ones now seem happy enough to stay, the klunkers have left for more klunker-friendly locales, and the newbies not only seem inspired, they seem to be welcomed into a team of experienced educators who are ready to help them out.
Note: The UFT is reportedly running radio ads highlighting the importance of teacher voice at the school site in the newly decentralized school system. There are a lot of back-and-forths with the union over various issues here, but on this point they are absolutely correct. The principals who seem able to make the most of the contributions of teachers, parents, students, and the larger community will no doubt be the ones where we start to see even greater things.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Joel Klein, starting his sixth year at the helm of the NYC schools, gets today's DFER "Quote of the Day."
Posted by Joe Williams on September 4, 2007 9:26 AM
September 3, 2007
Dems Do As Leo Says (Or Else)
One of the frustrations that brought the founders of DFER together in the first place was the all too frequent assertion from guys like Leo Casey that if you happen to believe that American kids deserve a better education than we are currently giving them, it somehow makes you a Republican.
Many of us felt that it was not only an asinine position, but one which - by virtue of the chilling effect it tends to have on debate within the Democratic Party - contributed to the widespread perception that Democrats were increasingly devoid of real problem-solving ideas.
As this anti-union guy (????) Andy Stern put it in 2004, (after he wondered out loud at the Democratic Convention in Boston whether it might actually be better for John Kerry and the Democrats to get our asses kicked again, so that we might come to the understanding that we have a bit of a substance problem on our side):
"I think we are a stale party of ideas. We can't talk about education. We can't discuss when it is failing our members' (children) in public schools in urban areas. You know, we're the experiment. Maybe vouchers aren't the only answer, but then what is? I'm tired of hearing if we just pay teachers more, you know, life will be terrific. It's a huge problem."
Our bizarre willingness as a party to let manipulitive guys like Leo shut-down conversations before they can even start is one of the reasons we make it so easy for Republicans to look like they have ideas behind their positions, while we end up looking like the party where ideas are off the table.
And Leo, who perhaps in honor of Labor Day Weekend turned in one of the few posts in his blogging career which didn't seem to require chapters to break up the copy, is falling back to his old position that DFER is a front group for both Republicans and (in a new twist) Communists.
Continue reading "Dems Do As Leo Says (Or Else)"....
Posted by Joe Williams on September 3, 2007 10:11 AM
