Quotation Of The Day: Education Accountability Edition

From Robert Pondiscio at The Core Knowledge Blog

I remain equally skeptical of the storyline that says schools are dysfunctional purely as a result of adult indifference or self-interest.

I see no reason to believe that failing schools are filled with tenured layabouts refusing to teach and not getting fired. In my experience, such schools are mainly filled with decent people trying their best and failing. And with depressing regularity, they are failing despite doing exactly what they were trained to do–even because they are doing exactly what they were trained to do.

The entire edifice of accountability assumes that American education is essentially a sound product, but it’s delivered poorly. I see no evidence to suggest this is true. I see much evidence to suggest it’s not.

No Wonder I'm Paranoid

I am not shocked when a blog at The American Conservative hopes that Republican governors will continue their assault on teachers.  After all, every conservative takes as gospel that "school teachers, hardly represent a cross-section of the country on social and cultural issues. They are well to the left of most of the population."  And, of course, we don't have enough to do as we try to teach history, math, science, or English; therefore, only a dupe would believe "that union-faithful teachers favor educating the young in some value-free manner."  I would be remiss in my blogging duties if I did not mention that conservatives also take as gospel the assumption that every school limits itself to one or two token conservatives who are ritualistically mocked in the teachers' lounge.  In short, I expect conservatives to assert I'm out to turn their children into Marxist Muslim terrorists.

On the other hand, a Diane Ravitch editorial reminds Newsweek readers that "Obama has not sought to turn back NCLB. His own approach, called Race to the Top, is even more punitive than NCLB."  More frighteningly, Ravitch says,

The Obama agenda for testing, accountability, and choice bears an uncanny resemblance to the Republican agenda of the past 30 years, but with one significant difference. Republicans have traditionally been wary of federal control of the schools. Duncan, however, relishes the opportunity to promote his policies with the financial heft of the federal government.

So the right wants to use local and state government to make my life miserable, and the Democrats want to use the federal government to make my life miserable.

A couple of days ago I quoted  Adam Frank who wrote, "In poem or paean, in music or metaphor, in silent homage to whatever powers make sense to the heart in that moment, we may (or may not) find our way."  I can think of two small pieces of literature that fit the present situation.  Stanzas two and three of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" seem to fit the political situation, at least metaphorically.

 'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
. . .
Cannon to right of them
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd & thunder'd;
. . . .

The other is James 3:1 "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly."  I always thought that passage was reserved for people who taught Sunday school.  I guess it applies to those of us who teach Monday through Friday school as well.

Order of the Teaching Phoenix?

This John Spencer post using Harry Potter metaphors reminds me of one of my own Potter musings.

Spencer begins by comparing Diane Ravitch to Severus Snape.

In education reform, [Diane Ravitch] plays the role of Snape.  We need her.  We need the perspective of someone who converted from a Death Eater to the Order of Phoenix and we need to believe in the concept of Phoenix.  Out of the ashes of a broken system new life can grow.  Perhaps even Arne can get out of the dark arts of testing-based reform. Yes, I know about her past.  Yes, I realize that power is a corrupting force, but she is a reminder that even powerful people can find redemption.  [Spencer, Snape: A Perspective . . , 8/1/2010]

Spencer concludes,

Despite my penchant for using Harry Potter metaphors, the truth is that we don't need more magical wizards to tell us how to fix our system.  We need humble muggles who realize that the real magic is often seen on a very local level, within the mind of a student.  Everything else is an illusion. [Spencer, Snape: A Perspective . . , 8/1/2010]

I agree totally, but I think that one of the reasons teachers are turning to Ravitch as some sort of superstar leader is the fact that few elementary and secondary teachers seem to be respected for their intellect.  From that earlier post,

There is one stereotype that I wish Harry Potter would foster: the secondary school teacher as public intellectual. In Potterworld, Dumbledore is a leading public intellectual. He's taken seriously by a government ministry and has been asked to head a key department. I can't think of any teacher who would be treated like Dumbledore.

One problem may be that many fictional teachers are romanticized versions of real teachers:  no one can live up to Matilda's Miss Honey or The Dead Poet's Society Mr. Keating.  That romanticism probably doesn't play well in the so-called real world.  I have a hunch that those who make policy would listen to House before they listen to Saved by the Bell's Mr. Belding.

I'm not going to blame Hollywood, however; the fault is ours.  Spencer has it right; "real magic is at the local level."  As Larry Cuban points out, most people accept as absolute fact the assertion that all K-12 schools fail.

Beginning in the late 1970s, followed by the Nation at Risk report and culminating in the No Child Left Behind law, the message that all U.S. schools are failing has become accepted truth among smart, well-intentioned policy elites including foundation officials. Even though it is clear that there are many schools in the U.S. that parents clamor to have their children attend, even though foreign students come in droves to U.S. universities often considered to be the best in the world where they attend undergraduate and graduate courses with U.S. students from supposedly failing high schools, the dominant belief remains that the entire K-12 system of schooling is broken. That belief is as commonplace as “smart” phones, television, and public utilities. It is a “truth” that goes largely unquestioned. [Cuban, Billionaires' Love Affair with School Refom, 7/28/2010]

Cuban goes on to illustrate that the truth is far more complicated.

Ignored is the fact that there is a three-tiered system of schooling in the U.S. (see June 20, 2010 post). The top two tiers (which over half of U.S. students attend) are considered by most parents to be either good or good enough for their children. In the third tier, however, big city and rural schools enrolling mostly poor and minority students have largely failed to educate children and youth. Surely, the three tiered system is obvious for anyone with 20/20 vision living in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and other metropolitan areas, particularly to parents who shop around for schools to send their children.

What is also plain to see but is seldom mentioned by policy elites and 24/7 media is the constant conflating of urban and rural failing schools with all U.S. schools. Such a mindless mistake propagates misinformation and sustains a “crisis” mentality that continually bashes teachers and undermines trust in public schools. [Cuban, Billionaires' Love Affair with School Refom, 7/28/2010]

Had all teachers, and I am chief among the sinners in this regard, worked more magic at the local level, NCLB might not have been possible.  To take Spencer a step further, teachers need to start local Orders of the Phoenix that don't rely on Ravitch or others to lead.  To do that, we will need to lead with our reason as well as the magic of romanticism.

Some Basic Thoughts about Education

This is the third or fourth or fifth effort to try to blog regularly. Let's see how it goes.

Thought #1: I agree with Charles Murray (mostly), at least this time.

Last spring, I read a Charles Murray article about the philosphy that he described as educational romaniticism. A version is here. Murray makes at least three trenchant points and one mistake.

Trenchent point #1

"Many laws are too optimistic, but the No Child Left Behind Act transcended optimism. It set a goal that was devoid of any contact with reality."

To quote the great philosopher Stan Lee, "Nuff said."

Trenchent point #2

"To sum up, a massive body of evidence says . . .that we do not know how to change intellectual ability after children reach school. . . ."

Once again, "Nuff said."

Trenchent point #3

"In public discourse, the leading symptom of educational romanticism is silence on the role of intellectual limits even when the topic screams for their discussion. Try to think of the last time you encountered a news story that mentioned low intellectual ability as the reason why some students do not perform at grade level. I doubt if you can. Whether analyzed by the news media, school superintendents, or politicians, the problems facing low-performing students are always that they have come from disadvantaged backgrounds, or have gone to bad schools, or grown up in peer cultures that do not value educational achievement. The problem is never that they just aren't smart enough." (Italics mine)

This is tricky ground. No one wants to claim that disadvantaged students are inherently less intelligent than middle-class or upper-class students. I am certain that a smart student who comes from a disadvantaged background has more hurdles to overcome than a smart student with wealthy student. Even with that caveat, a smart student from any background will usually be more successful in school than a less intelligent student, and Murray is correct to assert that schools ignore that fact. (I'll put off the success in school does not equal later success discussion for another day.)

The mistake (and I think it's a whopper)

"The good news is that educational romanticism is surely teetering on the edge of collapse."

I wish and I pray, but unfortunately, Lake Woebegone is here to stay. I don't think there's a teacher in the system that I work in that could keep her job is she uttered the phrase, "I don't think your child has the intellectual capacity to earn an A in my class." Further, I doubt that there are more than a handful of teachers who believe its OK to utter that phrase, even though they may think it quietly. Finally, I haven't seen any young teachers who have been taught that they should even think it.

Thought #2: On-line grading programs suck.

Change the brand names, but the problems this post outlines reflect my experience.

Thought #3: I wish I had the answer to this problem

Dennis O'Neil correctly observes,

"Over the past few years, I’ve come to believe that not everyone gets the same education, even if schools and transcripts are identical. Some folk mentally compartmentalize: church goes here, family here, school stuff here, life in general there. So when they pass tests on what they’ve heard in classrooms, and at the end of a span of time, usually16 years and some august personage hands them a rectangle full of fancy lettering, they’re done with it. No more schooling, and no learning above what’s needed to live comfortably. Schooling in its compartment yonder, not touching this compartment, which is where we live."

And

"The problem, I think, is this: There might be information over in the school compartment that is relevant to the contents of the living compartment. It might supply answers, or at least stimulate thinking.

"Left in the ghetto of the school compartment, denied access to other compartments, and it is useless, and it will die. Worse, its lack might cause you to blunder."

I see the compartmentalization every day. School is in a box that gets shelved the second students walk out the door to their real lives. In fact, all school seems to be is an interruption to the lives they want to lead.