Reforming education a lot harder than it looks

The average person might think: “Education isn't rocket science.” No, it's a good deal more difficult than that as it involves understanding and working with human beings. Billions of dollars and millions of hours from reformers have produced very little in the way of results because those reformers haven't actually spent much time in schools, learning about what makes learning different from other fields. “Unlike working educators, most leaders in the reform movement have never taught a five-period day, felt the joy of an unquantifiable classroom victory, lost instructional time to a standardized test, or been evaluated by a computer. And unlike the vulnerable students targeted by so much reform, most policy elites have not gone to school hungry, struggled to understand standard English, battled low expectations, or feared for their personal safety on the walk home.”

PA Governor adopts educational plan that will hurt students

An “unelected, unaccountable entity charged with school oversight” abruptly canceled a state contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers “and demand new healthcare contributions from its employees.” The Philadelphia school system had lots of problems under Governor Corbett, but very few of those problems owed anything to the schools themselves, most of the problems had to do with deliberate malfeasance from the Corbett Administration. Having been a sailor, it was my experience and as my father was also a sailor, it was his experience too, that we never had to take money out of our own pockets to fulfill our mission. There were many instances where we were obliged to do so temporarily, but we always got reimbursed. Under Corbett, teachers have “to contribute thousands of dollars out of their own pockets for the most basic supplies.” And of course, the school bureaucracy under Corbett insists that a mandatory extra contribution to health care doesn't constitute a reduction in their paychecks.

How do charter schools make money if they're non-profits?

Naturally, no one wants to be paying for a for-profit school as it would then be far too easy to identify excessive charges and then, even if parents didn't make complaints about obvious money-making moves by the school, resentment would grow. The answer is shown in Pro-Publica's piece on profits and schools. Essentially, profits are collected at one remove, with the suppliers of books, furniture, cafeteria food, computers, even teacher training. There is, of course, no competitive bidding for anything as the supply line is set up before the school itself is even built.

Is education worth spending money on?

The fellow who replaced Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), the House Majority Leader (Second in the House after the Speaker) has an, uh, interesting view of education and spending. "My hero Socrates trained in Plato on a rock. How much did that cost? So the greatest minds in history became the greatest minds in history without spending a lot of money." He has a lot of other strange views. Personally, I read I.F. Stone's “The Trial of Socrates” and was left considerably less than impressed with Socrates. I think he was far too abstract a thinker and could have been more down-to-earth and immediately practical. I had read Plato's “The Republic” in Junior High (Called Middle School these days) and recall having been pretty unimpressed by that as well. So no, I don't agree with Rep. David Brat as neither Plato nor Socrates count as “my hero.”

Charter Schools must obey civil rights laws

Good! “...the same federal civil rights laws that apply to other public schools apply equally to public charter schools.”

The piece also makes some snarky points about how long the problem has been around.

Backlash against high-stakes school testing

Seems parents and students and teachers are against putting too much reliance into testing (April 2013). Why are privatized schools (I use that term to distinguish the corporate schools from traditional private schools that are designed to draw in wealthier clients) so fond of testing? “They don’t want parents to measure a school on anything other than a number because they’re not offering anything other than a number.“ Privatized schools looking good, in theory anyway, because of the tests that students constantly take, not because students are turning out any more thoughtful or competent or skilled.

Students take exception to privatization

About 1,000 students of a half-a-dozen Newark, NJ, high schools walked out in April 2013 in response to Governor Chris Christie's plans to balance the state budget by taking money out of education.

[Apr 2013]