In Politics of School Reform, Transparency Doesn't Equal Accountability
Reader Comments
Transparency is not reform
We agree with the article that tranparency doees not necessarily lead to reforms, and that money alone is not the answer. And waht is promoted as tranparency may not be. Schools are opaque and state measures of performance highly subject to politically-pressured re-definitions.
In our issue area, the environmental conditions of schools (healthy vs unhealthy school environments) are well documented in the pper-reviewed literature to impact child health and learning, as well as personnel productivity. Yet pressure groups in state after state have deeply resisted reforms, even when attached to new funds. That's why schools have high lead levels in drinking water, don't report or remediate mercury spills, engage in dust and debris-causing hazardous renovations when children are in hrms's way, and paint over mold infestations-- as just a few examples. Tranparency?
Asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism-- and not surprisingly-- a leading OCCUPATIONAL disease of teachers and custodians: they get it on the job due to poor working conditions. And kids don't?
A 2006 survey by the CDC on the environmental conditions of schools, including indoor air quality, inadvertently revealed that the state and local school officials were either misrepresenting their activites, or had little or no accurate knowledge of relevant state laws or policies. Many claimed they were in full compliance with state laws on indoor air, but in reality, those are few and far between and not enforced. Transparency?
We can't have it both ways: we should not pretend the conditions are NOT affecting kids; we should not pretend that schools are in compliance with laws that don't exist.
Transparency is a blissful fiction without on the ground accountability and environment and health enforcements that benefit those at highest risk-- the nation's 54+ million school-age children.
Children with mental disabilities
I have a child that has ADHD and is mentally challenged, does that mean this child doesnt get an education because he has behaviors. Does this excuse him from school. A normal child could start acting out and be labeled the same way, so he then has no challenged either, Does he pass because he exhibits the same behaviors as another child. ADHD children have to be sent to psychologist, doctors to prove that they have this disability, should a normal child that has the same symptoms but knows how to react so he just gets special help be labeled too. I want to know are they going to supply my child a teacher this year or will she be in AEP or in a class of mexican kids that dont speak english, an ESL class because she doesnt fit into the perfect school room, because of her behavior problem which is a disability
Politics of School Reform
Many of the comments on this article are quite good and deserve consideration and, perhaps, eventual enactment in trials. Education is one of the top priorities in this country and should not be subject to political gamesmanship any more than national defense should be.
Why is it that in the United States we cannot seem to understand that those to whom we entrust our children really ought to be rewarded well? I mean teachers, of course, and I do mean WELL. The excuses for not doing a better job in educating our students are many--overcrowded and underfunded classrooms, uninvolved parents, uncommitted teachers, and so on. The excuses for not rewarding teachers well boil down to a single one--not enough money. Not enough money to pay starting teachers, say, $80.000 for a nine-month contract. Not enough money to up the ante annually by $20,000 or more based on performance. Not enough will, in short, to put our money where our mouths are. We claim to want well educated, motivated kids, but we don't want to pay the price that would guarantee that outcome. "Throwing money at the problem won't work" is the rejoinder to every suggestion that the money solution really hasn't been tried! Go figure.
I, for one, am tired of all the meddling that hasn't solved the many problems of educating our young adequately. I say let teachers, well rewarded teachers, take over the problem--from hiring to firing, from class size to teacher load, from testing of students to dress codes, etc. Let them be totally responsible for expected outcomes, and let the rest of us figure out where the money will come from.
A nation that can reward athletes extravagantly, brokers outrageously, and film stars royally can surely afford real rewarding of our teachers. It's put up or shut up time, friends.
Schools a solution
1. End summer vacation and letting out at 3 pm. It works hardship on working moms who have no day care. Kids also forget what they learned over the summer. Put them on the same schedule as their parents. 8am to 5 pm with 2 weeks of vacation plus 5 holidays.
2. Restore discipline in the schools. Spank the misbehaving. Why should a student obey a teacher who can not punish him! If a 98 pound female teacher is to small to spank a errant 15 year old, let a policeman administer justice.
3. Pay children to pass standard tests. They will pay it back in taxes when they grow up. Kids have a short mental reward benefits time table. To train a seal you give it a piece of fish for the desired response. It also works with children given money.
4. Set up special Genius boarding schools for any student with over 140 IQ as measured by tests. Invest in really special kids not morons.
Re Education & Human Growth...
Apples do not fall very far from the trees that gave birth to them.....if the trees are healthy the fruit is good and if the tree is sick for some reason the fruit is not the best..we have heard endless criticism of our teachers and schools....but the responsibility of taking care of the real needs of children, physically,mentally and morally depend on their parents, their parents, and their parents.....cordially,.. If the parents just live for their own fun and games they can forget about the future of their children.....
Competition!!
Let Free People Compete. Let Schools compete to get the Best Students. Let the Best Students compete to get into the Best Schools.
Nothing is worse than the Status Quo.
Obama is just the B*7ch for the teachers' unions. They own him. That is why he slapped down those little African American kids in DC. They were successful in the private schools. That made his patrons look stupid. None of the Liberals send their kids to the DC schools.
No Change? No Hope!
End it, don't mend it!
The model which the US uses for public schools, which was developed in Prussia in the late 18th century is simply unsustainable. Imagine how ridiculous it would be if we had kept, say, spinning thread by hand and making the cloth for our clothes on hand looms as was done in the late 18th century. Using those production methods a good, not luxurous, suit cost about as much as an average person made in a year at that time.
Not surprisingly, it costs about $10-12,000/year to educate ONE child using our late 18th century education model. A family with three kids, which you need to have if you don't want to depend on illegal immigration for population growth as we do now, is looking at a social cost of $30-36,000 annually for their kids' education.
Obama and the Democrats are total idiots, as were Bush and the Republicans, to think that you can "fix" something that out-of-date. You don't "fix" hand looms for cloth making. You introduce a whole new technology.
You don't "fix" American public schools. You invent something entirely different.
Education reform
Obama says he's going to have teacher testing and the worst
teachers will be fired. Any such testing though would result in
black teachers failing at a higher rate than white teachers.
That would violate our "disparate impact" laws which classify
any test or policy that has a "disparate impact" on blacks
as racist. Tests discriminate and we live in a society which considers discrimination against blacks the greatest of all evils. We have a black president, a black attorney general and
a congress controlled by the Left. The idea that a society like
this will raise standards for things like math and science in
our schools is simply laughable. There is not a snowballs chance
in hell of such a thing happening.
The elephant
I am amazed that one could write this article and not use the word "union."
That must have been very hard work. Why not write plainly?
And no mention of the fiasco of killing the DC school voucher program. I would think it obvious to reference a large demonstration by minority kids and parents, with the Capitol as a backdrop. It should go right after this sentence:
"Still, parents and students lose in the policy battles more often than they win because that information alone does not force change on powerful stakeholders or the formidable array of special-interest groups resisting reforms with costs for the groups they represent." ADD: One of the first educational issues decided after the Obama inauguration was fate of the DC voucher program. Overwhelmingly popular with kids and parents, the government withheld documentation of its success until after the Democratic Congress, under pressure from the NEA, killed the program.
Of course, then you might have to mention who is forcing these kids back into the failed DC school system.
The elephant in the room
Why do all of these discussions never actually point out the obvious reason there is no accountablity in schools; the elephant in the room?
"The formidable array of special-interest groups resisting reforms"? We all know who these people are. The most powerful special interest groups in all of America: The National Education Association and The American Federation of Teachers and their state minions. Duh.
Their self serving monopoly choke hold and ability to murder on any form competition or school choice in its crib under the guise that they really have children in mind is well documented understood, even as law. The state of New York explicitly prohibits rating teachers based on their students' performance; A rule crammed down the throat of the State government by the teachers' unions. This is not new news.It is well known that attempting to fire a bad teacher in any public school that has NEA and AFT style work rules is virtually impossible.
Until this fact is challenged, nothing is going to change. Get used to it.
