A Field Guide to Ed Reform

Some definitions will help:

Achievement
This only means one thing: performance on standardized tests. Keep in mind, this is a very thin measure, representing a fraction of what most of us think should constitute good education.

Reform
This means just two things: 1) an emphasis on standardized tests, and 2) more and more privatization of schools, often in the form of charter schools. I think it's a stretch to call something "reform" when it's guided and supported by the most powerful and wealthy among us.

Teachers Unions
Usually this phrase is meant to suggest that the unions and the teachers they represent are merely self interested and against the success of students. The truth is that unions stand up for what the overwhelming majority of teachers see as good education, education that will serve students and society best. This includes skepticism of the testing movement Where the unions go wrong is to protect the seniority of bad teachers and to be excessively legalistic about compensation for hours worked. They do themselves no favors.

Charter Schools
Charters were meant to be laboratories of innovation which would then share their strategies with "regular" public schools. Charters would experiment with everything from drum circles to uniforms. Since the implementation of the testing regime, however, charters have become known for their laser-like focus on test results, which subverts the initial idea of pedagogical or educational diversity. Charters have proven maybe a tad better on test results than "regular" schools, but there are serious issues related to them not serving the most difficult to teach students. Further, charters can drain money from the budget that goes to the other schools. One consequence, intended or otherwise, is the hollowing out of our public school systems.

Teach for America
The truth is that for all its noble intentions, Teach for America is based on the idea that education has suffered because the smartest among us have avoided it. So now we have Ivy Leaguers and such entering the field, which is fine. But there's a lot more to teaching than knowledge. A lot. My mentor teacher told me he didn't become a good teacher until his fifth year. Most Teach for America teachers leave the profession well before that.

High Stakes Testing
And why do teachers leave? The environment is one filled with disrespect toward teachers, from students all the way up. Top down mandates such as the testing fixation never feel good, and the creativity that drew people to the profession is replaced by fears about under-performing on tests. Good teachers get publicly stigmatized when the scores are low, even though so many factors are beyond the teacher's control. The testing can also strike fear into the hearts of students who just aren't comfortable with pressurized test taking.

Take Over and Turnaround
Schools that "under-perform" can be subject to takeover by the state or school districts. So-called turnaround specialists are called in, but they never are really able to make that much of a difference. Until we tackle poverty, turnaround will remain a chimera. In the meantime, lots of good teachers get fired in the take over process. As do some bad ones, but the brush is too broad. And because of the high stakes, cheating on the part of school administrators is rampant nationwide.

Race to the Top
Obama's signature ed initiative, it might as well be called Race to the Bottom. It dangles bribes of big money out there for states that implement the most "reform" strategies, including the dubious ones discussed here. You know what? Republicans might have a point when they talk about dissolving the  Department of Education. Race to the Top follows up on No Child Left Behind, which institutionalized high-stakes testing back around 2002 or so. It's ironic that one of the true bipartisan acts of our fractured era is one with questionable impact.

Assessment 
Instead of standardized testing, teachers advocate something called formative assessment. The best testing is testing that lets a teacher know quickly where a student is at, and how best to help the student going forward. This kind of assessment is completely lost in the "reform" environment.

Finland
Finland is always held up as having the model school system. But theirs is an homogenous society. I bet that when you take into account the fact that US public schools educate many, many students for whom English is a second language, or who live in poverty, we actually do a better job than is acknowledged.

Michelle Rhee
The biggest celebrity of the reform movement is good at one thing: firing people. She's tough!

Diane Ravitch
Former Bush administration education official switches sides and becomes Michelle Rhee's bete noire, as well as one of the fiercest critics of our testing and privatization regimes. Does she have the zeal of a convert? Yes, but she is fundamentally correct.