Edu Commentary

In Washington State the anti-charter school referendum succeeded and the sales tax increase for education failed…Perhaps if the two campaigns had worked together with a unified message about investing more in schools and offering parents more public options? Also in WA, state superintendent Terry Bergeson won reelection, a decision with ramifications for the state’s standards and assessment program.

In AZ, voters decided to expand the state board of education, that means representation for the state’s charter schools.

In San Diego voters soundly defeated a school board candidate whose campaign basically seemed to be predicated on the notion that the local teachers’ union is always right and San Diego schools chief Alan Bersin is always wrong. Maybe less toxic there? Here’s hoping.

Already starting to hear a little noise about how if Kerry had been more harsh on No Child Left Behind he might have won this thing. Sorry, the issues that drove this election had little to do with education and the exit polls confirm this. In Edu Commentary’s view, Kerry handled education about right. The action was elsewhere.

Update: Don’t take Edu Commentary’s word for it, Chris Correa says the same thing here.

It’s starting to look like this prediction was a little-off…

But the post-election analysis still mostly stands though the convincing margin of Bush’s win will, at least initially, temper some of the partisanship. However, Bush’s victory does mean that the conflation of politics, anti-Bush feeling, and education policy will continue. Bush himself certainly deserves some blame for this state of affairs, though clearly not all, but he can do something to defuse it and achieve some progress.

On education specifically, a dramatic move would be to appoint a reform-oriented Democrat as his next Secretary of Education. The logical candidates are some of the same names tossed out as good picks for a Kerry Administration: San Diego’s Alan Bersin, New York’s Joel Klein, Virginia Governor Mark Warner (who would be terrific for the national interest although it’s not in his best interest), or former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes. Other good picks would include someone like former Detroit superintendent Deb McGriff or Hugh Price, the former president of the Urban League.

Picking someone from the other party for posts like Defense, State, or Transportation where differences do not consistently follow party lines is one thing. Reaching out to make a bold pick from across the aisle for a post where there are genuine partisan disagreements, but also room for real consensus building, is a whole different kettle of fish. It would also show that unlike previous feints to bipartisanship and unity, this time the President actually means to act on his words. It’s hard to find a Democrat who agrees overwhelmingly with Bush on education but there are plenty, like the above, who agree on more than enough to build real consensus.

Alternatively, Bush could follow advice like this and his second term will do nothing to build consensus in the nation nor move us closer to addressing the enormous challenges that American education faces.

Also, if Bush II doesn’t change its tax cut and spend ways, educators should worry more than anything else about the Geezer War, which will not just be a federal problem.

PS—Rumors abound that Margaret Spellings was once, or still is, a Democrat. Edu Commentary doesn’t know, or really care, and while he thinks she’s a fine pick for Secretary because she has a much-needed pragmatic streak, a Spellings pick would, by itself, do little to defuse the toxic and intellectually deadening education politics of the past year or two.

Update! Several reliable emailers say that Diane Ravitch’s name is floating around. But she’s not a Democrat either! It’s unity! Remember?

A NC Teach For America teacher has a cool blog on education as well as an interactive site for teachers to share resources.

It’s also highlighted in this month’s NEA Today. They must not have known about the TFA connection….

NSBA’s Mike Resnick has written a sensible overview (pdf) of how NCLB’s “adequate yearly progress” provisions are playing out around the states. It’s targeted at school board members but will be a useful overview for anyone with a basic understanding of what the law requires. Pay attention to the jumps, they’re confusing in the pdf format. Via Boardbuzz.

“Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.” –Gore Vidal

Today is the perfect time to consider how lucky we are to live in a country where we sort out our differences at the ballot box rather than in the streets and how important it is to participate in the process. Moreover, it’s an ideal time to reflect on how awesome it is that we live in a country that can produce something like this…

A great article (pdf) in PS: Political Science in Politics takes an ironic look at the Supreme Court’s betting pool on the 2000 presidential election and teases out all sorts of inferences. The highlight of the article is the entertaining endnote 5 about the scientific method. Too often education research resembles that remark…

Via Drezner via Crooked Timber.

A week or two ago Edu Commentary bemoaned that there are not more education blogs on the left. Now, here’s one recently started by a teacher from Austin, TX. He’s off to a fast start and has some good stuff.

Update: Another very good, though not new, edublog is Chris Correa, check that out, too.

Over at This Week in Education, Russo outs Barak Obama as a voucher supporter. Edu Commentary is less sure but it’s worth reading, he’s got some evidence.

In any event, something for the usual suspects to freak out about.

No doubt, with a phenomenally close election looming, people today are less interested in eduwonkery than in politics. Plenty of good stuff around the web but a couple of highlights are: New Donkey if you’re looking for fast-breaking analysis, particularly about the political dark arts that we’ll see over the next 48 hours; Bull Moose if you’re interested in observing smartly written and high-level conservative angst in the closing hours; RealClear Politics and Slate (they have the race where Edu Commentary had it last week–Update: They’ve changed their minds!) if you want to track the polls and what they potentially mean; and Mickey Kaus for probably the smartest (and funniest) analysis of what it all means (he’s breaking news on OBL’s red-state strategery right now). And of course, you’ll check Drudge twenty times today.

And, for a different angle, check out Tradesports.com or even buy a few contracts yourself. Will the market predict the outcome better than the experts? You decide.