More than just the usual suspects greeting the NLRB graduate student decision with praise…
Still More Home-Schooling Action!
Not from Edu Commentary, this time from Jay Mathews.
Education Poll Numbers…Why Iraq Matters More Than AYP Right Now
In the 2000 presidential race, with education a salient issue, the candidate’s poll numbers on education (e.g. “Who Do You Trust…”) moved independently of other numbers. But this time they seem to move in concert with broader perceptions of the candidates.
The new ABC News/Washington Post poll is further evidence. A month ago, when asked who they trust to handle education voters preferred Kerry 52-43. When asked the same question last week the answer was still Kerry, but only 45 -44. Yet nothing major happened on education in the last month, no big Bush push or Kerry mishap. Instead, how the voters view Bush and Kerry on education seems to largely be a function of how they view them on other issues voters consider more important right now. If Kerry gets a bounce coming out of the convention then expect those numbers to move again.
Though education analysts hate to admit it, since it’s the issue we generally care most about, this election is going to turn on issues besides education. But, there’s hope! Education will probably still be a framing issue, meaning both candidates can use it to help shape broader perceptions of their candidacies.
Two From The Convention: A Nice Student Story…And, NCLB Foes Lose Touch With Reality
Boston Globe reports on some middle school students covering the convention for their school newspaper.
And, from an anti-NCLB ad in the Globe:
Passed by a bipartisan vote, NCLB will close the majority of American elementary schools, or will allow them to be taken over by the state or profit-making businesses. NCLB. . .
*Shifts control of most aspects of education from states to Washington ideologues
*Drives students and teachers out of schools and encourages lying about the facts
*Limits and proscribes educational research
*Bases all decision-making on test scores
*Labels effective schools as failing and effective teachers as unqualified
*Controls who may teach and how they teach
*Mandates archaic methods and materials
*Uses blacklists to banish professionals, institutions, methods, and books
*Punishes diversity in schools
*Is unconstitutional
Well, they got one right. It apparently does encourage lying about the facts.
Who paid for this ad anyway? Can’t be cheap in the convention supplement. That sounds like a good question for Ed Week’s reporter on the scene to look into…seemingly more interesting than buttons…
Update: Turns out, according to a reliable source, that the ad only cost about $11K, which is, almost, chump change. In fact, by Edu Commentary’s rough estimate it’s only about $733 per falsehood — a real bargain in today’s economy! Anyway, forget the previous question.
Two Cheap Shots
In today’s long Washington Post profile of Senator John Kerry the writer mentions his 1998 speech calling for reforming teacher “tenure” in elementary and secondary schools but then notes that, “he [Kerry] took on a premier Democratic interest group in 1998 — teachers unions — in a speech calling for “an end to tenure as we know it.” (He said nothing about tenure in this year’s primaries.)”
That’s true, but incomplete. In May, as the campaign turned toward substance Kerry offered a teacher quality proposal that included “tenure” reform. Had the primaries been more about ideas than anger this might be a fair charge, but alas, they were not.
On National Review Online Chester Finn says that the Gore – Lieberman plan was gutsier than the current Kerry plan (though, inexplicably, at the time Finn characterized the Gore – Lieberman proposals as a, “vast expansion of Uncle Sam’s involvement in the country’s schools” and a “Potomac power grab” and charged that they were “overlooking reality”).
Finn is right that education policywise the 2004 race is a bit of a snoozer but that’s because both candidates are hamstrung by the fact that there was bipartisan action on education early in Bush’s term. Now, going forward, what voters should look for is not soaring rhetoric or ridiculous promises but rather which candidate is going to actually do more to help realize the ambitious achievement gap closing goals put forward by No Child Left Behind.
On that score, Edu Commentary has noted that President Bush’s pantry seems to be a little empty these days while Kerry has offered good, albeit not sexy, ideas like improving teacher quality and doing something about the graduation rate problem. That’s fine though, the rules of the game are now in place and for the most part it’s going to be won by gaining a couple of yards in a cloud of dust, not Hail Mary passes.
Charter School Hat Trick…And, New (Major League?) Charter School Guidance
Great news from Buffalo and Pennsylvania. Pretty good news from Kansas City.
Also, updated charter school guidance from the Department of Education. Several changes, but most important, in Edu Commentary’s view, the new guidance clarifies that a charter school that receives funds under the federal charter school program and has more applicants than seats can weight its lottery in favor of students seeking to change schools under No Child Left Behind’s public school choice provisions.
A Department of Ed aide tells Edu Commentary that some school districts are planning on getting into charters “big time” as a way to address supply problems. Considering the source, though, Edu Commentary can only wonder, is this major league?
Monday’s News…Special Ideology Edition!
In Los Angeles bad news for Roy Romer’s critics, good news for everyone else.
George Will takes a break from attacking John Kerry to write about reading and the recent National Endowment for the Arts reading study.
The Department of Education takes a break from needlessly complicating No Child Left Behind implementation to host some useful conferences for teachers. Reports LA Times:
Several teachers, such as Mission Viejo biology teacher Jim Sink, welcomed the reminder that beneath all the policy debate about No Child, the law is “just a title on a concept, and the concept is kids learning.
“When the law was dumped on our doorstep, there wasn’t any detailed explanation about what it means,” Sink said. “Not all my students [succeed]. And these workshops have given me some ideas on how to help them.”
But teacher unions were dismissive of the summer tour. Daniel Kaufman, a spokesman for the National Education Assn., said the workshops did nothing to address the union’s concerns about insufficient funding, strict wording on teacher credentials and rigid demands on student testing.
Libertarian voucher advocate Casey Lartigue Jr. writes about various academics he encountered at Harvard as he was testing out his political philosophy during his undergraduate years. He liked Al Shanker a lot but says Gary Orfield shouted at him that, “I was the “kind of black person who turns his back on other blacks.””
If you’re following NCLB implementation, keep an eye on this.
Sorta new data on the new GED, fewer students taking it, more passing. Via educationnews.org.
Out Of His League? President Bush’s Missed Opportunity Or His Empty Pantry?
Reading President Bush’s speech to the Urban League on Friday (which, in fairness, had some good points) it’s hard not to be struck by his inability to explain No Child Left Behind in a crisp way that crystallizes for listeners (a) what the law requires (b) why it’s important to them (c) why many of the gripes from critics don’t make a lot of sense and (d) what’s next. In front of this audience all that seems especially important.
Although it’s now CW that John Kerry should borrow John Edwards’ “Two Americas” theme, it’s probably President Bush who would benefit more from listening to Edwards as he describes the two public school systems that now exist.
Of course, Edwards follows up the indictment with some ideas for educational improvement whereas for Bush it’s almost as if educational time stopped in January 2002, when NCLB was signed. Perhaps that’s his problem, this is a game about looking forward, not back, and at this point he doesn’t seem to have a lot of educational ideas to look forward to. It looks like the Bush – Cheney team was betting that the Democratic ticket would just campaign against accountability and in the process hand them an issue and now, because that hasn’t happened, they’re at a loss.
Inside Baseball Afterthought: Dan Gerstein, Michelle Stockwell, and Elizabeth Fay have all left the Hill, too, so the Bush team can’t just steal their ideas this time around either!
Calling All Ostriches
The National School Boards Association is happily basking in some new CBS News polling results showing African-Americans are less favorably disposed toward school vouchers than some other educational reform options. That’s true, as multiple polls show. However, it’s a dangerous mistake to misread these poll numbers as evidence that minorities don’t support vouchers, which NSBA also does. As Ellis Cose noted recently in Newsweek:
“…most people view vouchers in a positive light. Some 66 percent of blacks and 67 percent of Hispanics favor vouchers, as do 54 percent of whites. But most people understand quite clearly that in the real world they are not likely to get a voucher that will allow them to send a child to any school of their dreams. So it is not inconsistent that a majority of Americans favor increasing funding for public education over providing parents with vouchers. Nor it is surprising that blacks, even more than whites, strongly support funding for public schools.”
Likewise, it’s also not inconsistent that minorities are going to support vouchers when they’re offered because many low-income parents are desperate for better quality educational options for their kids. They’re not hostile toward public education, they just want what’s best for their own children and there is an attractive immediacy to vouchers that most other reforms (with the notable exception of public charter schooling and radically changing the distribution of teachers) do not offer.
Edu Commentary’s no fan of vouchers for practical and philosophical reasons, but recognizing and acknowledging this reality — the understandable support for them in the African-American community and the demand for change now — is essential to addressing the very real problems that threaten to erode support for public education. Denying this angst is a recipe for disaster over the long haul.
This poll (PDF) from the Joint Center for Economic and Political Studies also offers a more textured view about public opinion.
Rick Hess: Multicultural Guru Hess on Multiculturalism
If you’re interested in the politics of education, be sure to check out Frederick Hess’ article “Inclusive Ambiguity: Multicultural Conflict in an Era of Accountability” in the January – March Educational Policy.
Hess writes that, “Today, hardly any prominent educators or academics explicitly oppose the principal of diversity in the curriculum…The debate is really about the appropriate extent of such efforts.”
He notes that seeking to stave off conflict an “augmentative” approach is often used to include additional content in a curriculum. But, if for no other reason than time, this approach is at odds with high stakes accountability requiring students to master certain material at different points in their schooling.
Hess concludes that,
“The challenge for policy makers is that high-stakes accountability requires tough-minded choices regarding what students will be expected to master. Useful curricular guidelines must be coherent, reasonable, and concrete. However, the checks and balances of the American system, with its plentiful veto points, and permeable democracy, tend to promote grandiose ambiguity. Faced with intensely concerned particular constituencies and a largely apathetic public, policy makers tend to seek compromise when faced with sympathetic demands. Policy makers add material to the standards to placate irate constituencies or make standards vague enough to alleviate complainant concerns that their preferred content is being marginalized. Public officials find it easy to face down such pressure only when the complainants lack legitimacy, make demands that contradict authoritative scholarly principles, or run afoul of the constitutional regime.”
There is plenty more. It doesn’t uncover new information but it’s a terrific analysis of an important issue and worth checking out.