Month: September 2012

“We’ve Done Things Wrong …”

Eduflack accountability, AFT
“I know we’ve done things wrong both as a union movement as well as a teachers’ union …

I know sometimes my members get really upset at me when I say this, but you have to look at yourselves and say, ‘How can you change?  How can you do things better?  And what we’ve done as a movement as a movement, we focused, we fixated on fairness.  We thought, like, when they talk about justice and teachers unions, we would say, ‘That’s the boss’s job to fire somebody.  That’s not our job.”
– AFT President Randi Weingarten at the Democratic National Convention (courtesy of Huffington Post), reminding us with this acknowledgement that AFT can continue to be a major lever for real reform in public education.

Education: Dem Convention Edition 2012

Eduflack Obama, Presidential campaign, teachers

Earlier, Eduflack highlighted the strong edu-language uttered at the Republican National Convention by folks such as Jeb Bush and Condi Rice.  Today, we look at the Democratic response, provided at this week’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.

Interestingly, until last evening, the edu-talk just wasn’t that strong.  Most of it centered around dollars, and what would happen to everything from preK funding to Pell under a Romney/Ryan administration.  A few speakers — including San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro — spoke eloquently on the personal importance of a strong education.  But there was little policy discussion — until President Barack Obama himself spoke last evening.

You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life.

For the first time in a generation, nearly every state has answered our call to raise their standards for teaching and learning. Some of the worst schools in the country have made real gains in math and reading. Millions of students are paying less for college today because we finally took on a system that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on banks and lenders.

And now you have a choice_ we can gut education, or we can decide that in the United States of America, no child should have her dreams deferred because of a crowded classroom or a crumbling school. No family should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don’t have the money. No company should have to look for workers in China because they couldn’t find any with the right skills here at home.

Government has a role in this. But teachers must inspire; principals must lead; parents must instill a thirst for learning, and students, you’ve got to do the work. And together, I promise you_ we can out-educate and out-compete any country on Earth. Help me recruit 100,000 math and science teachers in the next ten years, and improve early childhood education. Help give 2 million workers the chance to learn skills at their community college that will lead directly to a job. Help us work with colleges and universities to cut in half the growth of tuition costs over the next 10 years. We can meet that goal together. You can choose that future for America.

And with that, the Gentleman from Illinois drops the edu-microphone …

We Should All Be Ed Reformers!

Eduflack accountability, Achievement gap, Connecticut

We should all agree that every child deserves a world-class education.  We should all agree (based on NAEP data and a plethora of information from groups like Education Trust) that there are serious achievement gaps we, as a nation, must overcome.  We should all agree that every classroom should be led by an exemplary teacher, and that teacher should be supported to continue her successes.  And we all should agree that we must constantly improve our public schools, ensuring they are adapting to the times and the needs of our kids and communities.  

We should all be education reformers. 
Over at the ConnCAN blog, Eduflack has a new blog post on making this point.  After clarifying the record on attacks made by many of those looking to prevent reforms and protect a failed system, I note:
At the end of the day, every single Connecticut resident should be a champion for education reform, one who demands real, meaningful school improvement. While we may disagree on the best path to achieve that improvement, we all should agree that reform is needed. And for those who stand in the way of reform, those who defend the status quo, we must ask: Who benefits from protecting a system of haves and have-nots, a system where educational quality is dictated by one’s race, family income, or zip code?
It is all the rage to question the motives of those who are looking to reform the schools, and it is even more en vogue to answer those questions with vitriol lacking in even the basest of facts.  Why not ask the motives behind protecting a system where fourth graders struggle to read at grade level, more than a third of Black and Latino students drop out of high school, and the majority of students who do get to college require remedial courses?

Education: GOP Convention Edition 2012

Eduflack accountability, Achievement gap, charter schools, Presidential campaign, reform

Last week, the Republican National Convention met in Tampa, Florida to nominate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (WI) as its presidential ticket for this November.  While education was a not a major focus of the convention, there were some real gems offered up.

No, Eduflack is not talking about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s “stand” on teacher tenure and collective bargaining.  I’m talking about the remarks delivered by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Secretary of State Condi Rice.
From Jeb:
We say that every child in America has an equal opportunity, but tell that to a kid whose classroom learning is not respected.  Tell that to a parent stuck at a school where there is no leadership.  Tell that to a young, talented teacher who just got laid off because she didn’t have tenure.  The sad truth is that equality of opportunity doesn’t exist in many of our schools.  We give some kids a chance, but not all.  That failure is the great moral and economic issue of our time and it is hurting all of America.

I believe we can meet this challenge.  We need to set high standards for students and teachers, and provide students and their parents the choices they deserve.

The first step is a simple one.  We must stop prejudging children based on their race, ethnicity, or household income.  We must stop excusing failure in our schools and state removing — start rewarding improvement and success.  We must have high academic standards that are benchmarked to the best of the world.  You see, all kids can learn.  Governor Romney believes it, and the data proves it.
And from Condi:
We have been successful because Americans have known that one’s status of birth is not a permanent condition.  Americans have believed that you might not be able to control your circumstances but you can control your response to your circumstances.

And your greatest ally in controlling your response to your circumstances has been a quality education.  But today, today when I can look at your zip code and I can tell whether you’re going to get a good education, can I honestly say it does not matter where you came from, it matters where you are going?  The crisis in K-12 education is a threat to the very fabric of who we are.

My mom was a teacher.  I respect the profession.  We need great teachers, not poor ones and not mediocre ones.  We have to have high standards for our kids, because self-esteem comes from achievement not from lax standards and false praise.

And we need to give parents greater choice, particularly poor parents whose kids, very often minorities, are trapped in failing neighborhood schools.  This is the civil rights issue of our day.
Some pretty powerful words from those who know what they are talking about.  Just take a look at Bush’s record in Florida, particularly his efforts to boost reading proficiency in our youngest students.  And Rice is now back at her perch at Stanford University, most likely the top higher education institution in the United States.
This week, it will be the Democrats’ turn in Charlotte.  Who will step up and out-education Jeb Bush?