History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
The school reform fantasy
- 04-20-2011
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Guest blog by Matthew Di Carlo/Washington Post
In three previous posts, I discussed what I’ve begun to call the “trifecta” of teacher-focused education reform talking points: ·Teachers are the most important (in-school) factor affecting achievement; ·Firing the bottom 5-10 percent of teachers will increase our scores to the level of high-performing nations; and ·Providing children with three, four, or five consecutive “top” teachers in a row would close the achievement gap. In many respects, this “trifecta” is driving the current education debate. You would have trouble finding many education reform articles, reports, or speeches that don’t use at least one of these arguments. Indeed, they are guiding principles behind much of the Obama Administration’s education agenda, as well as the philosophies of high-profile market-based reformers, such as Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee. The talking points have undeniable appeal. They imply, deliberately or otherwise, that policies focused on improving teacher quality in and of themselves can take us a very long way - not all the way, but perhaps most of the way - towards solving all of our education problems. This is a fantasy. (more...)
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