As We Approach 2012 - Scrappy Reformers are Turning the Tide

In the battle between the Goliaths of the status quo and the scrappy Davids of education reform, the tide may be slowly turning.  It was Arthur Reynolds Award winner Anthony Russo, whose This Week in Education article brought new attention to the battle for the hearts and minds of the American public, but the battle lines could not be more sharply drawn.

On the one hand, you have the Evil Empire.  If there is a person in public life who more closely resembles Darth Vader than Diane Ravitch I don't know who it is.  She was once a promising educational expert in her own right with the Bush administration before she was drawn to the dark side of critical thinking and educating the whole child instead of regimented standards based testing and preparation. 

Of course Darth Vader didn't like doing his own dirty work.  That's where the army of public school teachers come in.   Through their unions they fight the very changes that will save education.  In fact, they've been fighting these changes so hard for so long, they've made it very hard to find any evidence that the best reforms like charter schools, merit pay, and ending last in first out benefit students. 

This of course brings us to the force.  With evidence mounting that the very reforms we have staked our reputations or our careers on do not work, we're left to take it on faith.  Why is it that they don't work?  I believe it's teacher sabotage, but it may be some other equally plausible reason.  However, what we have is faith.  In Star Wars, they refer to that faith as The Force.  I believe that the force of education reform is equally power.

On the opposite side, are a ragtag collections of rebels.  In the picture above I used Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee, and Eli Broad as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Hans Solo, but there are a whole lot of these underdog heroes like Rahm Emanuel as C3PO, Mike Bloomberg as Obi Wan Kenobi, and Chris Christie as Chewbacca.   Despite overwhelming odds, they've fought a tough campaign against the establishment from their cobbled together resources.

Now, I said the tide was swinging towards the rebels and it is.  In Star Wars, the empire was everywhere, but there would always be a number of backwater planets inhabited by scoundrels and cut throats, where rebels who sometimes had shady pasts like Han Solo could plot the rebellion.  In this world, that place is Detroit.  In Detroit politicians with imagination have given Emergency Manager the freedom to take on teachers and collective bargaining.  The money he has saved from over inflated teacher contracts has enabled him to bring in Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson from Seattle and John Covington from Kansas City.  They both have very shady pasts and they may just be the kind of rogues we need to finally take down The Empire.

In Defense of the Rubber Stamp

As Regional Director for Teacher Development with Last Stand for Children, I have attended quite a few Chicago Board of Education meetings.   I have always loved these meetings for the model of efficiency that they are.  Even though the Board knows how they will rule on things ahead of time, community members will wait in line for 2 or 3 hours so that they can have their voices heard on education matters that affect them and their families.   The Board skillfully groups speakers on common topics into one two minute presentation so that everybody will have their voice heard.  The speakers don't change anything and that's fine.  They feel that they've had their voice heard and that's what democracy is all about.

All of that orderly democracy was ruined on December 14th when parents and community activists aligned to an agenda pushed forward by the militant Chicago Teachers Union disrupted the meeting.  According to news pamphlet The Chicago Sun-Times, "Adourthus McDowell, a Chicago Public School parent and member of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, began the takeover by rising from his chair and interrupting a presentation by Chicago Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard on a new $660 million capital construction plan."

There is a happy ending here because the board courageously met in closed session and approved the plan providing many schools in disrepair with the money to get much needed renovations before next school year when they are turned over to the highly connected AUSL group. Board President David Vitale ran AUSL before Rahm Emanuel handpicked him to save Chicago's public schools.  I'm sure it must have been a dream come true for him to be able to help his old organization.

There are many reasons why these turnarounds are necessary.   For instance, Casalas school is doing so poorly on state achievement tests that nearly half of all AUSL schools are beating it.  Chicago has had great success turning around schools, so much in fact that they turned around one high school twice--that's 720 degrees of education reform.  AUSL is the premier group for turnarounds and their record includes a huge success at Collins High School. 

What is most distressing though is what this outburst does for the rubber stamp.  The rubber stamp is a time honored tradition that I would hate to see go.  As Board President Vitale said, many who wished to be heard were not because of this mic check.  The meeting was actually taken over by the people in the audience who decided to hold their own meeting while the Board was meeting in closed chambers.  A Board meting without the Board is just wrong.  Without a rubber stamping authority, there is nobody to rubber stamp.  Fortunately, the Board returned and order was restored, but the damage to our democracy was already done.  

Speaking of loud voices ruining Democracy, I wanted to thank Andrew Russo for his great article in This Week in Education defending small groups like ours, Stand for Children and Students First who are under constant attack by internet bullies.  Thank goodness somebody besides Bill Gates has the courage to let our voices be heard.  

In Kim Jung Il Education Reform Has Lost a Friend

In our country, we pride ourselves on our meager attempts to bring common core standards to the American education system.  In North Korea, 10,000 school girls will cry for 48 hours in tribute to their fallen leader.  North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il was a despot, but the education reform movement owes a great deal of thanks to North Korea's enigmatic little leader.

When Mayor Bloomberg in New York announces that he would like to fire half the city's teachers and double class size or when Mayor Emanuel in Chicago closes down those schools that have displeased him, I can't help, but see a little bit of beloved leader there.  Like him or not, Kim was the master of doing things his own way because it was good for the people of North Korea.  Some people may have thought he was crazy to kidnap a movie director to make a Godzilla ripoff for him, but he thought it was good for the people of Korea.  His $700,000 annual liquor tab was just the kind of cost overrun so many great reformers have dealt with. 

According to North Korean historical literature, "Kim Jong Il was born in a log cabin inside a secret base on Korea’s most sacred mountain, Mt. Paekdu. At the moment of his birth, a bright star lit up the sky, the seasons spontaneously changed from winter to spring, and rainbows appeared."

I can't be the only person who is reminded of Michelle Rhee's description of her teaching career in Baltimore when I read that paragraph.  Historical accounts may contradict both stories, but perception is everything in the reform game or when running a country.  Kim reportedly shot 11 holes in one the first time her played golf.   Surely, Michelle Rhee could get behind that kind of creative erasing as well.

As the national of North Korean mourns, the country's leadership will be placed in the hands of Kim Jong Un.  One of Un's classmates said of him, ""He left without getting any exams at all. He was much more interested in  basketball than lessons."  As stories of Un's intensity on the basketball court, I couldn't help thing that North Korea will be OK.  Afterall, just look at how Arne Duncan has parlayed a similar skill set.

Education Blogger Wins Arthur Reynolds Award

During World War II, when German bombers seemed poised to knock the fight out of England and plunge the world into totalitarian darkness, Arthur Reynolds brought news of that island's heroic struggle to America's shores.  Few alive during those hours will ever forget the words Reynolds used to begin his reports on the London Blitz, "Edward R. Murrow said."  With those powerful words, you knew that Reynolds, who worked for NBC would soon be telling you what Edward R. Murrow was saying over on CBS.

Reynolds didn't just bust onto the scene in World War II.  It was a few years earlier when his report on the Hindenburg Disaster chilled the nation:

Ladies and gentleman, Herbert Morrison of WLS Chicago says, "Crashing, oh! Four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it... it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It's smoke, and it's in flames now; and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity! And all the passengers screaming around here. He told you; it—He can't even talk to people, their friends are out there! Ah! It's... it... it's a... ah! He... He can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest: it's just laying there, mass of smoking wreckage. Ah! And everybody can hardly breathe and talk and the screaming. 0000000, He... He... He's sorry. Honest: He... He can hardly breathe. He... He's going to step inside, where he cannot see it.

Reynolds career in broadcasting lasted long enough for him to report on  the JFK assassination where a new generation will never forget him describing how Walter Cronkite reported on the death of a President.

Russo is a proud successor to Reynold's journalistic tradition with such dynamic reporting on his blog  lately as:

Alexander Russo said 2 hours, 58 minutes ago

ray explains why lewis isn't funny
Karen Lewis and Other Reasons People Hate CPS Teachers | The White Rhino: A Chicago Latino English Teacher [

Alexander Russo said 11 hours, 51 minutes ago

CNC's jim warren watched the whole video and finds lots to admire about what lewis says and represents along with the lamentable parts -- no call for resignation

Alexander Russo said 12 hours, 52 minutes ago

some background on lewis's previous tussles from the trib's joel hood

Alexander Russo said 1 day ago

substance has surprisingly little to say

Alexander Russo said 1 day, 3 hours ago

zorn thinks she should resign for being tin eared

It is reporting on reporting like this that has people calling Alexander's District299.com blog the best Chicago Public Schools Blog out of New York State.  See for yourself why he is so deserving of the Reynolds Award.

The Common Core Will Be The Common Cure

Back in 1979 when they used to actually make family movies, I remember seeing a wonderful movie called The Great Santini.  The movie was about a Marine Lieutenant Colonel who is raising a family.  His hard and nails exterior is a sharp contrast from the type of parenting we see in television and movies so often, but rather than coddling his kids, he builds their character by demanding that they meet his high standards.   This is exactly the aim on the Common Core Curriculum that is sweeping the nation.

45 states have already adopted the Common Core Standards and will now be bringing increased rigor and decreased literature to 89% of the students in the country.  The Common Core was written by David Coleman who has no actual teaching experience, but developed The Grow Network, which was acquired by McGraw-Hill.  The Common Core has been championed by such education heavyweights as Bill Gates and Michelle Rhee so you know it packs a punch.  There are several principles of the Common Core:

1. Social Studies and science are really reading classes and should be taught that way rather than trying to promote student understanding of the concepts being studied.

2. Rather than trying to teach students at their level, they should be educated at grade level or above grade level.  This will prepare them to work in an increasingly competitive corporate environment where there will be fierce competition internationally for middle management jobs.

3. Narrative writing and fiction are a waste of time.

4. Rigor, rigor, rigor!

The future of education is indeed exciting.  The Common Core will change the way that we teach and learn.  While school may not be as much fun as it currently is with far less "story time" and "feelings", it will help to transition our students to the bold corporate world of the future.  Are you ready for the Common Core?  Take our quiz:

Question:  In the Hunger Games, describe Katniss’s relationships with Gale, with Prim, and with her mother. How do those relationships define her personality? Why does she say about Peeta, “I feel like I owe him something, and I hate owing people”? How does her early encounter with Peeta affect their relationship after they are chosen as tributes?

Answer: Nobody cares.  If you want to read something with excitement and violence try The Iliad or Patton.  This isn't pretend time.

Think Tank Study Finds Think Tank Researchers Underpaid

The release of today's study by The Ponds Institute for Statistical Research in conjunction with Last Stand for Children First is sending shock waves through the research establishment.  The study, which took a comprehensive look at researcher salaries in comparison with a wide variety of both public and private occupations.  The study concluded that think tank researchers performed one of the most important tasks in our economy, yet are not paid a corresponding wage.

"When you consider just how important the work of think tanks is, they are woefully underpaid by as much as 75%.  The real problem is that in the future promising graduate may begin pursuing careers doing stuff rather than joining think tanks," said Martin Zale head researcher for the study, "then where will we be?"

Critics of the study have pointed to the fact that the researchers arbitrarily assigned a Job Importance Value Efficient to various careers.  While teachers were given a .03 JIVE rating and doctors were given a .64 rating, think tank researchers were given a JIVE score of 22.85. 

"Not true," said Zale who explained, "it's extremely hard to put a price on the work think tank researchers do.  Are we underpaid?  Oh yes, we're underpaid."

If Education Reformers Ran the NFL

Fran Tarkenton shown above sitting on his helmet in the final moments of a 32-14 Viking loss in the 1977 Super Bowl wrote an excellent article recently for the Wall Street Journal.  Tarkenton who is most known for a very long career without a Super Bowl ring to show for it joined former professional basketball player Arne Duncan in taking teachers to task. It did make me think about how great the NFL would be if run by education reformers.

• Due to the failures of college stars like Ryan Leaf and Brian Bosworth to become great players, the college draft would be eliminated

• To make up for the loss of new talent coming to weak teams through the draft, the worst teams would be given gifted athletes who have never played the sport before a 5 week crash course in the Summer.  Most of these players will quit after 2 years to become coaches.

• The BCS ranking system for colleges would now exist, but instead be based on the success of the players coached by their graduates in the NFL.

• As Tarkenton himself points out,  "Why bother playing harder or better and risk getting hurt?" if you aren't rewarded for individual accomplishments rather than team goals.  Every player will now be on an incentive contract.  Cornerbacks will be free to try for the interception at all costs rather than knocking down a pass, defensive ends can go all out for the sack and ignore draws and trap plays, wide receivers can proudly proclaim when leading 28-24 in the last minute, "Throw me the damn ball."

• The disabled list will be eliminated.  If you can't do the job, you will be cut.

• Teams that fail to make the playoffs will become turnaround teams.  They will cut their team, fire their organization from the general manager down to the people who work the concession stands and a new team will replace them.

• An expansion team has the right to take over half your home field, with each team playing from 50 yard line to goal line.

• As the NFL has the shortest season of any professional sports league, the season will be expanded to 80 games.  This will be done by eliminating off days between games and players will receive no extra compensation because it's for the good of the fans. 

• Players will not be paid for practicing or attending training camp. Any time other than game time is optional.

• Coaches will not be allowed to create their playbook and instead will use much of the team's budget up buying pre-scripted playbooks.

• Players will be very poorly paid.  Instead the best paid people in the game will be announcers and pundits who continually criticize the players.

• Players will be given gear left over from the 1970s and be expected to pay for upgrading their own equipment.

•  Players will have no say over how they are used.  If a player signed with a team to play quarterback and they need him at defensive tackle, that's where he'll play.  If a player holds out, he will not only be released, he will be banned from playing in the league again.

This is the kind of league I could really get behind.  A game every night of the week would be awesome and with players freed up from the concentration on winning, I could root for my favorite players instead of teams.  The time for reform has come.