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For those who might want to think about something other than health care reform for a few moments I would like to sound a warning bell about the Obama administration’s moves toward education "reform" as embodied by our current Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. And it is fitting as a memorial to Senator Kennedy, who worked hard to improve public education throughout his career.
A not-so-brief background: during the campaign Obama chose Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond as his education advisor. Prof. Darling-Hammond was seen as the best candidate by teachers for the post of Secretary of Education and both national teacher’s unions, the NEA and the AFT, worked overtime to help get Obama elected. Then things turned political and Prof. Darling-Hammond was a victim of a village smear campaign. Gerry Bracey wrote about that here, at the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gerald-bracey/the-hatchet-job-on-linda_b_155104.html
So our new Education Secretary became Arne Duncan, Obama’s basketball pal from Chicago who was in charge of the Chicago school "reform" movement. Mr. Duncan, a hero to the right and a question mark to the left, had no education experience. He talks a confusing talk and appears to listen but he seems to be a corporatist who eagerly embraces the corporate "reform" movement. Duncan’s history can be found here:
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/23_03/arne233.shtml
and here:
http://edjustice.blogspot.com/2009/07/arne-duncan-and-chicago-schools.html
Duncan’s main approach, taken directly from the conservative Republican agenda and backed by the DLC, was to close failing neighborhood schools, fire teachers and principals, and encourage the siphoning of public school funds into charter schools that would be free from the constraints of teacher’s union contracts, bureaucratic requirements, and accountability of test-taking. The conservatives were thrilled beyond belief. Problem was, it didn’t work. It doesn’t work. Several studies cited in the above articles show that urban charter schools do no better, in general, and often worse, than public schools when they are actually held to the same accountability in test-taking. Some charter schools do as well as or better than public schools, sometimes because of selective admissions or other requirements.
Senator Kennedy, rest his soul, was duped by GW Bush into cosponsoring an ugly piece of legislation called "No Child Left Behind," a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides federal support for public schools. Kennedy was promised a huge increase in government spending for the poorest schools (Title I) which serve the poor, minority, urban, and rural children of America.
The idea behind NCLB arose directly out of a report commissioned by Ronald Reagan titled "A Nation At Risk" which you can read about here:
http://www.edutopia.org/landmark-education-report-nation-risk
President George H. W. Bush convened a panel, chaired by then-governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, which produced "America 2000," the precursor to NCLB, which was defeated by the Democratic-controlled congress. See here:
http://www.newfoundations.com/EGR/Am2000.html
In January 2002, NCLB passed congress with great "bipartisan" support. And the lash began to fall on public school children, their teachers, and embattled school districts while the promised extra spending was written out of the budget. Surprise!
Much like the health care reform debate, the education "reform" debate was quickly overtaken by voices from the US Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and conservative think tanks of that ilk, all of which owed allegiance to the Republican party which has opposed public education from its inception in the US of A because they see it as another entitlement program that smacks of socialist government control.
They have seethed for decades while they watched education spending, which tops most state budgets, spend billions of dollars that they couldn’t get ahold of and make a profit from, at least until NCLB and GW Bush’s Dept. of Education opened the taps to their campaign supporters, especially through the corrupt and failed "Reading First" program. Read about that disaster here:
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/edlabor_dem/rel042007rf.html
When the DLC democrats decided to join with the corporate interests in calling for massive education reform, the war to protect public education was lost. Now the radical right wing ideas of charter schools, publicly funding private (usually religious or military) schools, punishing teachers and breaking the unions, siphoning funding away from public schools, and the myth of a public education system in crisis have become conventional wisdom and Obama has embraced it full tilt and Arne Duncan is the general in the war against public education.
Teddy Kennedy learned his lesson. GW Bush screwed him after signing NCLB and dropped the increased funding requirements. You can read his statements about the need to radically reform NCLB, which he co-sponsored, here, at HuffPo:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-brown/senator-kennedy-no-child-_b_81354.html
So now Obama and Duncan have produced their program, called "Race to the Top" which continues the failed and punitive policies of Reagan, both Bushes, the corporatist "reformers" who love getting hold of public education money, and the Clintons. The National Governors Association is producing a draft document of a set of national education standards, with little to no teacher input (just like Poppy Bush’s "America 2000" and The National Reading Panel’s NCLB, "Put Reading First", etc.).
Obama and Duncan are tying state’s reception of "Race to the Top" funds to increasing charter schools, tying teacher pay to test scores, and "reforms" that are very popular with the corporate lobbyists who stand to take the lion’s share of the money for their tests, their programs, their text books, and their training of teachers.
The children who come to school each day hungry, sick, poisoned with lead (with the accompanying learning disabilities), with rotting teeth and poor hearing and eyesight, parents unemployed, perhaps incarcerated, perhaps drug addicted, or with a drinking problem, being raised by elderly grandparents, foster parents, or other relatives, with no safe place to study or sleep WILL achieve high test scores by fiat — because Obama and Duncan say so and they are going to pay nearly $5 billion dollars to make it happen.
Bill Gates and several other foundations (many ultra-conservative) have already spent billions "reforming" education with no better result than the traditional American public schools. There is a wealth of research out there. I suggest you read Gerry Bracey’s columns at the Huffington Post for a better understanding of the politicization of public education and the heinous influence of corporate masters. Bracey is a columnist at The Kappan, an educational researcher, and founder of EDDRA (The Education Disinformation Detection and Reporting Agency).
Of course the problems that make learning so difficult for these children will not be addressed by the government because they are politically volatile and risky. It’s much easier to threaten and fire teachers, pay billions to political contributors to write ever more arcane and unproven tests, and generally blame the teachers’ unions than it is to address the lack of opportunity and health care and housing and food and all those other socialist things that have real impact on learning.
No Child Left Behind is up for reauthorization. I’ll let parent Anne Foster, of Change.org, have the last word here:
As we come to the time that the NCLB law can be revisited and changed to reflect the things we have learned, some questions bear asking. Education Secretary Duncan and Congress, are you listening?
We can and must do better as Americans, as the Democratic party, as progressives, and most of all, as human beings. And we can take a lesson from education "reform" that will help us better understand what is happening right now in health care "reform."
Let’s save public education while reforming health care. What do you say?
UPDATE: I am not opposed to charter schools per se; I am opposed to the current administration using the concept of charter schools to impose harsh penalties on public schools with no input from public school teachers.
The National Governors Association committee on National Standards, linked above, is top-loaded with representatives of corporate organizations and think tanks and they have already produced their first draft without teachers at the table. That is not a good start.
In my state (Florida) there is a history of corruption and non-accountability in the creation and maintenance of charter schools that has made me cautious about the motives of charter school advocates.
I know of a few very good, effective charter schools but I also know of several where the founders embezzled public education funds for their own enrichment, where children suffered from poor management and teaching, and where selective enrollment was used to produce spectacular results to show how "bad" public schools are, even though they aren’t educating the same populations.
Color me skeptical.
18 Comments
I am anticorporatist, and I hope you reconsider dismissing the success of all charter schools out of hand. They are not all corporate-backed. We have a few in our area that address the specialized, differentiated needs of our community, and although they do receive some public education funding, the parents are also greatly involved in fundraising. Please check out the website for the International Community School, http://www.intcomschool.org. Also, recently I learned from a grandmother of a high school student that he attends a charter/magnet school that focuses on environmental science; I haven’t checked it out yet, but the grandmother’s description of her grandson’s aspirations seemed much more naturalist than corporatist. I firmly believe in public education and in keeping the corporatist mentality out of our lives. I also believe that people learn in different ways and may benefit by different types of learning environments and that creation of new learning environments does not have to detract from the basic education each student must receive nor be derived from and supported by corporate interests.
Thank you for your sincere comment. I have no doubt that some charter schools work quite well — they have all the elements of succeeding: highly engaged parents and students, support in creative teaching and learning, and freedom to think outside the educational box. I applaud what you are doing and am glad for your children.
But that’s not why corporations and the US Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and other business groups support charter schools as an alternative to public schools. They see charter schools as a means of privatizing education and making a profit. See the infamous history of for-profit school management companies here:
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=…..ketee.html
My own school lost 6 teachers this year due to budget cuts. One of the budget items that is untouchable is a percentage of our funding must be set aside to pay to send students to charter schools if their parents so wish. That is money that will not be replaced and so my students take the hit. That upsets me.
My school may actually have to pursue charter status to stay open. This is our last year to meet Adequate Yearly Progress under NCLB. We only had 69% of all students at grade level last year, instead of the state-required 72%. We receive no credit for the 11% increases we actually made. We missed the arbitrary target and that’s that. Period.
This year the goal is 84%, an unprecedented level of literacy never achieved in human history in any culture, with the ultimate goal 100% literacy, according to NCLB. Yet we accept all children who come to us and we have 80% free and reduced lunch (poverty level), 5 special education units, about 50% non-native English speakers. I think what we’ve done is pretty good. NCLB says we are failures and that we are to be fired, en masse, next year if we don’t “improve”.
Forgive me if that makes me bitter. I have 2 graduate degrees, am National Board Certified, and am working on a PhD in education. I provide an A+ education to the poorest children in my community and all of my students made the grade, but under NCLB I am a failure because my school missed the target by 5 points. 5 points. On one fill in the bubble test.
I would like to see the energy and creative ideas being used in charter schools applied to public schools. The often-stated purpose of charter schools is to bring market-like competition to public schools in the belief that, like widgets and paper towels, competition will “force” public schools to do better.
There are certainly problems in urban schools that need to be addressed. I taught in such a school for several years. Firing teachers wholesale and replacing them with cheaper, non-union employees doesn’t work. Nor does bringing in the teachers from upper middle class white schools. I want America to work together to improve all public schools but do it in a way that respects children, families, and teachers.
Yes. The federal government gives very little to public education. If they want to give more, rather than rewarding charter schools and merit pay, how about they start with making sure schools have all the basic resources they need, books, computers, school supplies? Then, I would like to see an emphasis(complete with funding) on neighborhood schooling, smaller schools, smaller classrooms. And, let’s remember, school achievement is a reflection of community. In other words, it’s very hard for kids to succeed in their schools, even schools that strive to do the very best, in neighborhoods that are falling apart. I recently read a study. I think it was from MA. It said poor test scores did not correlate with dropout rates. In other words, even kids who were on track to graduate dropped out at similar numbers to their low score counterparts, and that has more to do with their deteriorating neighborhoods, than the schools. So, we need to improve neighborhoods particularly by creating jobs.
One of Obama’s campaign promises was to double the amount of money given to public charter schools. He promised a grant of $4,000 for college to any middle class student who performed community service work. It is assumed that the poor will stay poor and uneducated. Most policies are made to keep the poor in their place..not to raise them up and out of it. Deny sufficient funds to public schools and the children have a future as adults of low paying jobs. Shameful in a country that pretends to care about all of its people. Studies show that hungry children cannot learn properly irregardless of how good their schools might be. Both issues need to be addressed..more food and more funding are needed for poor public school children. As the unemployment rate continues to rise, more and more middle class families are slipping down to poor. Soon, if changes are not made, only the children of the rich will be educated past high school.
http://www.barackobama.com/iss…..mpaign.php
When I say public charter schools, I mean only the public ones, you know, some communities have those. I went to one my last two years of highschool. I’m not talking about private charters, which I abhor. Just wasn’t sure that was clear. I didn’t know Obama promised funds to just public charters, because that is certainly not what Arne is pushing now. But the first piece of the puzzle is the rank and file public schools, funding those first, particularly in low income areas. And, IMO, we should give those schools lots of extra resources, like more teachers for after school programs, AND, as you mention, meals. Healthy meals, two or three times a day.
“He promised a grant of $4,000 for college to any middle class student who performed community service work.”
Yeah, what kind of policy is that? How about just funding every young person through an additional two years of school at the community college level? A lot of these kids need to work. You know, they have bills to pay, Meanwhile, upper crust kids go to fabulous schools(even if they are not the brightest bulbs) without the requisite of community service.
We have few private schools in Canada; the majority are religious. I think the comparison with your public charter schools is close as they get some government funding. The private are another sphere of reality where only the rich live.
This book is typical of the push to keep the poor ‘down’ ie only the elite matter in America. The entire writeup is a ‘interesting’ view. I have some unprintable ideas as to what should become of the elite he promotes.
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“America’s future depends on how we educate the academically gifted. An elite already runs the country, whether we like it or not. Since everything we watch, hear, and read is produced by that elite, and since every business and government department is run by that elite, it is time to start thinking about the kind of education needed by the young people who will run the country. The task is not to give them more advanced technical training, but to give them an education that will make them into wiser adults; not to pamper them, but to hold their feet to the fire. “
http://www.randomhouse.com/cat…..0307405388
I’m not opposed to public charter schools. But the charter school movement, it must be understood, is just a further abdication of the government’s responsibility to its citizens. Not only have they decided their big reform idea is a funded NCLB(which was a deplorable policy as it was, unfunded or funded) but they are strong arming states, refusing to give stimulus money to states like mine that cap the number of charter schools, until they lift the caps. This isn’t right.
I am opposed to charter schools. All the research I have seen shows that they perform at best as well as regular schools and most of the time more poorly. Obama is a conservative far more in agreement with Bush than with us, not on some issues but on all issues. We should just accept that.
BTW someone pointed this out to me a while ago and I added it to my list of Obama scandals. I think it needs a lot more play. Thanks for doing such a good exposition of it.
I was extremely disappointed (to put it mildly) with the selection of Duncan. His deplorable record of nonachievement in Chicago certainly did nothing to merit his elevation to head up the reeling Department of Education. I supported Doug Christensen, former Commissioner for the Nebraska Department of Education. Nebraska has an innovative program, which has been accepted by NCLB, STARS – School-based Teacher-led Assessment Reporting System. But as in the case of all qualified people that would actually do something good for the education system, he wasn’t even seriously considered, despite an endorsement from the 35,000 member strong Education Roundtable.
Charter schools are an invention of the Reagan revolution. Someone needs to drive a stake through its heart. Public education is severely underfunded. My high school was supposedly a “bad” school on the wrong side of town, many years ago. I never attended a class with more than 18 students. My high school had a total of 1,500 students enrolled. There were probably two dozen after school programs for boys and girls. It’s remarkable, as a society, we are unwilling to fund after school programs, to reduce delinquency and to unleash creativity and passion. Yet, spending dollars on law enforcement for gang units and detention centers on the same students with no positive outlets. Creating a learning environment, no; creating a criminal system environment, yes. UFB.
A criminal system environment make work project of sorts. The poor that don’t have hope of a good future will join gangs whose members then join the military and eventually bring their skills home to America. This article is from 2007; there are even more waivers given now in order to keep up the number of new recruits.
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“Military-trained gang members also present an emerging threat to law enforcement officers patrolling the streets of US cities. Both current and former gang-affiliated soldiers transfer their acquired military training and knowledge back to the community and employ them against law enforcement officers, who are typically not trained to engage gangsters with military expertise. Gang members in the military are commonly assigned to military support units where they have access to weapons and explosives. Military personnel may steal items by improperly documenting supply orders or by falsifying paperwork. Law enforcement officials throughout the United States have recovered military-issued weapons and explosives-such as machine guns and grenades-from criminals and gang members while conducting search warrants and routine traffic stops. “
http://usmilitary.about.com/od…..angs_2.htm
Thanks for the link. So, let’s end the war, bring the resources back here and rebuild our country. Today, one bomber costs $2 billion dollars to build. Five bombers could have been 10,000, newly built, $2,000,000 public schools. Two hundred new schools in every state in the union. And, in Afghanistan, we don’t even use bombers, we use drones.
Bag the hyperbole of Obama’s war on kids. Kids always survive a few lousy teachers and generally go on to thrive. Kids generally survive lousy parents, but rarely go onto thrive.
You cannot fix any problem that you refuse to acknowledge. Duncan isn’t the problem, nor is the financial drain of charter schools. The public school system isn’t failing these children; we are. We, as a society have been failing them for a very long time. Instead of reevaluating the disastrous effects of our previous attempts, we’re now shifting the blame and diddling with more comfortable minutia. Obama’s recognition of and hopes to replicate the long term success of the Harlem Children’s Zone is an encouraging step in the right direction.
Geoffrey Canada’s work with the Harlem Children’s Zone is exactly the kind of change that will make a difference in the lives of struggling children. Saying that Obama hopes to replicate the program intrigues me. Can you point me to where the plans are for doing this? Is it in the Dept. of Education or is he hoping to do it through Congressional action?
Although I disagree with your statements that Duncan isn’t part of the problem and what I wrote is hyperbole, I do agree that we, as a people, are failing the children.
The kids I teach (not high school, early elementary) suffer quite a bit from federal dictates. Duncan is overseeing nearly $5 billion in education spending and I haven’t seen anything in the “Race to the Top” program that will help us replicate the HCZ program of providing health care, dental care, counseling, etc. in my neighborhood.
Perhaps the expectation is that the replication is to be done locally and funded privately? Whatever the plan is, it would be great for Obama and Duncan to share it with those of us who work with these children every day.
There is another program in Pittsburgh, Manchester Bidwell, founded by Bill Strickland, that focuses on an amazing vocational education program. His motto is “Make the Impossible the Possible.”
http://www.bill-strickland.org/
It is programs like this that will transform American education and help us to end poverty. Not merit pay and charter schools and crushing teachers careers.
Speaking of Duncan and the Chicago experience, here’s an interesting little scandal that surfaced today in the Sun-Times.
While not mentioning Duncan specifically, it does throw some much-needed cold water on the “Chicago education success story.”
In my opinion, most of these so-called educational miracles need to be taken with several grains of salt. There is no magic pill that solves this problem. Magic pills are just corporate propaganda for doing nothing significant and smashing teachers unions.
I find it interesting and welcome that the Sun-Times and the Chicago Teachers Union collaborated on this study. How unusual in today’s climate.
“NBC’s “Today” show has hired someone with White House experience as a new correspondent – former first daughter Jenna Hager.
The daughter of former President George W. Bush will contribute stories about once a month on issues like education to television’s top-rated morning news show, said Jim Bell, its executive producer.
He expects her first story, most likely concerning education, to be on sometime next month. “
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..72220.html
PriscillaQOB,
Sorry, but if your assertion that the Democratic Party and President Obama are waging a war against public education doesn’t rise to the level of hyperbolic, I don’t know what might. I’m not sure why they would choose charter schools and merit pay as their weapons of choice for crushing teachers careers; because it seems to me that both are codependent with teachers.
It was the last administration who’s Education Secretary found every opportunity to blame the public education system for dismal student achievement, always scapegoating administrators, teachers and unions in the process. Surely it didn’t escape your attention that the Democratic Party and it’s advocacy of any social programs like Head Start and Childrens Television Workshop were demonized as wasteful and vaguely un-American social engineering.
Perhaps you preferred an outright hostility to unequivical advocacy and funding when doesn’t necessarily comport with your vision?
“Perhaps the expectation is that the replication is to be done locally and funded privately?”
I can only suggest you consider how it would be funded, if and when it ever is. This President is in a pitched battle with Congress just trying to secure simple health care for these kids. When a member of congress thinks that’s a bridge to far, think about how much he or she cares about crushing your career. Then consider how much less they’ll care if Obama’s approval ratings sink. Do you think John McCain or Sarah Palin have any idea who Geoffrey Canada is, much less would support his work, even in the abstract? Again, Duncan, charter schools and merit pay aren’t the problem, and they may or may not be instrumental to the solution, but will never find out if we continue to sabotage people who are on our side.
“And it is fitting as a memorial to Senator Kennedy, who worked hard to improve public education throughout his career.” —
Excellent article. Obama and the odious, unqualified Arne Duncan are bad for public education.
But can we stop with the mindless praise of Ted Kennedy already?
Kennedy helped destroy the lives of America’s public school kids with his twisted No Child Left Behind Act. He also practically single-handedly gave liberals a bad name.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm…..ats-defeat
It is perhaps significant that liberals begin to find some dignity and voice once again – if they can hold the line on true health care for all – at the moment when Ted Kennedy disappears from the scene.