Catherine the Great, Frederick Douglass, and education reform

yes Andy Smarick / March 21, 2013

I usually keep two books going at once. I like to find the connections and divergences between seemingly unrelated texts.

Recently, I’ve been making my way through a biography of Catherine the Great and the autobiography of Frederick Douglass.

Going in, I figured the brain-candy thread tying the two together would be the dissimilarities between their nearly contemporary lives: Douglass (1818–95) born into American slavery, eventually escaping, becoming a leading abolitionist and statesman; Catherine (1729–96) born into German nobility, marrying into Russian royalty, ruling for more than 30 years.

But as it turns out, the stories of these historical giants have three associations particularly relevant to our work.

Catherine the Great tried to end serfdom—but eventually grew acclimated to power. Photo from the Wikimedia Commons

First, though she was spectacularly wealthy—casually distributing estates, amassing the largest art collection in Europe’s history—Catherine tried to end the abomination of serfdom. As the book recounts, “The conditions of Russian serfs resembled that of black slaves in America.”

It is striking how two people from such disparate backgrounds could be compelled to advocate for the same moral cause. Douglass lived the horror: He had no knowledge of his age and was separated from mother in infancy. He was often awakened in morning by “the most

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Catherine the Great, Frederick Douglass, and education reform

Accountability dilemmas

yes Chester E. Finn, Jr. / March 21, 2013

A useful new report from Public Agenda and the Kettering Foundation underscores the painful divide between parents and education reformers on the crucial topic of what to do about bad schools.

Schools play many roles in communities, and the prospect of closing one undermines most of those. Photo by hundrednorth

In a nutshell, if the neighborhood school is crummy, parents want it fixed. So do community leaders. Ed reformers are far more apt to want to close it and give families alternatives such as charter schools.

As Andy Smarick has perceptively written, schools play multiple roles in communities, and the prospect of closing one undermines most of those. Hence, shuttering a school affects more than the convenience of keeping one’s own kids in a familiar (and generally close-at-hand) facility, maybe even with that nice Ms. Greensleeves who teaches fourth grade there. As Jean Johnson writes on behalf of Public Agenda, based on a recent series of focus groups (as well as much other research), “Most parents see local public schools as important community institutions and viscerally reject the idea that closing schools—even those that are persistently low-performing—is a good way to improve accountability in education.”

On the reform side, however, Johnson writes, “In many communities, school leaders are closing or drastically reorganizing low-performing

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Accountability dilemmas

Flypaper takes first prize in the Education Writers Association’s annual contest

yes Michelle Gininger / March 13, 2013

We’re honored and humbled by the news that the EWA named Flypaper the best blog in the “education organizations and experts” category of its annual awards. We always thought Flypaper readers had great taste; now it’s official.

Second prize went to FERPA Fact, a publication of the Student Press Law Center and Ray Salazar of The White Rhino: A Chicago Latino English Teacher. Education Sector’s The Quick and the Ed received a special citation.

In explaining their decision, the judges wrote,

The benefit of Mike Petrilli's blogs is that each unfolds clearly and intelligently to make its point about a range of ed issues he's familiar with -- and which he introduces to the reader in a fair manner. His tone is open and respectful -- not only of those he disagrees with, but of the reader, who may not be the same ed policy wonk he is.

Petrilli reminds me favorably of Malcolm Gladwell. The other contributors are well-versed in the topics they write about while still writing in a way that could engage a wider audience than educators.

Are you new to Flypaper? Read the seven posts that cinched the award below.

1.   The test score hypothesis
2.   We don't judge teachers by numbers alone; the same should go for schools
3.   Can schools spur social mobility?
4.   The case for public-school choice

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Flypaper takes first prize in the Education Writers Association’s annual contest

Ed Next Book Club: Tony Wagner on Creating Innovators

Education Next / March 13, 2013

In this edition of the Ed Next Book Club podcast, Mike Petrilli sits down with Tony Wagner to discuss his new book, Creating Innovators.

Business leaders, pundits, and politicians all seem to agree: America needs to get much better at nurturing innovation if we are to rebuild our economy, expand opportunity, and win a secure future for our children. But what exactly is innovation? And more importantly, how can parents and educators develop it in our young people? What can we learn from young adults of the Millennial generation who themselves are highly successful innovators and entrepreneurs? And what does all of this imply for education policy?

To answer these questions and more, Tony Wagner, the author of The Global Achievement Gap, and the first innovation education fellow at the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard University, interviewed more than 150 people. The result is his acclaimed and commercially successful recent book, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World. In today’s edition of the Education Next Book Club, we speak with Tony about his book, innovation, and how schools across the world can help to light the spark of innovation within their students.

To listen to this podcast, click here.

Additional installments of the Ed Next Book Club podcast can be heard here.

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Ed Next Book Club: Tony Wagner on Creating Innovators