Letter from New York City: Bloomberg's reforms

Diane Ravitch / January 23, 2003

When Michael Bloomberg ran for election as mayor of New York City, he pledged to make the improvement of the public schools his first priority. After he was sworn into office on January 1, 2002, he said that he wanted to be judged by whether the public schools improved.

Most elected officials, recognizing how contentious school reform is and how long it takes to show results, are happy to be insulated from education policy debates by a lay board. Not Bloomberg. To his credit, he stepped up to the plate and said, "Give me control and hold me accountable." His readiness to take over the biggest municipal problem--the uneven quality of the city's public school system - was due in no small part to Bloomberg's remarkable self-confidence. This is a man who built a massive communications empire, whose personal fortune is estimated to be well in excess of $4 billion, who flies his own jet to his many vacation homes and regularly socializes with stars from every field of endeavor. Having conquered the world of American business and high finance, and having been elected the Mayor of the City of New York on his first try at elected office, Bloomberg surely thought that fixing the schools was a not terribly difficult challenge.

When he took office, confidence in the city's public school system - and especially its creaky, convoluted governing structure - was at a low ebb. State tests showed that

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Letter from New York City: Bloomberg's reforms

A Mixed bag in this month's Kappan

January 23, 2003

Several articles in the January 2003 Phi Delta Kappan are worth a peek. The special section on teacher education includes seven articles addressing the challenges faced by education schools in the 21st century. While some seem to recognize that university-based teacher education programs face a serious crisis of legitimacy, most of the solutions offered by various authors reveal a breathtaking lack of creativity or entrepreneurship, suggesting that ed schools may not be able to rise to the challenge of reinventing themselves. Other articles in the issue include a piece by Joe Nathan and Bill Boyd on lessons from Minnesota's experience with all sorts of school choice and an ambitious effort by David Ackerman to synthesize the principles of traditional and progressive education. At this point, the Ackerman article is the only one available online.

"Taproots for a New Century: Tapping the Best of Traditional and Progressive Education," by David Ackerman, Phi Delta Kappan, January 2003

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A Mixed bag in this month's Kappan

How not to attract effective principals

January 23, 2003

Just as the teacher shortage has been declared over [see http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=6#414], states are reporting shortages of qualified candidates to become principals. It's not that there aren't enough certified principals to go around; in Indiana, which is struggling to fill principal positions, the state issued licenses to 975 new administrators last year though there are only 1,882 schools in the entire state. The problem is that many teachers get administrator licenses in order to receive an increase in pay based on the salary schedule, not because they have any interest in becoming a principal. And given that principals generally work longer hours and years than teachers, experienced teachers often make more money on an hourly basis than do principals. Instead of trying to make the job of principal more attractive, Indiana has responded to its principal shortage by instituting a new licensure test.

"Schools struggling to fill principal's jobs," by Kim Hooper, Indianapolis Star, January 21, 2003

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How not to attract effective principals

Nightmare for a novice teacher in DC

January 23, 2003

This first-hand account of a recent Yale graduate's first - and last - year teaching in a DC public school paints a frightening picture of the chaos that has become an accepted part of daily life in an urban school that lacks effective leadership. Among the challenges encountered by the author were a principal who refused to support his disciplinary policies and who undermined his attempts to hold students to high standards; black parents who were suspicious of a white teacher; and district policies that forced teachers to either stand back and watch while students inflicted bodily harm on others, or be subject to investigation for corporal punishment.

"How I joined Teach for America - and got sued for $20 million," Joshua Kaplowitz, City Journal, Winter 2003

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Nightmare for a novice teacher in DC

Signs of real commitment to school reform in Minnesota

January 23, 2003

New Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty announced last week that he planned to kill the state's wimpy "Profile of Learning" - a set of academic standards that focus more on hands-on discovery learning projects than academic content - and that he had appointed Minnesota native Cheri Yecke as his education commissioner. Yecke, a strong backer of state academic standards in Virginia, where she served as assistant secretary of education, most recently worked in the U.S. Department of Education on projects related to teacher quality and public school choice. She shares Pawlenty's goal of jettisoning the Profile of Learning and replacing it with academic standards that focus more on content. In an excellent column, Kathy Kersten shows just how bad the Profile of Learning really is.

"Pawlenty promises new course for schools," by Norman Draper, Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 17, 2003

"No amount of tweaking can repair the Profile of Learning," by Katherine Kersten, Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 15, 2003

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Signs of real commitment to school reform in Minnesota

Testing critics use fuzzy math to prove their point

January 23, 2003

After The New York Times ran a front-page story on an anti-testing study by Audrey Amrein and David Berliner last month, there was an immediate response from researchers across the political spectrum noting the many shortcomings of the study. [See http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=6#412 for one example.] In a column for the Rocky Mountain News, Linda Seebach takes a close look at the data used in the report and finds even more problems with the conclusions drawn by Amrein and Berliner.

"All the Marbles," by Linda Seebach, Rocky Mountain News, January 11, 2003

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Testing critics use fuzzy math to prove their point

A Multiracial Society with Segregated Schools: Are We Losing the Dream?

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / January 23, 2003

Erica Frankenberg, Chungmei Lee and Gary Orfield, The Harvard Civil Rights Project
January 2003

Every year around Martin Luther King's birthday, the Harvard Civil Rights Project disgorges another in its interminable series of reports purporting to show that American education is growing more segregated and should, therefore, return to the days of compulsory busing for purposes of racial balance, preferably on a regional basis that ignores district lines. While I am persuaded that VOLUNTARY student movement across district lines in pursuit of better schools would be a good thing for American education, while I'm appalled by the barriers that many school systems erect to prevent that from happening, and while I have no doubt that racial and S.E.S. integration would be a valuable corollary to such movement, I see no appetite in the United States today for a return to involuntary desegregation via court order or administrative fiat. Orfield and company are living in cloud cuckoo land. The thrust of No Child Left Behind is that predominantly minority schools can be excellent schools if held to high standards, well staffed, well led, etc. And we can spot numerous examples of such schools across the land today. My impression is that most minority parents are more concerned that their child attends a safe, caring and effective school where every pupil acquires basic skills and fundamental knowledge, than about the skin color of the kid in the next seat. (Some, indeed, would just as

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A Multiracial Society with Segregated Schools: Are We Losing the Dream?

Charter Schools

Terry Ryan / January 23, 2003

Charles S. Clark
CQ Researcher
December 20, 2002

Are charter schools a promising innovation or damaging distraction? This is the big question that Congressional Quarterly reporter/researcher Charles Clark seeks to disentangle in this recent CQ report. Emotions can run high when discussing charter schools, and for this reason data and quality research are crucial in disentangling the actual impact these schools are having. With ten years of charter experience under our belts and nearly 680,000 pre-K-12 students attending these schools in 39 states and Washington DC, data are starting to emerge. Clark's report shares some of what is known and some that's familiar: charters serve minorities, disadvantaged children and those who speak English as a second language; they operate with less per pupil funding than traditional public schools; parents like them; and many use innovative instructional strategies. It is not clear, however, whether charter schools are more effective academically than traditional public schools. As Clark notes, "conclusions are complicated because there are no uniform tests or year-to-year data." With the implementation of No Child Left Behind and its focus on measurable academic gains, we should start seeing more and better data that can be used to compare student achievement in traditional public and charter schools over time. Over the next decade, charter schools will increasingly be judged by their performance rather than their potential. With luck, that'll be true for traditional public schools, too. To access this report, go to http://www.cqpress.com (requires

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Charter Schools

Now That I'm Here

Kathleen Porter-Magee / January 23, 2003

Public Agenda
January 2003

In this new report, Public Agenda presents the results of a survey of over 1,000 foreign-born adults now living in the United States. It documents immigrants' views on a variety of topics, including education: 73% said that students should be taught English as quickly as possible, even if that means falling behind in other subjects, and 62% said that all public school classes should be taught in English. (Support for English immersion in public schools among immigrants closely mirrored support for this policy among the general public.) To browse more education results, please see http://publicagenda.org/specials/immigration/immigration4.htm. A full copy of the report can also be downloaded from the website http://publicagenda.org/ (registration required) until February 11, or can be ordered for $10, plus $2 shipping and handling.

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Now That I'm Here

Random Assignment in Program Evaluation and Intervention Research: Questions and Answers

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / January 23, 2003

David Myers and Mark Dynarski, Mathematica, Inc.
January 2003

The Education Department's new Institute of Education Sciences has published this ten-page Q & A style brochure to explain why "random assignment" is a desirable attribute of education research and program evaluation. Written by David Myers and Mark Dynarski of Mathematica Policy Research, it serves as a decent beginner's guide to this timely and contentious topic. You will find it on the web at http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/randomassign.pdf.

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Random Assignment in Program Evaluation and Intervention Research: Questions and Answers

Schools That Do Too Much

Chester E. Finn, Jr. / January 23, 2003

Etta Kralovec
February 2003

Etta Kralovec, a former teacher and education professor, has a new book arguing that U.S. schools waste time and money on non-essentials (e.g., sports, dental health) and should radically refocus their budgets and energies on teaching and learning academics. She's probably right about most of this, though her continuing campaign against homework probably isn't. The book argues for an ambitious form of "zero based budgeting" as the way to bring about this diminution of secondary roles and a renewed focus on schools' chief mission. The ISBN is 080703150, Beacon Press is the publisher and you can learn more at http://www.beacon.org/f02cat/Kralovec.html.

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Schools That Do Too Much

Staying on Course

Jonathon Lieber / January 23, 2003

Achieve, Inc.
November 2002

Staying on Course is a short report published by Achieve, Inc., the organization founded by governors and CEOs in the wake of the 1996 National Education Summit to help states raise academic standards for all students. The report reviews the accomplishments of the states (and of Achieve) since 1996 and explains what states need to do next, including cross-state standards, more state oversight over local systems, more teacher accountability and sustained emphasis on student achievement. The report is a sincere plea for more determination among citizens and more action by states toward the reform goals that Achieve believes will renew our education system. For your copy, visit:
http://www.achieve.org/dstore.nsf/Lookup/5YearReportfinal/$file/5YearReportfinal.pdf.

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Staying on Course