Op-ed

Better Late Than Never: Report Back from Day 1 in Qatar

John Merrow Op-ed, school reform, technology, WISE , , , , , ,

**We ran into some snafus with live posting, so some of my report backs didn’t make it up.  I think you’ll enjoy them anyway, so here’s one from the first day of the conference.**

About 1000 delegates from more than 120 countries are represented here in Doha, Qatar, at WISE, the World Innovation Summit for Education. Plans are to make this an annual event, and it’s backed by the Qatar Foundation and the prestige of Her Royal Highness, Sheika Mozah, the wife of the Emir. She opened the 3-day meeting with a rousing call for innovation in education.

WISEShe reminded us that more than 75 million school-age children are not in school and that nearly 800 million adults cannot read or write. And she sounded a theme that is of profound importance: the education gender gap is wide and growing, because discrimination against women and girls is deeply entrenched.

The need for innovation is clear, because business as usual means accepting severe teacher shortages, funding deficits and low completion rates. Can this conference energize at least some of the participants to work for significant change?

For this stranger,a lesson on arrival had to do with pronunciation of Qatar. I’ve always said ‘ka-TAR’ but they say ‘cotter’, as in cotter pin. The second lesson: This is a new country intent on leaping into the 21st century: Construction cranes everywhere, and what they have already put up is impressive. Google ‘Education City, Qatar’ and see for yourself.

About 50 journalists are here, and the organizers have ‘quarantined’ us at a hotel miles and miles from the meeting hotel, the Ritz. We are downtown, where life happens, and we have a 30-40 minute bus ride morning and night that gives us a chance to see some of Doha. Those ensconced at the Ritz are out on a peninsula, miles from anything else. They do get the famous Ritz chocolate chip cookies, however.

After Sheika Mozah’s speech, we were talked at, about the importance of innovation in education. Why is it that the pedagogy never changes? Does someone believe that’s the best way to communicate?

Off to Qatar for WISE

John Merrow Op-ed, teaching, technology , , , , , , ,

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7648358&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=cc6600&fullscreen=1

I’m headed to the first World Innovation Summit on Education in Doha, Qatar. Hundreds of education innovators, policy makers and experts will be gathering there and I plan on recording video, audio interviews and filling you in on what’s happening there as it unfolds. This week, expect a post a day from me until Thursday, when I return.

To learn more about the WISE conference, visit their website: http://www.wise-qatar.org.

Technology in Schools: Problems & Possibilities

John Merrow Op-ed, teaching, technology

First, a disclaimer: I am a huge fan of technology and a true believer in its potential to fundamentally change how schools are run. Emerging technologies, often called ‘social media,’ are changing how many young people communicate and learn, how they approach learning, and how they process information.

But I think there are three reasons to worry.  Reason one, the technology will be unevenly distributed, meaning that the gap between rich and poor will actually widen.  Two, schools won’t respond to the creative potential of technology in positive ways.  And, three, they will respond uncritically.

TechnologyFirst, the technology gap (which I wrote about on this blog a few weeks back). This issue is major, because in most of history the rich have gotten richer, and there’s no reason to expect things to be different this time around.  Creating special programs to put technology into schools with poor children won’t work unless those programs are accompanied by serious professional development, because most teachers I know are uncomfortable with computers and even more uncomfortable with the notion that kids know more than they do.

What do poor kids get when schools are their main source of advance technology?  Not much!  As teacher Esther Wojcicki of Palo Alto notes, kids in school are forced into what she calls ‘the airplane mode.’ “They’re told to sit down, strap in and face straight ahead for the duration of the flight.”

Right now, well off children have access to technology at home, meaning that they will find it easier to cope with the ‘powering down’ that happens when they walk into their schools.  Not so for poor kids, who end up suffering through a lot of drill.

My second fear is that schools will resist innovation and become irrelevant. A tsunami, a huge wave of technology in the hands of young people, is approaching, but many educators seem unaware that their students swim in a sea of technology outside the school. They want to continue to use computers and other tools to control students and to manage information, and that’s about it.

Because they fear technology in the hands of kids, they look for ways to keep it out of schools. Continue reading →

A Tribute to Ted Sizer

John Merrow Op-ed, school reform, teaching

The news that Ted Sizer has died did not come as a shock. His friends knew that he had been battling colon cancer for some time and exchanged messages regularly, always asking hopefully, ‘How’s he doing?’

Ted SizerWhile his friends, admirers and supporters are many, Ted Sizer’s influence reaches far beyond that group.  Make no mistake, Ted Sizer was one of the giants of American education, a force for good for more than 50 years.

He is well known as the founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools, which in 1984 launched a wave of change based on the idea of engaging students in useful and challenging work.  He knew that seat time was a completely inadequate measure of learning, and he was highly skeptical of the value of multiple choice tests and conventional grading.

His seminal book, Horace’s Compromise, will be read for years to come, as it should be.

You can read more in the New York Times.  George Wood of the Forum for Education and Democracy has a thoughtful appreciation on their website. And Ted’s own organization is collecting tributes online.

Two personal memories that capture Ted’s spirit and approach to life.  Ten percent of Walter Annenberg’s $500 million gift to American education went to support the Coalition of Essential Schools’ effort to transform high schools.  That’s a great story for a journalist, and so I called him up and proposed that we follow, on television, the efforts of one school to adopt Ted’s nine principles. As my opening gambit for what I assumed would be serious negotiations, I told him that we would need full access, no strings. “Fine,’ he said.  ‘What sort of school are you looking for?’

We ended up filming in Woodward High School in Cincinnati for three years, and Ted had no problem with our reporting on what was clearly a ‘2 steps forward, 2 steps back’ process.

Openness was just one of his virtues.  He was also a true gentleman, full of humor and charm.  While he must have been tough (he ran schools, after all!), he was also gentle and optimistic, a gracious host.  When we were producing School Sleuth in 2000, I called him at his home in Harvard, Massachusetts, to see if we could meet him at his office for an interview. “Why don’t you come to our home instead?” was his response.  If I remember correctly, he and Nancy also offered us beds for the night. Ted, Debbie Meier, Don Hirsch and a few other thoughtful people brought that program to life.

Ted never sought the spotlight or worried about who got credit, which may explain why he accomplished so much.  In 2006 I was asked to speak at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Commencement, and before I flew east from California I wrote Ted and Nancy asking if we could meet for breakfast that day.  We met at a small restaurant and exchanged news.  Ted looked strong and waved away questions about the pump he had to wear as part of the chemotherapy.  When he left the table briefly, Nancy told me how excited he was to be back because this commencement marked his 50-year anniversary with the school. I wanted to know how Harvard was honoring him. Nobody knows, she said, because Ted doesn’t want any fuss.

Not on my watch are we going to fail to honor this great man, I thought to myself.  After we parted, I made a beeline for Dean Kathy McCartney’s office and told her.  Her powerful tribute to Ted, who was seated on stage with the rest of the faculty, produced a standing ovation that went on for many minutes.  There weren’t many dry eyes in the house, certainly not mine.

The greatest tribute we can pay to Ted Sizer is to keep alive his vision—that students must be respected, and that the highest form of respect teachers can show their students is to challenge them with work that stretches their minds.

Rest in peace, my friend.

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Back in 2000, I visited Ted and asked him to talk about his vision for creating excellent schools.  Listen to the interview online >>>

Interview: Fixing Detroit Public Schools & The “Cosby Effect”

John Merrow Op-ed, school reform

Robert Bobb was appointed to a 1-year term that expires at the end of February.  The veteran public administrator was serving as President of the Washington, DC Board of Education, a post he was elected to in November 2006. Mr. Bobb is the former City Administrator and Deputy Mayor for Washington and served as the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security Advisor. In DC he managed a workforce of approximately 20,000 employees and an annual budget of $8 billion. He has also served as City Manager in Oakland and Santa Ana, California; Richmond, Virginia; and Kalamazoo, Michigan.

[Editor’s Note: Just a few days after this was published, Mr. Bobb and the State of Michigan reached agreement, and he is staying for another year.]
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The Interview

Secretary Arne Duncan referred to Detroit as “New Orleans without Katrina,” and we’ve seen pictures of some truly awful schools.  Are schools really as bad as those pictures make them look, or are those outliers?

Detroit schools and the school district are in dire straights. No question. That’s why Governor Jennifer Granholm felt it necessary to appoint an Emergency Financial Manager to take over. And that’s why we are taking a comprehensive approach to overhauling the system, looking not just at the money but also the educational model and analyzing where we need to improve security and operations. I recruited Dr. Barbara Byrd-Bennett, former CEO of Cleveland schools and New York City’s Supervising Superintendent of the Chancellor’s District, to serve as the district’s Chief Academic and Accountability Auditor. We needed that because our schools post some of the worst test scores and graduation rates in the nation. Dr. Bennett is working on a systematic approach, beginning with early childhood education (including a zero to age three plan), to overhaul our academic program. We are also overhauling 40 low-performing schools and restructuring most of our traditional high schools.

The rampant waste, fraud and abuse that plagued this system also led me to appoint John Bell to serve as Inspector General and oversee our police department and a team of internal auditors and investigators. Mr. Bell has 100 cases ongoing, including several that have been moved to the county prosecutor’s office.

How ironic is it that you now have the kind of power in Detroit that Michelle Rhee has in Washington, and she’s the woman who basically took all your authority when you were President of the School Board in Washington and the Mayor took over the schools?  That is, you’re doing stuff–closing schools–that as DC School Board President you might have resisted. Have your views changed about mayoral control now that you are in a different seat?

There is no doubt that the school board structure hasn’t worked in Detroit. But my views have been consistent that voters should have a say on this matter.

You inherited a deficit of about $260 million.  How on earth did that happen?

The district had overspent its budget for the last seven years. There was also a pervasive environment of misspending and outright corruption. Continue reading →

Interview: Lowell Milken & $25,000 for Exceptional Teachers

John Merrow Op-ed, teaching

It’s not everyday that someone offers an outstanding teacher $25,000, although there’s reason to believe that it should happen more often. What if we rewarded good teachers for their work? Would student achievement increase?

Lowell Milken is a businessman and philanthropist whose foundation has been surprising outstanding teachers with $25,000 rewards, no strings attached, for the past 23 years. So is it working? He says it is. He also has plans to change entire school systems, and he says that’s working too. Skeptical? Read the interview and then share your thoughts on his plans.
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The Interview

You’re about to start your 23rd year going across the country rewarding outstanding teachers with $25,000 in cash as part of the Milken Educator Awards. Most teachers say that they don’t go into teaching for the money, but has anyone ever turned the money down?

Lowell MilkenI am proud to say that no recipient has walked away from the $25,000 financial prize. Despite the “attention grabbing” nature of the financial award, I am convinced that the public recognition, the validation of their excellence, and the opportunity to join a national network of reform-minded exemplary educators are probably of greater value to the winners. Those are there after the money is gone.

Milken Educators frequently tell me that the Awards helped make their voices heard on local, state and even federal education issues. So the Awards, in fact, go beyond the money, becoming what many recipients call “the gift that keeps giving.”

How about some numbers? How many winners each year? How much money has the Foundation given out so far?

We have recognized more than 2,400 outstanding educators and presented more than $60 million in Awards. In addition, we have expended more than $50 million in the development and ongoing support of state and national networks and in the development and operation of the Milken Educator Awards program itself. This year we will present more than 50 Awards.

What’s been the most memorable reaction?

Perhaps the funniest was in Michigan in 1999, when we presented the Award to a surprised Kendra Hearn, who was in her pajamas. It just happened to be “Pajama Day’ at her school when we showed up with TV cameras in tow.

Others?

While each announcement is memorable, two that stand out in my mind are Daphne Whitington of Chicago and Robin Turner of Austin, TX. Continue reading →

Geography is Destiny

John Merrow Op-ed, school reform

I vividly remember a physician friend of mine, Dr. Karen Hein, saying that, for AIDS, asthma and other health problems, geography was destiny.  She meant that poverty and the problems associated with it were key determinants of health.  Poor people got the short end of the stick: less access to preventive care, more diseases, and fewer resources to help them recover.Geography is destiny

Now a new report sponsored by the Knight Foundation suggests that geography is also destiny for our democracy. The just-released report, “Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age,” suggests that we now have what it calls ‘second class information citizenship.’

Many of us suffer from information overload, but some communities—geography again–have a very different problem: not enough information and insufficient skills to separate the wheat from the chaff.

In an era when many of us are embracing Twitter, Facebook and other ‘virtual communities,’ we may think that walls are breaking down everywhere, but this report tells us that real (geographic) communities matter more than virtual ones. Technology itself is inherently democratic—a computer doesn’t know (or care) whether you are rich or poor; able-bodied or not; black, white or brown—but access to technology is a different kettle of fish.  Who has access to technology is crucial—and access often comes down to geography. Continue reading →

Leonore Annenberg: A Tribute

John Merrow Op-ed , , , , ,

More than 1,400 people gathered last week at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia last Thursday to pay tribute to Leonore Annenberg, who died in March at the age of 91.  Her passing brought together dozens of luminaries including Supreme Court justices, governers, mayors, and reporters. Leonore AnnenbergA central theme of the tribute: Lee Annenberg cared deeply about democracy and treated all she encountered with dignity.

“Lee was forever young and ageless,” Andrea Mitchell, NBC news correspondent, told the audience. “Her legacy will certainly live on in the educational institutions she benefited.”

Learning Matters is part of the Annenberg legacy, but our connection came about in an odd—but certainly not unique—way. I never met Walter Annenberg, Mrs. Annenberg only once in passing, but they supported our work for nearly a decade.

And if my answering machine had malfunctioned, it might never have happened. Continue reading →

A Reading List

John Merrow Op-ed, teaching ,

I’m curious about what books about education others are reading these days.  Here’s what I am reading now or intend to read before the end of the year. (Armchair detectives will figure out that I went to a conference at the Hoover Institution on campus at Stanford.)

Sweating the Small Stuff

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Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner City Schools and the New Paternalism, by David Whitman. Published in 2008 by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, the book is conservative in its angle of entry. Whitman is now a speechwriter for Arne Duncan.

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Paradoxes of High Stakes Testing**
The Paradoxes of High Stakes Testing: How They Affect Students, Their Parents, Teachers, Principals, Schools, and Society, by George Madaus, Michael Russell and Jennifer Higgins. (Information Age Publishing, Charlotte NC, 2009) I know and admire George, who is a clear thinker and writer, but I am puzzled by the title. Paradoxes are apparent contradictions, but in our interviews George has pointed out a number of actual ones. So I will find out when I read it. All three authors are from Boston College.

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NO Challenge Left Behind

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No Challenge Left Behind: Transforming American Education through Heart and Soul, by Paul D. Houston, published by Corwin Press and AASA, Paul’s old employer, in 2008. One reviewer called it a “funny, uplifting page-turner.”
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Continue reading →