school reform
A Tribute to Ted Sizer
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?’
While 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”
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
Geography is Destiny
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.
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
The Sources of Innovation
What produces innovation? Why does there seem to be such an abundance of it in serious fields like medicine and computer technology and trivial ones like online dating, but so little in education, arguably the most important of human activities?
First, let me support my premise, that schooling is largely bereft of innovation. A doctor or an auto mechanic from the 1950’s, if dropped into today’s hospital or garage, would be baffled. A teacher from the 50’s, however, would feel pretty darn comfortable in today’s classrooms. Maybe the desks wouldn’t be attached to the floor, and perhaps the blackboards would have been replaced by whiteboards, but there’d be bells every 50 minutes or so, attendance to be taken, and interruptions by the principal. I rest my case.
Back to why: The thirst for money, prestige and fame are reliable spurs of innovation. Living in Silicon Valley as I do, I’ve seen plenty of evidence of that. Unfortunately, public education is not the road to travel if your goals are money, prestige and fame.
Another spur to innovate is a supportive but challenging environment, one in which failure is seen as an opportunity to learn, not a stain. Does that describe most schools? I don’t think so.
John Doerr’s New Schools Venture Fund is working to recreate in education some of the conditions that have spurred Silicon Valley’s growth. That’s an uphill battle with a number of hurdles standing in the way, including a ‘one size fits all’ mentality and a glut of ‘experts’.
Education’s ‘one size fits all’ approach to evaluating and paying teachers has to dampen enthusiasm for trying new approaches. Why bother if you aren’t going to be rewarded? Continue reading
Public Schools Need a Wake Up Call!
“Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer.”
President Obama’s speech to students, September 9, 2009
Those lines imply support for a progressive, child-centered view of schooling: educate through the strengths a child possesses.
But the President went on, “And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.”
And when and if a child discovers those interests and abilities, what happens? Are classrooms set up to work with individual kids and nurture their talents, or do other pressures force teachers into cookie-cutter behavior?
Kids want to believe. Visit any elementary school on a morning of the first few weeks of school, and you will see joyful youngsters cavorting, laughing and shouting with glee. Their giddy anticipation is palpable and infectious, because they are actually happy to be back in school. “This year will be different,” their behavior screams. “This year I will be a great student, I will learn everything, and teachers will help me whenever I need help.”
However, this celebration, a child’s version of the triumph of hope over experience, is generally short-lived, and for most children school soon becomes humdrum, or worse.
What goes wrong, and what can be done about it? Continue reading
” I don’t see any headlong rush to abandon NCLB…quite the contrary”: An Interview with Margaret Spellings
Margaret Spellings served as George W. Bush’s Secretary of Education during his second term and was his White House advisor on education before that. A Texan since third grade, 
Ms. Spellings was never a teacher or school administrator but worked for the Texas School Boards Association and on a school reform commission for a previous Texas governor. Ms. Spellings is generally acknowledged to be a principal architect of No Child Left Behind, which she continues to defend with vigor. Always a feisty interview when she was in office, she clearly has not lost a step, as you will see.
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The Interview
Let’s start by talking about tomorrow. There was a lot of talk about your running for Governor of Texas. I know that’s not happening now, but are you interested in replacing Kay Bailey Hutchinson in the U.S. Senate? Or in the governorship down the road?
I have no plans to re-enter the public arena any time soon in either an elected or appointed capacity. I am currently loving life after public service.
And now the past, specifically No Child Left Behind. What are your feelings about what strikes me as a headlong rush to abandon No Child Left Behind? Some hard-core Republicans don’t even use the name any more, unless they’re talking about drastic repair work. And many Democrats have gone back to calling it ESEA, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the original name from 1965.
Huh? John, I am not seeing any headlong rush to abandon NCLB…quite the contrary. While you are right in that the name (NCLB) is often attacked, I am thrilled that the major policies are very much in place and supported by the current administration, which supports standards, data, pay for performance and charters. I believe we did something very significant with NCLB in creating a unique coalition of supporters, largely from the civil rights and business communities, who continue to stay strong in the face of vested stakeholder groups and those who argue against a federal role. Besides, No Child Left Behind actually describes the policy embodied in this law, and if they walk away from those policies and decide to leave kids behind they should change the name.
You famously compared NCLB to Ivory Soap–99.44% pure, meaning that it needed only some tinkering. Do you still feel that way?
I sure do. The core principles of the law – annual assessment, real accountability with consequences and deadlines, a focus on teacher quality, and confronting failing schools—are still the right issues, and I am pleased those in states all over this country and the new administration agree. Having said that, no legislative body has ever passed a perfect law. Continue reading
“Pay teachers what they are worth (think six-figures)”: An Interview with Rick Hanushek
Economists, whether liberal or conservative, don’t think about education the way most educators do, and that’s healthy. My friend Eric Hanushek is in the conservative camp, as his affiliation with the Hoover Institution at Stanford indicates. 
Rick has been interested in education–no, strike that–in doing something to improve education, for many years. He’s active on a number of fronts, particularly in Texas and with the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. Professor Hanushek has a new book out, but, because he manages to sneak in two plugs in our interview, I won’t repeat the title here.
The Interview
Before we turn to No Child Left Behind, tell me your take on the current so-called “Race to the Top.” Secretary Duncan has an unprecedented amount of discretionary money, $5B, to give away. States seem to be falling all over themselves promising to do what Washington wants. Is this good?
I absolutely think the Secretary is doing the right thing, and I am actually encouraged by the positive reactions of the states. He has chosen particularly important issues to take to the states: developing systems for ensuring that there are effective teachers in every classroom; encouraging more competition in education through expanding charter schools; and developing good data systems that allow for reliable evaluation of programs and teachers. These are central elements of the funding and policy proposals in my recent book (Schoolhouses, Courthouses, and Statehouses), so I am thrilled that the Secretary is putting the force and the funding of the federal government behind these ideas. The essential unifying idea is that we should provide strong incentives to improve student performance – and each of these policy thrusts fits into that overall structure. I applaud the Secretary and the President for their forceful leadership in these substantive matters. Moreover, he has done this in a way that respects the states’ central role in education, while encouraging their movements in productive directions.
The Department says there will be winners and losers, but will that fly politically? Educators are accustomed to getting money based on formulas, not in a competition. Can you imagine the political pressure Arne Duncan is going to be under?
There is no doubt that the Secretary has taken a courageous position, because many resist the idea that policy should intrude on the way we have always done things. And his are not the positions that have been championed by the educational establishment. But, while there are political difficulties with standing firm, I think of the issue more from the viewpoint of what happens if he does not succeed. I frankly worry for the nation. Continue reading
Current Efforts at ‘Reform’ Will Produce Minimal Change: An Interview with Herb Kohl
Here’s some of what Wikipedia has to say about my friend Herb Kohl: “Herbert Kohl is an educator best known for his advocacy of progressive alternative education and as the acclaimed author of more than thirty books on education. He began his teaching career in Harlem in 1962. In his teaching career, he has taught every grade from kindergarten through college.”
I would add my own memories. I remember being inspired by his first book, 36 Children, when I was a beginning teacher in New York. When I was at NPR, I visited Herb and his family at their home in the Redwoods in northern California. He took time away from directing “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for his daughter’s elementary school. The challenge, he explained, was that four or five girls wanted to play Puck and had the talent and energy to do it well. His solution was to rewrite the play–they all got to star! Many years later I ran into Herb, then around 70, in New York and learned that he was studying Chinese calligraphy!
A restless intellect who has stayed true to his progressive principles, Herb is also an interesting interview.
The Interview
What’s your quick impression of Arne Duncan’s “Race to the Top” plans, which include what sounds like serious competition for dollars—and that means winners and losers? Is this political courage, or is it more federal encroachment on public education?
Arne Duncan, on the official Department of Education website said, “For states, school districts, nonprofits, unions, and businesses, Race to the Top is the equivalent of education reform’s moon shot.” I thoroughly agree with him. Remember we went to the moon, not to improve science or the quality of life in our country, but to face down the Soviet Union. We spent a lot of money doing it, got little return, and never went back. I believe Duncan’s analogy should be taken seriously.
One of the goals he articulates for the program is to be first on international standards of performance. Good luck – there are no agreed upon international standards. Another goal is to digitize education information and treat it like the digitize medical information the Administration proposes. But that simply entrenches specific high stakes tests into the system without delivering any substantial pedagogical change. Continue reading
Privatization Will Not Help Us Achieve Our Goals: An Interview with Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch is a prominent historian of education, the author of a dozen books including Edspeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords and Jargon (2007), The Language Police (2003) and Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms (2000). 
Diane is not a political type, but neither is she afraid of controversy. In recent years she’s become a lightning rod for controversy. She has been embroiled in an ongoing battle in the press with Joel Klein, the Chancellor of the New York City public schools, about academic achievement. Here she takes on both Arne Duncan and NCLB!
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The Interview
The Obama Administration and nearly every state have now endorsed national or common standards. Is this a good thing? Or is now the time to get worried, the logic being that, when ‘everyone’ is for something, the rest of us should watch out?
I have favored common standards for a long time. When I worked for Bush I in the early 1990s, I helped to launch federally funded projects to develop voluntary national standards in the arts, English, history, geography, civics, economics, science, and other essential school subjects. Some of the projects were successful; others were not. The whole enterprise foundered because a) it was not authorized by Congress, and b) it came to fruition during the transition between two administrations and had no oversight, no process of review and improvement. So, yes, I believe the concept is important.
However, I worry about today’s undertaking, first, because it will focus only on reading and mathematics, nothing else; and second, because I don’t know whether the effort will become a bureaucratic nightmare. But I won’t prejudge the outcome. I will hope for the best, and hope that today’s standardistas learned some lessons from what happened nearly two decades ago.
If we have common standards, are national tests likely to follow?
Not necessarily. If the standards are worthy, then any testing organization should be able to develop test specifications that are aligned with the standards.
On balance, has No Child Left Behind done more harm than good?
I would say, sorrowfully, that NCLB has failed. Continue reading
The Merrow Report 