tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post6190345452967214119..comments2008-06-12T20:52:01.063-05:00Corey Bunje Bowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764159604965707919noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-79600760922981114252008-06-12T20:52:00.000-05:002008-06-12T20:52:00.000-05:00My problem with the report is that it's pretty general. I think it's that way b/c it was a large group that signed it, and getting too specific could prevent unanimity.Corey Bunje Bowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764159604965707919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-3482783064163268452008-06-12T20:29:00.000-05:002008-06-12T20:29:00.000-05:00>>>It seems a number of people have essentially asked "who ever said schools could do it alone?"<<<<BR/><BR/>You do know that a significant segment of the research/opinion world seems to think that silk purses can be made out of sows-ear schools, right? It's what lies under "the soft bigotry of low expectations" and other rhetorical flourishes, and there's always someone around saying, hey, if KIPP schools can do it, everyone can do it.<BR/><BR/>All of your points are well-taken here, Corey. It's a huge, systemic problem that we're tackling, and schools --even the best schools--are limited. If you take the "schools can fix everything" argument to its logical end, you end up with something like Tom Friedman bemoaning the fact that only a handful of kids from disaster-zone neighborhoods can be accepted at SEED charter boarding school. A grim prospect, especially when you compare the achievement levels of countries with a much smaller wealth gap. We have to fix neighborhoods, too, in the end, and we can't fix them without decent jobs and economic policy changes.<BR/><BR/>If I were a cynic, or a critical theorist, I might suggest that some people really don't want to fix either schools or neighborhoods, and defend the idea that stuff like "raising standards" will keep poor people well-educated enough to fill low-level jobs. <BR/><BR/>But I'm not cynical, which is why I think the report has some real strengths. Perhaps what you see as weakness is simply that fact that the report seems to have been written for a general audience (and many policy-makers are, face it, "general"). Even the way the research is organized and annotated seems to be suggesting that the authors were not looking to impress the scholars, but were perhaps trying to get out ahead of new education policy creation that will inevitably happen in 2009, no matter who's in the White House.Nancy Flanaganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00047575960944913289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-83012305867927439422008-06-11T15:04:00.000-05:002008-06-11T15:04:00.000-05:00Well said. From my experiences teaching in a variety of settings, what the students bring to the school in terms of family support, good health, social groups, etc. matters more than what the school itself did.<BR/><BR/>As a high school teacher who had the kids an average of 45 minutes a day, I had to ask, "How am I supposed to solve the problems that follow my students through the school gates?"Attorney DCnoreply@blogger.com