-Hope everyone is having a great holiday season. It always seems weird to me that people put their lights and decorations up weeks or months before, and then by the time we get to the 12th day of Christmas they're all down.
-Aaron Schutz has an interesting theory regarding the TFA civic engagement study -- if a number of people who go through TFA feel disempowered by their experience, they may be less likely to feel like they can make a difference in the future. Although I'd think that those who had the worst experiences would be more likely to drop out . . . Meanwhile, Andrew Rotherham and Rob Reich mostly agree with my feeling that TFA admitees are an elite group and that small differences within this group aren't Earth-shattering.
-Diane Ravitch says that some charter school operators are taking advantage of the set-up to pull in huge salaries. She says she's heard of principals earning $400,000 or $500,000 and of one who made millions selling school supplies to the charter school he operates. I'd have to think that this problem isn't very widespread, but I've been wrong before and likely will be again. I guess it's like I've argued before: if you're going to argue that schools should be run like businesses . . . be careful what you wish for.
-I don't understand Jay Mathews' argument that scripted curricula could transform schools but that nobody will give it a shot. If I've noticed one classroom trend since I started teaching, it's been the rapid spread of scripted and semi-scripted curricula, particularly in high-poverty, urban schools.
-Chad Alderman remarks on the fact that students from the poorest 40% of households made up 11% of the student body at a group of elite, private colleges in 2008-9 -- up from 10% in 2001-02. Apparently the surge in financial aid during that time period didn't attract a ton more students from the poorest families.
-Robert Pondiscio reports that the Broader, Bolder Coalition is on the lookout for low-performing schools that artificially boost test scores through excessive test prep, curriculum narrowing, and other educationally dubious tactics.
-CREDO today released a report finding gains of .06 standard deviations in reading and .12 standard deviations in math for students in NYC charter schools compared to similar students from the same geographic locations. For those of you who aren't statisticians, those gains are pretty small. That students in charter schools would perform a little better than similar students in traditional public schools in NYC seems plausible, if not likely, to me. Similar to the recent Hoxby student, there were some schools that did worse, some that did better, and many that were no different. To me, the most important question is why some of the schools did better and whether that can be replicated and scaled up.
Showing posts with label schools and businesses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schools and businesses. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Buying Curricula
Ever thought that colleges were missing a fundamental text or course when you looked at what they taught? Ever tried to convince them to add your pet project? Well, here's some advice: donate a million dollars and try again.
This piece (hat tip: Paul Krugman) discusses the recent actions of a charitable arm of BB&T banking corp. I don't know the full story, but is sounds like they essentially exchanged considerable amounts of money for promises from various colleges to teach Ayn Rand books. Maybe I have too much faith in humanity, but I have a hard time believing that it could be this simple. How could any college possibly justify such an outlandishly egregious breach of ethics?
The article says that colleges have started tailoring grant requests to the organization by mentioning Ayn Rand, so it hardly seems that this is one evil corporation trying to influence some financially-strapped colleges. Is this really where the fundraising race will lead -- colleges putting their curricula up for sale?
This piece (hat tip: Paul Krugman) discusses the recent actions of a charitable arm of BB&T banking corp. I don't know the full story, but is sounds like they essentially exchanged considerable amounts of money for promises from various colleges to teach Ayn Rand books. Maybe I have too much faith in humanity, but I have a hard time believing that it could be this simple. How could any college possibly justify such an outlandishly egregious breach of ethics?
The article says that colleges have started tailoring grant requests to the organization by mentioning Ayn Rand, so it hardly seems that this is one evil corporation trying to influence some financially-strapped colleges. Is this really where the fundraising race will lead -- colleges putting their curricula up for sale?
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
More on Business-Style Management of Education
I offered some thoughts the other day about business-think in schools, and I noticed this post by Diane Ravitch in the blog she shares with Deborah Meier on EdWeek. It's extremely thoughtful, quite short, and very worthwhile reading.
I share her aggravation over the notion that only people who are not involved with schools are able to fix them and that running schools like businesses is the magic bullet. Not that outsiders and business practices can't offer some valuable insight, but I hardly think that they offer all the answers.
I share her aggravation over the notion that only people who are not involved with schools are able to fix them and that running schools like businesses is the magic bullet. Not that outsiders and business practices can't offer some valuable insight, but I hardly think that they offer all the answers.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
The Irony of Business Intervention in Education
One of the most noticeable trends in education over the past 5-10 years or so has been the increasing role of business-think in schools. People from the business world have become involved in schools and education policy in a myriad of ways: from businessman superintendents (e.g. in NYC and Pittsburgh) to for-profit schools to supplemental educational services to accountability to performance pay, school choice, and many others. As with any trend in governance, the business perspective has brought both good and bad to education.
As a crass generalization, people who argue that schools should be run more like businesses tend to also argue that schools are wasteful and inefficient, that the market should play a larger role in education, and that success and failure can be measured.
The irony is that if schools were run just like the private sector, the changes would infuriate many proponents of business-think. More specifically, think about spending patterns.
Think of the differences between walking into, say, a law firm vs. walking into a typical public school. Which one has a ridiculously expensive conference table? Which one pays for employees to stay in upscale hotels and eat fancy meals? Which one gives employees expense accounts?
It's widely expected that schools (and pretty much all public organizations, for that matter) are supposed to forgo luxury items, make do with second-hand goods, and generally sacrifice and cut corners at every turn. And that's fine in a lot of ways, but it's something that businesspeople tend to forget. If schools were run more like businesses, I find it hard to believe they'd be any more thrifty. If schools were truly run like businesses I think a lot of current critics would be red-faced with anger over their wasted tax dollars. In short: be careful what you wish for.
As a crass generalization, people who argue that schools should be run more like businesses tend to also argue that schools are wasteful and inefficient, that the market should play a larger role in education, and that success and failure can be measured.
The irony is that if schools were run just like the private sector, the changes would infuriate many proponents of business-think. More specifically, think about spending patterns.
Think of the differences between walking into, say, a law firm vs. walking into a typical public school. Which one has a ridiculously expensive conference table? Which one pays for employees to stay in upscale hotels and eat fancy meals? Which one gives employees expense accounts?
It's widely expected that schools (and pretty much all public organizations, for that matter) are supposed to forgo luxury items, make do with second-hand goods, and generally sacrifice and cut corners at every turn. And that's fine in a lot of ways, but it's something that businesspeople tend to forget. If schools were run more like businesses, I find it hard to believe they'd be any more thrifty. If schools were truly run like businesses I think a lot of current critics would be red-faced with anger over their wasted tax dollars. In short: be careful what you wish for.
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