Positions on School Reform III

Note: A review of published positions on school reform: a speech from Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan; Diane Ravitch’s The Death and Life of the Great American School System; Frederick Hess’s The Same Thing Over and Over; Charles Payne’s So Much Reform, So Little Change; Anthony Byrk ad others’ Organizing School for Improvement; and Valerie Kinloch’s Harlem On Our Minds. I will review each position in several consecutive blogs. RayS.

Quote: “Frederick Hess is a resident scholar and the director of education policy initiatives at the American Enterprise Institute, the executive editor of the conservative magazine Education Next, and the Straight Up columnist for Education Week.”

Quote: Frederick Hess:” I generally favor structured reforms such as merit pay, school vouchers, charter schooling, alternative teacher licensure, and educational accountability. I endorse these ideas not because there is anything magical about the measures or because they are ‘proven’ to work, but because it makes good sense to pay good employees more than mediocre ones, to allow a variety of schools to serve children, to tap a larger pool of instructional talent, and to emphasize results rather than paperwork.” From: The Same Thing Over and Over.

Comment: Similar to Duncan’s ideas. Common sense rather than solid evidence that these ideas work. Plenty of evidence that charter schools do not necessarily work or vouchers or merit pay. However, theories need to be tried. RayS.

Title: “School Reform in the United States: Frames and Representations.” Books and Statements reviewed by Patrick Shannon. Reading Research Quarterly (January/February/ March 2012), 109-118.