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Sunday, February 20, 2011

You Call This a Solution...or an Invitation to Talk?


There is no reason to list the litany of problems with ACPS.  With the exception of the few willfully ignorant, the impediments to delivering quality instruction in this city are legend.  Heck, even the superintendent (the source of many of the obstacles) sees that something must be done about a school system in desperate need of repair.  It's just that there is a very real difference between how Sherman, on the one hand, and teachers on the other respond to the instant crisis.  Sherman, acts as an opportunist, embodying the carpetbagger approach, a chance to make the bucks, reward cronies and promote himself.  The true stakeholders, those who have lived and taught in Alexandria, whose children sit in the classrooms want to roll up our sleeves and rebuild--to do the heavy lifting.  We are not afraid to detail the fraud and waste even as some of the more pollyannish among us carp, "Stop complaining, be happy with what you're being given!"  Oh, that it were that easy. This admonition to either get on board with the ludicrously inexpensive and wasteful initiatives being proffered or seek employment elsewhere is a false choice.  Missing from the logic of those who espouse a simplistic approach to what ails ACPS is the need to clear one's mind of the failed practices of the past three years.  Don't tether your thinking to Habits of Minds and Skillful Teacher.  Don't be afraid to view the current curricular crap as anything but that.  Anyone endorsing a solution that tolerates no criticism of the status quo and who discerns no flaw with throwing expensive, crony-pitched, repackaged drivel at difficult, entrenched, and ever evolving challenges is either ignorant or misguided.

Something new, something far more creative and flexible must be brought to the discussion.  Any viable proposal must make use of the great pool of talent that is the bulk of the ACPS teachers.  We must not be afraid to follow the money when asking what others' motivations are as they come forward with 'snake oil' packaged as answers.  And so, the criteria that embody this 'follow the money' philosophy would not need a CEO/Superintendent making in excess of $250,000, nor an executive staff that devours precious dollars.  A real attempt to address our needs will not be comprised of consultant's and their high-priced gimmickry.  A sincere desire to close learning gaps and ensure that all who can succeed--will, asks stakeholders (those who stand to gain nothing monetarily) to give of their time and expertise to develop schools that deliver quality instruction.

For those seriously interested in such an approach, I point you to two articles.  These are, for brevity's sake just snapshots of what the full articles outline. The first, "Does a district need a superintendent?" looks at a school district's decision to overhaul the typical command and control structure.  http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2011/02/07/13155-does-a-district-need-a-superintendent

Does a district need a superintendent?

Written by Robert Gelchion and Nancy Mitchell on Feb 7th, 2011. | Copyright © EdNewsColorado.org
Third-graders at Evans Elementary in the Falcon 49 School District studied in class last week.
Third-graders at Evans Elementary in the Falcon 49 School District studied in class last week.
A school district east of Colorado Springs is poised to test the reaches of the state’s Innovation Schools Act, which allows waivers from state laws and collective bargaining agreements.
School board members in the Falcon 49 School District are buying out the contracts of their top four district administrators – including the superintendent, a job that would be eliminated – as they scrap a traditional governance structure for something completely different.


The second article, by Valerie Strauss, reinforces the first and can be somewhat summed up by the following excerpt:
There’s so much wrong with traditional schooling it’s tempting to say it’s beyond salvaging. Its very system of organization—based as it is on 19th Century Prussian military theory—is upside down. Those who know the most about the system—kids and teachers—have the least power to change it. Its continued use of a rigid, standardized curriculum designed to produce compliant workers for a system of industrial production that America will never see again, assures irrelevance. Its failure to put in place multi-year, manageable-sized groups of learners guided by small instructional teams, builds in instability and lack of continuity.
 So it's not, as some allege, that we rank and file educators lack the vision or insight to correct what is wrong in our schools.  The agonizing reality is that, just as government is influenced (even controlled) by lobbyists and corporations are misled by obscenely compensated CEO's, so too is our school system.  The difference being, teachers can't vote out of office those being lobbied nor remove the CEO.  
Again, the answers to our questions are there.  If not in full, then at least the information to find answers is there.  The will to apply the answers to our questions and needs lies in every dedicated teacher and parent.  You will not find the answer in the almighty dollar.

"All styles are good except the tiresome kind."
— Voltaire



7 comments:

  1. Now, this would be a courageous conversation I'd be more than happy to have!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Undergrounders and all reading this blog: Take careful note of the fact that the same user may make multiple responses to the Extended Calendar Proposal Survey currently up on the ACPS website. All should seriously question the validity of the results of this survey based on this significant flaw in survey sampling. Let that be part of our courageous conversations of the future.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "D.C. area schools show off reforms at Obama administration conference"

    By Nick Anderson
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Saturday, February 19, 2011; 10:06 PM

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/18/AR2011021803651.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Students Sound Off," is an ongoing student blogger contest aimed at providing students a loud and clear voice in the education debate presented by HuffPost Education and Get Schooled. As the sixth post in the series, high school Marie Preston answers the question:If you were given the chance, how would you help kids at your school graduate?

    "If you look around the education system, it is easy to observe that our kids are struggling. Our school system's children come from all over, facing different adversities, living in different environments, and learning in different ways. Is it really a surprise that the dropout rate is as high as it currently is? Students are not happy. They are not learning, not thriving, and not being driven enough to fully desire a graduation of their own.

    Alright, so we are then faced with the issue of a wide range of schools all over the country with the same question on their minds, "how can we help these students graduate?" Take a look at our schools. Diversity is everywhere. A strict "operation: graduate" plan would not cut it.

    No, we need something more individual...."

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/20/students-sound-off-high-s_1_n_825298.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Given the recent snafu with the Alan Hilburg sponsored survey ACPS has no business engaging in any type of survey.

    According to ACPS, they have received the results of December's Hilburg sponsored survey. They do not know what to do with the results because they are in a response format ("soft" data). If they were more responsible tehy would have known this going in -- we who participated in the survey knew it was going to be difficult data to interpret.

    ReplyDelete
  6. " A sincere desire to close learning gaps and ensure that all who can succeed--will, asks stakeholders (those who stand to gain nothing monetarily) to give of their time and expertise to develop schools that deliver quality instruction"

    Voltaire, who decides who can succeed? What is the definition of success?

    ReplyDelete
  7. For an interesting article on what former chancellor Michelle Rhee did NOT get right in her virulently anti-teacher, anti-union tenure as a 'school reformer' of DC public schools, check out "Still Waiting for Superwoman" at www.slate.com/id/2285650

    ReplyDelete