As the party of local control, Republicans should reject the federalization of education policy, writes Diane Ravitch in the Wall Street Journal. An education historian, Ravitch now opposes Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind.
Ravitch is half right, responds Checker Finn on Education Gadfly.
She pinpoints genuine shortcomings in NCLB and failings in a number of other federal education programs, and correctly observes that many of the school-reform efforts and innovations of recent years have not yielded the desired achievement gains.
But local control isn’t the solution, argues Finn.
The weak and generally stagnant academic performance of most American school kids, our scandalous achievement gaps, the country’s sagging performance vis-à-vis other countries, the skimpy preparation of many teachers and principals, the shoddy curricula, the fat and junky textbooks, the innovation-shackling union contracts, the large expenditures with meager returns — these are not the result of an overweening federal government. They are, in fact, almost entirely the product of state and local control of public education — as it has traditionally been defined and structured in the United States. They are the product of failed governance, bureaucratic mismanagement, and the capture of the K-12 system by powerful organizations of adults who assign lower priority to kids’ needs than to their own interests. They are maladies caused by, and worsened under, the aegis of the very system that Diane trusts to cure them.
Finn wants to vest control in individual schools that “control their own personnel, budgets, schedules, and curricula,” and in parents “free to choose among — and fully-informed about—a wide array of quality schools (and other education delivery systems, including virtual education).”
In his vision:
Washington supplies additional funds to underwrite the education of disadvantaged and special-needs kids, it pays for innovation through competitive-grant programs, it conducts research and supplies a wealth of assessment and other data, and it safeguards individuals from violations of their civil rights. That’s about it.
Every school an independently run charter? I’m not sure that’s doable.
By the way, in an earlier post, a commenter alleged that Ravitch changed sides in the education debate out of pique because her “life partner” had been denied a job by Joel Klein, when he was chancellor of New York City schools. I think this is untrue and unfair. People who disagree with Ravitch’s current views don’t question her integrity or sincerity, nor do they gossip — at least not when I’m around — about her personal life.
-->Filed Under: Education Tagged With: Checker Finn, Diane Ravitch, local control, No Child Left Behind, race to the top, Republicans
PeterW says: December 4, 2010 at 6:47 pmLocal control of schools has been a disaster; I don’t think that anyone who has looked at education seriously could honestly disagree. But federal influence hasn’t helped at all, either. Neither choice has been good.
CarolineSF says: December 4, 2010 at 11:27 pmBut I’m hearing that lots of “education reformers” ARE questioning Ravitch’s integrity and sincerity and gossiping about her personal life, so just be aware of what you’re dealing with.
superdestroyer says: December 5, 2010 at 3:19 amDoes anyone really believe that turning kindergarten into the application/school search that college currently is will help poor lower middle class children.
This reads like another idea that comes from rich,elite, Ivy Leagued education people who never sat in a class is an unmotivated, unintelligent student.
Roger Sweeny says: December 5, 2010 at 5:23 amIf Republicans really believe in local control, they won’t just repeal Bush era bad stuff like “adequate yearly progress.” They’ll get rid of the requirements for IEPs and 504s and a boatload of pre-Bush stuff that constrain local schools.
That would do interesting things to the political dynamics since, to wildly generalize, the same people who oppose post-2000 federal “reforms” support pre-2000 federal “reforms.”
concerned says: December 5, 2010 at 6:16 amImproving educational outcomes may not be just an issue of local control vs. federal control. I believe the root of the problem is that we have several incredibly bad “instructional” programs out there that keep making their way into more and more schools (even after the detrimental effects have been well documented)
Our educational woes can be attributed to the lack of content being taught in our classrooms and our willingness to relinquish our children’s opportunities for future success to textbook companies whose primary goal is turning a profit.
joycem says: December 5, 2010 at 9:13 amGet rid of unfunded mandates from the feds. If the feds are going to require more and more detailed paperwork for sped, then by god, they damn well better fork over the promised subsidies for sped.
If you’re not going to fund it, don’t mandate it.
allen says: December 5, 2010 at 10:01 amOh, Ravitch is just carrying water for those who hanker for the good. old days when public worries about public education translated into nothing but more funding. Starting with NCLB and accelerating, surprisingly, under Obama with RTTT, public concern about public education is showing up as intrusions into the sacrosanct independence of the school district.
It’s that sacrosanct independence that’s led to school boards which can safely relegate concerns about educational quality to a secondary status which leads to a diminishment of concern with the professional skills that go into the production of a high quality education system and their replacement with, among other things, educational fads driven by the winds of egotism and politics.
Fortunately the cat is out of the bag and there’s no putting him back. The public education system has already changed to the point that the good, old days of bland indifference to educational quality are coming to an end and the best those who prefer that state of affairs, people like Diane Ravitch, can hope for is that those changes can be delayed.
CarolineSF says: December 5, 2010 at 10:09 amIf Ravitch preferred the “good old days of bland indifference to educational quality” she PROBABLY wouldn’t have written 5 books and edited a whole bookshelf more on the subject, and devoted her entire career to examining and critiquing educational quality, with emphasis on fads.
Back when Ravitch was still an advocate of the current style of “education reform,” I read her book “Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform,” which critically examined education fads over the decades. At the time I thought it was a little un-self-aware and inconsistent that while critiquing fads of the past, she herself was then espousing the current education-reform fads — which of course she no longer is.
But the point is that her entire career has been devoted to fighting “bland indifference to educational quality,” so that’s a particularly unfounded charge to make.
However, I appreciate (and I’m sure she’d appreciate) that you’re not making slimy anonymous insinuations about her personal life, so thanks for not joining the education-reform advocates who are on the low road.
Malcolm Kirkpatrick says: December 5, 2010 at 3:50 pm(Joanne): “Every school an independently run charter? I’m not sure that’s doable.”
Politically doable, or something else? There would remain the issue of who gets to create or accredit a “school”.
(Peter): “Local control of schools has been a disaster; I don’t think that anyone who has looked at education seriously could honestly disagree.”
Depends on what you mean by “local control”.
Several lines of evidence support the following generalizations:
1. As institutions take from individual parents the power to determine for their own children the choice of curriculum and the pace and method of instruction, overall system performance falls
2. Political control of school harms most the children of the least politically-adept parents.
There is a clear and strong relation between district size and student performance as measured by NAEP 4th and 8th grade Reading and Math scores. Smaller is better. There is a clear and strong relation between district size and per pupil costs. Over a wide range of enrollment, smaller is cheaper. There is a clear and strong relation between age (start) of compulsory attendance and NAEP 4th and 8th grade Reading and Math scores. Later is better.
Caroline: “her entire career has been devoted to fighting ‘bland indifference to educational quality’, so that’s a particularly unfounded charge to make… I appreciate (and I’m sure she’d appreciate) that you’re not making slimy anonymous insinuations about her personal life, so thanks for not joining the education-reform advocates who are on the low road.”
100% agreement. Ravitch has shifted her position on local control, seems to me. She’s either right or wrong. She’s serious and hard-working. I don’t question her motives.
(joycem): “If you’re not going to fund it, don’t mandate it.”
Would you apply that to minimum wage laws?
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