Dropout Nation on Twitter for Feb. 11

You seen the bird. Do what he says.

Keep up with up-to-the-minute happenings by subscribing to Dropout Nation’s Twtter feed. Here are some of yesterday’s tweets:

• RT @Edubeat @HarvardResearch: Few experts see benefits of performance pay plans http://ow.ly/15TRk #edreform As Jason Kamras points out… #
• Few studies on performance pay and few initiatives have been of any large scale. Most are also watered-down. So the “experts” honestly… #
• Have little on which to base positions. It’s like asking astronomers circa Gallileo era about whether or not the sun rotates around the moon #
• Ask the experts about #meritpay #performancepay when DC, NY, LAUnified engages in a major — and truly well-designed — performance pay plan #
• RT @CharterInsights: Stimulus only delays the pain: The federal gov. put our nation deep in debt http://bit.ly/axbAbN #ARRA #RttT #
• A possible lesson for #edreform out of the debacle at MySpace: RT @mathewi: “turnarounds never really turn.” http://bit.ly/anIL1M [via @om] #
• Or the Smarick argument in tech form. #
• RT @Trace_Urdan @gothamschools @jenny8lee: South African mom to daughter: “Education is the husband who will never let you down.” at #TED #
• RT @ACRIBlog: Charter Schools/Civil Rights: Civil rights industry types worry about the wrong thing, http://bit.ly/aGFOUu #edreform #
• MOre lessons for #edreform #schoolturnarounds from the private-sector: “The Myth of the Silver-Bullet CEO” http://bit.ly/9jWZvg #
• It’s not just about hiring a #MichelleRhee #JoelKlein. There must also be strong political support, talented admins, willingness to change. #
• Or else school district #edreform will fail (see Indianapolis Public Schools/Miami/San Francisco) #
• RT @ELWATERS @EdEquality @gnaeyaert: Ouch!! New study finds MI earns D- grade for policies on teacher quality, http://ow.ly/166oK #edreform #
• RT @Edubeat @EdEquality: RT @charteralliance: Education Week: Concerns Raised About Impact of Stimulus on Equity: http://bit.ly/ajvHKa #
• This, of course, doesn’t include the complaints about #RttT and its focus on #CharterSchools The next stimulus bill will be interesting. #
• Can a reform-minded administration continue its reform and still satisfy key constituencies who oppose elements of the plans? #
• G.W. Bush had similar problems w/#NoChild among conservative “leave us alone” elements and moderate Republicans in suburbia. #
• But it took six years for Bush II to feel the wrath because GOP had election victories. Obama is not so lucky. #
• RT @Harvard_Ed_Pub: Audio Excerpt: Inside Urban Charter Schools by Kay Merseth : Education Next: http://bit.ly/bMEKNp #edreform #
• @avalonsensei Last I checked, nearly all public charter schools accept all students via lottery. The lottery exists because the schools are. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei small in size. There are very few selective charters. So, in essence, charters accept all students (even if not everyone… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei attends them. By the way, magnet schools w/in districts and selective publics such as Stuyvesant High and Murray Bergtraum… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei (the latter of which I attended in my freshman year of HS) are selective and don’t allow all students either. Even worse, in in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei the case of magnet schools (unlike Stuy, which is test-based/purely meritocratic), the kids either have to be on a certain… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Track (which is often dependent on whether teachers/guidance counselors favor the kid) or through political will (which… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei favors wealthier parents). Compared to current trad. public ed tracking/pol. meddling… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei I’ll take the charters w/lotteries any day. in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei But magnets rarely work as an integration tool. More often than not, in most parts of the country, they become similar… #
• @avalonsensei to selective public schools (and in Indianapolis, for example, they are all one in the same). In fact, if you look at in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei The charter school stats for 2008-09, whites make up just a third of charter school students (versus 54 percent of trad… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei public schools) while blacks, Latinos and other minorities make up the rest. If anything, charters on a macro… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei are more integrated than traditional public schools. As for the special ed issue: Most charters are too small to accomodate… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Those populations. Remember, your average charter is about 300-400 students; they don’t have access to all the pools of public in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei dollars (facilities, for example, which they pay for through fundraising and loans), and have only been around for two decades in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei If anything, in many large urban cities, parents w/special ed students choose the trad. system because they have the infra- in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei structure available. Charters are working on this (in Indiana, the charter school association and Ball State have formed a in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei consortium for this very purpose). AS for parental commitment: Well, I believe parents must do their part. AS much as… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei I criticize traditional school districts for their mistreatment of parents, I also think that parents must be active… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Beyond field trips/homework. Education, in reality, needs to be so individualized for every student (especially SPED), that… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei parental involvement in curricula, etc. is paramount to academic success. Great teachers can improve academic learning, but in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Great teachers=active parents equals even greater likelihood of success. Again, your experience suggests sometihng different, in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei But experience w/o data is meaningless. If I based my views on ed just on my experiences, I’d have a more pessimistic view of in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei education systems in general, public or private. And, by the way, since magnets and selective schools don’t accept every child in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei (and they are public schools that are part of trad. districts), don’t they violate your view that all public schools should… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Accept kids no matter their circumstances? in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei I think “public education” should be the system of publicly funding the education of a child, no matter where he or she goes in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Be it trad. public, charter, private, parochial or homeschool. Or as I call it, the Hollywood model. Traditional in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei districts would be relegated to handling transportation, school lunch, those things they are (somewhat) good at. The same way in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei Warner Bros. /Universal handles distribution of films. The schools would handle the actual education, the same way… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei a Joel Silver handles production. The teachers would be treated like directors a la Warchowski/Hughes Brothers, as the in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei true professionals they should be. And parents would have choice, supported by grassroots groups who can give guidance… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei There wouldn’t be one option, but many options. Because not every kid is the same and not every school can educate every child in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei My goal is to expand all the options for every child to get the best education possible. The current system doesn’t do that… in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei It segments kids based on “ability” when those things can change (IQ, for example, is influenced by environment, not by birth) in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei It does well educating maybe 40 percent of students, but as seen in college remediation rates/H.S. grad rates, it is failing in reply to avalonsensei #
• @avalonsensei To live up to the concept that every child should get a great education at a great school. in reply to avalonsensei #
• EdSector’s Manwaring wonders if new round of adequacy lawsuits is coming: http://bit.ly/bW6gtP The answer is yes… #
• At Nov.’s Schott Foundation conference, ED’s Civil Rights Czar (and former EdTrust exec) Russlyn Ali made it clear that will happen. #
• So did Pa. Congressman Chaka Fattah. Expect Obama administration to be heavily involved in those next round of suits. #

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