The Dropout Nation Podcast: Building Ties Between School Reformers and Grassroot Activists

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I explain why school reformers need to reach out to grassroots activists. Inside-the-Beltway policymaking, important as it is, will mean nothing for improving the educational destinies of children if school reformers don’t reach out to urban groups such as the Black Star Project and activists working in suburban and rural communities.

You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle’s radio page or download directly to your iPod or MP3 player. Also, subscribe to get the podcasts every week. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, Podcast Alley, the Education Podcast Network and Zune Marketplace.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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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