Tag: Brookings Institution


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/dropoutn/public_html/wp-content/themes/ralphkrause/ralphkrause/parts/mjr.php on line 47

Why Russ Whitehurst Gets It Mostly Wrong on Harlem Children’s Zone


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/dropoutn/public_html/wp-content/themes/ralphkrause/ralphkrause/parts/mjr.php on line 47

The Harlem Children’s Zone and it’s chief executive, Geoffrey Canada, have not only exemplified what school reformers can do when they take a community-based approach to improving education, but has…

The promise of the Harlem Children's Zone can be seen in Garry Kasparov playing chess with one of its Promise Academy students

The Harlem Children’s Zone and it’s chief executive, Geoffrey Canada, have not only exemplified what school reformers can do when they take a community-based approach to improving education, but has even spawned a movie, an American Express commercial, and the Obama administration’s Promise Neighborhoods program for tackling poverty and education. So naturally, the release of a report this week by the Brookings Institution criticizing the performance of one of the Harlem Children’s Zone’s charter schools (and by proxy, the underlying approach of Promise Neighborhoods) was certainly going to get some attention (along with a terse response from Canada himself). While Canada and the report’s co-authors, Russ Whitehurst and Michelle Croft, get to sparring, here is Dropout Nation‘s analysis of the report and the competing philosophies behind both Harlem Children’s Zone and the Brookings report:

  1. Certainly Harlem Children’s Zone can — and should — do better in improving student achievement in its schools: The fact that its Promise Academy does a better job of improving student achievement than traditional public schools in the community it serves isn’t enough, especially when those schools are abysmal in the first place. Harlem Children’s Zone isn’t just proving itself against those schools, but against other public charters that don’t offer such a wide array of services. More importantly, it comes down to this: Black and Latino children in its school have to do better than average because they often enter school so far behind academically. So Harlem Children’s Zone needs to take a hard look at its performance and get going on improving its outcomes.
  2. But the Brookings report argues unconvincingly that the model doesn’t work: The report doesn’t really attempt any sort of true longitudinal snapshot of academic progress at Promise Academy over time; there is some evidence that Whitehurst and Croft had opportunity to do some longitudinal analysis for grades six-through-eight (from 2007, 2008 and 2009 results), but the report doesn’t offer evidence that such an attempt was made. Certainly the analysis provided offers a sobering glimpse on Harlem Children’s Zone’s success and challenge. But it  also comes to some headline-grabbing conclusions about the program’s future success with incomplete analysis.
  3. The report also underscores an amazingly thoughtless conceit among Beltway school reformers — that grassroots networks don’t really matter: This may not be intentional on the part of Whitehurst and his co-author (or from folks such as Sara Mead), but it seeps through the entire piece. It is also quite incorrect. As Dropout Nation has argued ad nauseum this week, it is the very lack of bodies — especially networks of grassroots activists and churches — that has posed the single-biggest problem for Beltway-based reformers in sustaining their prescriptions for overhauling American public education. It isn’t enough to argue for policies: It also requires getting the hands dirty, working with the 51 million single parents, grandparents and immigrant families ready to embrace school reform (but who lack the resources, especially knowledge and guidance on what high quality education should look like, in order to make it a reality). Given the remaining strength of the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and their allies on the ground, Beltway reformers need get into the grassroots game. This means understanding that you can’t solve educational issues without also working with those who understand the other social issues (and who can rally support around reform solutions). [By the way: There is also a major difference between the family empowerment through education  approach taken by Canada — who is a co-signatory on the Broader, Bolder manifesto Brookings so rightfully criticizes — and the rest of the crowd, who are defenders of traditional public education and argue that education cannot overcome poverty. Sadly, however, Whitehurst (an otherwise excellent researcher) and Croft neither notes those differences nor provides much nuance on any of this. They should have done so. Period.]
  4. But this doesn’t mean the Harlem Children’s Zone approach is for everyone: The idea behind Canada’s program is powerful and exciting, as is the promise and even the reality. It will serve well the children and families under its umbrella. But there are plenty of successful programs on the community end which can do the social services work better than any school reformer can; after all, there is something called comparative advantage. What Beltway-based school reformers can do (and, in the case of the grassroots-based reform counterparts already do) is form networks of organizations that can handle those social needs, then create data systems that can track how kids are doing over time. Easy to do? Not in the age of FERPA (traditional school districts don’t do this well). But school reformers have the resourcefulness to make this a reality.

2 Comments on Why Russ Whitehurst Gets It Mostly Wrong on Harlem Children’s Zone

Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/dropoutn/public_html/wp-content/themes/ralphkrause/ralphkrause/parts/mjr.php on line 47

The Dropout Nation Podcast: Save 150 Teens An Hour – Why We Must Reform American Public Education


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/dropoutn/public_html/wp-content/themes/ralphkrause/ralphkrause/parts/mjr.php on line 47

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I offer a few reasons — and statistics — for why American public education must be reformed. Far too many children are either dropping…

Dropout Nation Podcast Cover

On this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, I offer a few reasons — and statistics — for why American public education must be reformed. Far too many children are either dropping out or leaving school unprepared for life in the real world. The numbers may shock you — and hopefully, will spur you into action.

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

1 Comment on The Dropout Nation Podcast: Save 150 Teens An Hour – Why We Must Reform American Public Education

Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/dropoutn/public_html/wp-content/themes/ralphkrause/ralphkrause/parts/mjr.php on line 47

Read: Teachers Unions Slam Obama Edition


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/dropoutn/public_html/wp-content/themes/ralphkrause/ralphkrause/parts/mjr.php on line 47

What’s happening today in the dropout nation: As Stephen Sawchuk reported Wednesday in Education Week, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers were none too pleased with…

Photo courtesy of the New York Times

What’s happening today in the dropout nation:

  1. As Stephen Sawchuk reported Wednesday in Education Week, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers were none too pleased with the Obama administration’s effort to transform Title I funding from formula-based funding to competitive grants similar to the Race to the Top reform effort. But don’t think it’s just all about the money. The NEA and the AFT (along with local school districts) have already been the beneficiaries of $100 billion in federal stimulus dollars (along with the prospect of more billions in the 2010-2011 fiscal year budget courtesy of another possible stimulus being pitched around Congress). What it is really about is that the NEA and AFT are slowly being relegated to side players in education decision-making. Even though the Adequate Yearly Progress provisions within the No Child Left Behind Act that the unions oppose are being ditched, the two unions are facing the reality that the traditional system of teachers compensation — degree- and seniority-based pay scales, near-lifetime employment through tenure and pensions that pay out as much as $2 million to a teacher over the course of her retirement — is being relegated to history’s ash-bin. No Child, along with Race to the Top (and various efforts by school districts and states to right-size their finances), will likely further spur this transformation.
  2. Meanwhile in Central Falls, R.I., one of the 93 teachers at the local high school fired by the district last month after refusing to support a school turnaround plan decided to hang Obama in effigy, according to USA Today. Why? Because of Obama’s own support for the district in this imbroglio. This teacher has a right to free speech. He also deserves our scorn.
  3. At Gotham Schools, Matthew Levey argues that teacher quality is just side of the school reform equation. Revamping the curricula taught in New York City’s schools (and other school systems throughout the nation) is also critical to improving how children learn. Writes Levey: “The content we want our kids to learn is the fraternal twin of teacher quality, and it is high time we stopped treating it like a redheaded stepchild.” I agree with his point, but doesn’t the Common Core standards effort (along with the entire history of the standards and accountability movement) undermine his argument?
  4. The Brookings Institution calls for a new federal program to recruit, train and bring teachers to the poorest school systems. All nice and all. But don’t we already have AmeriCorps? Don’t we have Teach for America, which started out as an offshoot of AmeriCorps? Didn’t Martin Haberman start a similar program five decades ago that became the National Teacher Corps? My my my, Brookings, offering old ideas yet again. And, save for TFA (which is fully in the nonprofit sector), the concept has never really worked.
  5. And the Heritage Foundation’s Lindsay Burke takes aim at Obama and Duncan for watering down some of the oft-sabotaged school choice provision within No Child, which allowed for poor students to leave the worst schools for better schools within their district (if available). From where I sit, the provision was often not used because traditional school districts almost never informed parents in time to exercise their choice. Sadly, even when available, the school districts were often so atrocious that there were no high quality schools from which parents can choose. The better solution should have been to allow for vouchers. But Obama isn’t going to ever go there.

Check out this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast on improving teacher quality, along with this week’s report on low high school promotion rates for boys within Kansas City, K.S.’s school district. And read my report in The American Spectator on efforts by the AFT and NEA to start their own charter schools (and take control of existing traditional schools). Apparently, one AFT effort in New York City isn’t going so hot.

By the way: Next week’s Dropout Nation Podcast, which will focus more on improving urban and rural schools, will hit the Internet this weekend.



Comments Off on Read: Teachers Unions Slam Obama Edition

Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/dropoutn/public_html/wp-content/themes/ralphkrause/ralphkrause/parts/mjr.php on line 47

More Diversity Needed in National and Local Education Coverage


Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /home/dropoutn/public_html/wp-content/themes/ralphkrause/ralphkrause/parts/mjr.php on line 47

As the editor of this work in progress, I have a distinct set of goals for it: Chronicling the battles between school reformers and defenders of the traditional ways of…

Education reporting is more than just what happens in the classroom or inside the U.S. Department of Education

As the editor of this work in progress, I have a distinct set of goals for it: Chronicling the battles between school reformers and defenders of the traditional ways of running public schools; spotlighting how policy meets reality in school districts and classrooms around the country; looking at how the nation’s high school dropout crisis impacts communities and intersects with other social ills in urban and suburban communities; even offering a post or two to grassroots activists whose voices are rarely heard in the local paper.

So  I was certainly intrigued by Jay Mathews’ declaration on Monday that the Brookings Institution’s report on media coverage of education overstated the importance of national news coverage. Not because I fully agree with either side, but because I think they are both overlooking some realities.

Mathews is certainly right that there is plenty of admirable work being done by ed reporters at the national level. He’s also right that the traditional coverage can often be of little use to the average reader. The problem is that is there isn’t nearly enough of it. Or enough variety. It would be great to see Politico‘s Ben Smith or Dave Weigel of the Washington Independent tackle the intersection between education and campaign politics. It doesn’t happen.

The reality is that the quality of national education reporting outside of a few national newspapers and Education Week is lacking. The major political affairs daily, including Politico offers little coverage of how NEA and AFT campaign spending influences state and congressional campaign, nor provides much of a commentary forum for writers on the subject. Save for National Journal and some of the political monthlies out there (The American Spectator to name one), education coverage of any kind gets short shrift.

Some of this, of course, can be blamed on the horse-race nature of political coverage; compared to healthcare reform, covering the battle over reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act or the discussions over common core standards seems rather dull. The fact that most of the reporters and editors working in these publications are, naturally, more interested in the dull sheen of politics than in the deep questions of education also plays a part. Then there is the fact that schools are one of the few institutions in which everyone has participated; if you excelled in school or could care less about it when you were attending, you’re not going to care about it as an adult in any meaningful way.

But this doesn’t let national education reporters off the hook. As much of the problem lies with how education is covered. Few think about education as it intersects with other aspects of life. In my time, I’ve written about the role of education in trade policy, political campaigns, criminal justice systems, public pensions, even immigration policy. Focusing on just Race to the Top alone (and yes, I’m guilty of this too) or No Child reauthorization will do little to convince a Roll Call editor (or even a national editor at the N.Y. Times) to devote more than just a few column inches to education coverage.

Local education coverage, on the other hand, is plentiful in comparison. Brookings does fail to realize the full importance of local coverage.  But local ed reporting is often just as shallow as that at the national level. The tendency is to focus on either the school board battle or the classroom. The problem of focusing only on classrooms is that what seems like good teaching may not actually be so. More often than not, local reporters think the classroom is the beginning and end; they fail to crunch numbers, analyze data or consider what can often be a dissonance between what appears to be working and what actually is. Classrooms are nice and so are teachers and kids, but it doesn’t offer nearly enough in terms of hard evidence.

So much of what shapes how teachers teach happens outside of the classroom. So do the consequences of that teaching on the children in their care — and the taxpayers who fund the schools in the first place. An inmate at Folsom State is as much a product of slovenly instruction and labeling by administrators as he is a result of desultory and abusive parenting. Property taxes in many cities are being driven up because of the cost of funding teacher retirements. The unwillingness of laggard veterans to leave the classroom is driven largely by the retirement benefits they have gained over the course of their careers.

Based on all this, local and national reporters need to look beyond classrooms and budget documents. They should go where they usually don’t: Local jails, state prisons, welfare offices, GED centers, even workforce training campuses and community colleges. More often than not, these are the places where the long-term effects of academic failure can be seen. This is because the average high school dropout isn’t simply a troublemaker; the average dropout is just as often the average kid who, despite his need for remediation, is often passed up the line from one teacher to the next. Until he reaches high school, when the proverbial rubber meets road and he must earn credits in order to graduate.

Education reporters also need to shed their fear of numbers-crunching and analysis. As proven by a number of reporters, including my former Indianapolis Star colleague Andy Gammill,  many of the best stories can be found in data that otherwise seems a jumble. It isn’t all hard work. Likely graduation rates for a school district, for example, can be figured out simply by dividing the number graduates from the population of 8th-graders likely heading into high school five years earlier. There is also plenty of information on teacher salaries within a school; if analyzed properly, you can get a sense of how districts finagle their numbers and how it actually plays out for students from wealthier and poor backgrounds.

What ‘s also needed are more Gotham Schools, more This Week in Educations, even more Dropout Nations. There should be a Catalyst in every city and a Hechinger Institute in every region. This would not only add to the diversity of coverage, it would also help convince editors and writers off the education beat to think more about the importance of education on the subjects their outlets cover.

3 Comments on More Diversity Needed in National and Local Education Coverage

Type on the field below and hit Enter/Return to search