How about Education Reform Based on Evidence and Data?

When we discuss education reform, there is always an underlying assumption that public schools are deteriorating and teachers today are worse than they have ever been. This is simply not true. DoE and NAEP data show that black students today are performing better on many measures than white kids were in the 1980s. There is still an achievement gap because white students have improved as well. When we make international comparisons, our schools with a poverty rate of less than 10% outperform all schools except those in Shanghai, which doesn't release demographic data. When the PISA rankings were released, they were downplayed in China, and many Chinese education officials have come to America to see how we foster creativity and innovation. With the "reform" efforts now taking hold here, I wonder if in a few decades American officials will be making similar trips to China.

There is much animus directed at teachers and unions. We have heard many unflattering anecdotes of individual teachers that have had the unfortunate effect of tainting all. For each of these anecdotes there is often a story of a union charged with protecting those teachers at all costs to the detriment of students, parents, and schools. I am inclined to believe that the rest of the story in each case is not so simple. I would never support keeping an abusive and/or incompetent teacher in the classroom. It is up to administrators to do the work of removing these teachers, even as I support their due process. We cannot tarnish the reputations and motivations of all teachers because of the actions of a relative few.

Can educators improve? Of course - we improve with experience, with professional development, with supportive administrators and collaboration. I am concerned about the loss of collaboration if our test scores will be compared to the teacher next door. I am concerned about what happens to the evaluation of teachers who are especially gifted at working with special education students who struggle to perform on standardized assessments. I am concerned about a culture of test-taking that narrows the curriculum and stifles creativity and problem-solving, the true 21st century skills. I am especially concerned about the very unscientific and bizarre  value added measures used to rank teachers in New York City and the public humiliation and excoriation of many teachers that soon followed. (For more on this, please see the NEW YORK section on the Education Reform page. It may be important to keep in mind that this sort of practice is already taking place in several other cities.)

I am concerned about the soaring profits of testing companies who have always produced appalling question banks for tests (ask any teacher who has had to create their own tests because the textbook exams were so poor). I am concerned that we are implementing significant changes to education (narrow standardized testing, value added measures, charter schools) that have not been demonstrated to consistently improve teacher effectiveness or student achievement (and in fact many studies have shown all of these changes to be more detrimental than helpful). The amount of instructional time lost to standardized testing is significant. For students who care, the stress of testing can be destructive. Students who don't care can have a devastating effect on the process for those who do. For example, a middle school teacher told me about a student who deliberately disrupted the testing environment. He knew that low test scores would be inconsequential to him but would reflect negatively on the teacher and school. If a teacher's job depends on test scores, this sort of malicious sport will be elevated to high art.
 

I am concerned that we are doing exactly the opposite of what Finland - a PISA success story - is doing. Finland invests in the basic needs of its children, has great respect for its teachers and pays them extremely well. They do not have the high stakes tests we have here, and a teacher's evaluation is not based on students' test scores. And, in Finland, teachers are represented by unions.

I am concerned that the voices of  "reform" do not include true educators, that there is no evidence to support the changes advocated by Duncan, Gates, Rhee, et al. I am concerned about the persistent and pernicious drumbeat vilifying teachers while our society takes no responsibility for a collapsed financial system that has dramatically increased poverty in this country. When teachers express concerns about the students who go hungry, lack safety and stability at home, and have behavior problems so severe that it hampers our ability to teach, I am deeply troubled by those in the "reform" camp who respond by saying we are simply making excuses for our own ineptitude and laziness. Mostly I am concerned for the nation's children and for the loss of a public education system envisioned by Jefferson as the true foundation of a great democracy.


Post Script:  The following article provides a detailed analysis of actual educational data and the Gates Foundation's misuse or misrepresentation of the data. In the article Arne Duncan and Bill Gates are both quoted making statements that, while not dismissed by the author as false, are simply not supported by evidence. Fact-Challenged Policy by Richard Rothstein, Economic Policy Institute.