Learning More about Learning

President Obama recently stated that the education system should be spared cuts in order to protect the country's future.I n a speech earlier this month, he stated: “A budget that sacrifices our commitment to education is a budget that sacrifices our country's future."

But his belief that our school system should be spared is not shared with some of his colleagues across the aisle. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, for example, has been taking part in a heated battle with his state's teachers unions over the right of collective bargaining. The GOP governor believes the teachers' salaries and pension benefits are an indispensable part of curbing his state's spendig.

So who’s right? Depends on who you ask. While conservatives would likely agree about the importance of education for our future, they have long argued that we can fix the school system in ways that hold teachers more strictly accountable – with increased private schooling, for example. Many liberals, meanwhile, argue for a reinvestment in teachers and a system that promotes improvement while assisting teachers.

It’s a fundamental political battle consistent with the type of party politics that have defined our country for over 50 years. But what does it all really mean? How will the policies of today affect not only the people of today, but also the leaders of tomorrow? Can we fix the problems of 2011 without ruining the future of the country?

Well, according to upcoming speakers such as American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, there is. Weingarten proposes a system of teacher evaluations that also allows teachers the ability to gain tenure. Supporting clear standards of what teachers should be able to do along with support groups to assist teachers deemed unsatisfactory, she hopes to create a system that holds teachers to a realistic code of accountable practice. Speaking on her plan, she's stated, "Our aim is to have a comprehensive, fair, transparent and expedient process to identify, improve, and—if necessary—remove ineffective teachers," noting that "neither drive-by nor test-score-driven evaluations" do that.


On the other side of the educational reform debate is upcoming speaker Michelle Rhee. During Rhee’s time as chancellor of the D.C. public school system, she implemented a system that she believes improves students' futures while holding teachers to a more productive accountability. She created a pay system based on “student achievement” and the removal of teacher tenure. Her evaluations were based on student test scores and a form of accountability akin to those found in the No Child Left Behind Act. The polices she implanted, and stands by, created a teaching environment that called for a quick turnaround on student success (a warning, followed by a one-year mandate for improvement) with bonuses for teachers able to improve students' test scores. She will be speaking along with Sacramento mayor (and former NBA star) Kevin Johnson about her system and its effect on her constituency.


Finally, come listen to Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp as she discusses what is going on with working teachers. Find out about the issues that she teachers face day in and day out and learn how she wants to use education to improve the lives of America’s Children.

–By James Dohnert

Diane Ravitch Still Making Waves in Education After Decades of Work

 Photo courtesy pf the National Archives and Records Administration

Diane Ravitch, a scholar and advocate of improving education in America, has been finding herself on the opposite side of big issues from some longtime allies.

Early in 2010, The New York Times reported on the change of mind she's had on such topics as No Child Left Behind, standardized testing, and charter schools. Ravitch had once supported all of those efforts, but she told the Times that her mind was changed when she examined the data about, for example, how charter schools performed versus public schools, or how other countries' education systems performed.

In each case, she began to be concerned that, instead of improving public education, the reform effort in the United States was dismantling public education.

Ravitch served as assistant secretary of education in President George H.W. Bush's administration, and she is currently a research professor of education at New York University. She is the author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education.

Ravitch will make her case about "The Paradox of Education Reform Today" during a February 24 event at The Commonwealth Club of California in Silicon Valley. This is a free program. For details, visit the Club's web site.

ABA Agrees with Richard Dreyfuss: American Schools Need Civics Classes

The new head of the American Bar Association took office recently, and among his top priorities is using the weight of the ABA's members to expand the teaching of civics in American schools.

He could have been taking notes from award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss. Dreyfuss spoke to The Commonwealth Club in Silicon Valley on July 19, 2010, about his effort to promote civics education. You can watch the video below, and see for yourself if he's in tune with the lawyers' group.

California's Education Money Market

On March 4, thousands of people across the state marched and gathered in protest as part of the Day of Action to Defend Education, a culmination of determined rallying against budget cuts, fee hikes and various other impediments to education that have taken place consistently since 2002.

Here in the Bay Area, the throng of protesters were in full force: upwards of some 20,000 camped out loudly in front of San Francisco City Hall, the entrances to UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz were blocked in the morning, and a group of activists even took "taking it to the streets" to a whole new level by marching right on to Interstate 880, blocking traffic for more than an hour while waving signs and shouting.

The message was clear and strong: many people in California are fed up with the everlasting education crisis and demand action from the legislators. What is unclear is how it will be attained. After months of picketing, striking and walkouts, many are upping efforts to collaborate with all the major players, starting with local officials.

“I join the thousands of students, parents and teachers across California and here in San Francisco today calling for adequate, equitable education funding for our public schools and universities,” San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced on his web site.

Newsom, a candidate for California lieutenant governor, went on to explain that the city has forged new partnerships with public schools and community colleges to guarantee universal pre-school and after-school programs for every child in the community, as well as a place in community colleges. If elected lieutenant governor, Newsom will serve as an ex-officio member on the UC Board of Regents and the CSU Board of Trustees.

While the protests were successful in garnering local attention on the streets and making headlines across the country, the action ironically took place the same day President Obama announced that California did not qualify for the $700 million share in federal Race to the Top funds, the single largest pool of discretionary funding for education reform in U.S. history.

The program, which stressed collaboration between government, union leaders, teachers and parents, has been a dividing point for many. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was a strong proponent for the program and urged all parties to join in the application process, but some critics argued that a federal fix was not the answer for a state with a uniquely complicated system and referenced the widely perceived failure of the No Child Left Behind Act. Many argued that the reason the Golden State missed out on the funds was because of its complicated standards adoption procedures, the resistance to federal reform from union leaders and the decision of several districts not to participate in the application in the program.

For California, the difficulty in securing funds for education is systemic. The state ranks 49th in per-capita spending per student and already faces a $20 billion deficit. The inability to raise revenue without raising taxes has worn down the system considerably, so missing out on package deals like the Race to the Top program are a big blow.

To make matters worse, 188 California schools – 12 of which are in San Francisco – got the news March 8 that they were lowest of the low-performing schools, meaning that they will be required to undergo major changes: they will either be closed, converted to a charter school or undergo a complete overhaul of instruction.

In spite of the recent designation, Newsom referenced high points of city education, but emphasized the need for statewide collaboration. “Despite these difficult economic times, over the last two years and this year, we will have invested $49 million of our city’s rainy day reserve funds in our public schools to stave off teacher layoffs,” Newsom said. “But it’s still not enough. Cities and public school districts can’t do it alone.”

It won’t be revealed until April exactly why we didn’t get a piece of the pie in California, but many people are quick to suggest that one reason is that constant fights over the best fix for education seems to take precedence over adhering to federal standards.

--By Heather Mack

Thinking Ahead - Two Commendable CA Budget Outcomes

The details of California's budget compromise are just coming to light, and I have heard good news on two fronts. Both demonstrate some laudable long term thinking by our State legislators. I thought I would share the details of these two compromises, as I have been informed about them.

First, a college on whose board I serve reports that Cal Grants, which provide scholarship money for college students who need some financial help, will not be cut (or even eliminated) as had been anticipated in this year's budget. This is of course a relief to colleges that would have either had to spend some of their already diminished endowment money to make up the difference, or cut back on accepting qualified but less financially capable students.

Since education is at the core of California's ability to innovate and solve its problems, cutting back education is cannibalizing the State's future capacity for a vibrant economy, and is truly short-sighted. The cuts that are taking place in the state university and college system are bad enough without eliminating the assistance that supports capable students across both private and public educational institutions.

Just as important, especially for Northern California, the planned high-speed rail system connecting the Bay Area with Southern California will proceed on schedule. A back-door effort to derail the system's planned route down the peninsula south of San Francisco through San Jose, by sending the State's High Speed Rail Authority back to re-study other possible routes, was foiled in the final budget compromise.

The story of this imbroglio has been to some degree reported in the press, but here is perhaps a slightly more detailed version. After extensive study, the northern California route for the system was approved last year, and our region was allocated a first traunch of the $10 billion in state bond money provided through last November's Prop 1A High Speed Rail ballot initiative, AND at least $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money to match and augment the state funds. All of this would go to design, engineering, technology and construction jobs in the Bay Area, and the spillover economic activity that provides throughout the community - which we very much need right now.

But a few residents of Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto decided that they didn't want this system running down the CalTrain corridor near their homes. Never mind that their cities had endorsed it last fall, or that part of the project would improve CalTrain including converting it from diesel to electric and putting its grade crossings under ground, making the system quieter and less polluting. This is the same kind of thinking that ensured, back in the 1970s, that BART did not serve the peninsula and South Bay as it does the East Bay.

So just before the 4th of July, someone slipped the directive to restudy the routes in Northern CA into the budget bill, in the closed-door conference committee in Sacramento. No state legislators or their staffs acknowledge being the source of this provision. Had this stayed in the budget bill, the State would have had to go back to restudy the route, delaying the project for at least a year, and in the process losing Northern California's place as first in line to receive bond funds and stimulus money - probably putting the section of the High Speed Rail system from Anaheim to LA in Southern California ahead of us in line to receive the funding. And of course, the jobs and economic benefits would move south right along with the project.

It took an incredible amount of effort rallying HSR supporters and a letter signed by every member of the Bay Area state legislative delegation to get this killer provision out of the budget bill, and it worked. Now it's High Speed Rail (and economic stimulus) for Northern California - full speed ahead!

Of late, one of the elements most lacking in our political process is the ability of our leaders to take actions that will produce desired results in the long-term. If we undercut our own capacities by not building infrastructure and not adequately educating our population, then we are definitely shooting ourselves in the foot, inhibiting our own progress.

I see both of these outcomes as good for the public interest. I commend both our state legislators, and Governor Schwarzenegger, who when he is allowed to do so, provides excellent leadership for the state, for these outcomes.

--Gloria Duffy