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Race to the Top Winners announced for round 2

The question of the day...

This article is just about one high school but it represents the confluence of the many factors that impact public education; NCLB, Race to the Top, reform initiatives, and the achievement gap.

This article takes a macro look at what education might look like in a post NCLB world. The fact that we are even talking about a post NCLB world seems like a fundamental shift to me.

Post-NCLB sounds great, but I do wonder what will come next! The "Close-but-no-Cigar Race to the Top" may become mandatory! Yikes!

Details about research on the impact school performance has on how people vote for school board members. The authors conclude "If voters do not cast out incumbents when local school performance is poor, they forfeit that opportunity. As debate continues over components of NCLB, policymakers should consider whether it is realistic to assume voters will in fact use the polls to drive school improvement."

"If you wanted to "sell" something that a number of people did not need, how would you do it? You might try setting up a contest where everyone competes for a significant financial prize. After all, Americans love to compete, especially when money goes to the winner"

It'll be interesting to hear what Dr. Stager has to say about this.

"we see a society built around profit and monetary gains where the major force driving educational institutions and their enrollees is money; pure profit and economic factors for the majority" "As a result of the uncontrollable turn that modern society has taken in terms of our emergence in a contemporary world built on profit maximization and survivalist economics and materialism, and propulsion toward a future of uncertainty for which we must gather wealth by any means necessary, the degree of competition among us in all walks of life and on all platforms has dramatically increased, and the workplace or proscenium upon which the dramatis personae of economic theories; firms, households, and governments must play, has turned into the battleground where technological advancement, increased knowledge, and the need for more specialized and skilled workers have driven us to commoditize learning opportunities in the form of training and education at an alarming rate. The rate of consumption which the market demands of education and training - knowledge and skills demand and consumption, has left schools, colleges, and universities competing among each other in desperate and even despicable ways, such that education in the form of mere training and book-scanning that the majority offers, has become just another "player" and card in Capitalism's game and race to the bottom of the consciousness funnel."

Wonder if VCU is hosting this new documentary?

As a parent of two children who participated in highly competitive programs, I am eager to see this movie. While I am impressed with the support and passion that some of their teachers provided, I (actually both my husband and I) at times wondered if the children were being pushed too much with an unintended consequence that there was less time to focus on the other parts of "growing up." We convinced our daughter to cut down to "only" 5 IB/AP classes in her senior year. She initially resisted but eventually found that the extra time was valuable. And, she was no worse off when getting to college. While she came into college with 36 IB/AP hours, only 12 were applied to her degree. I'm interested in feedback from educators too. It would seem that if they are tasked with moving the children through such aggressive programs they may find they lose sight of each child as an individual.

Yes...I get it...I am an IB teacher myself. But, I have learned that no everyone wants to be an overachiever in that academic sort of way...and we should all be okay with that...thanks for your comment!

What we can learn from England - Findings of a longitudinal study that explored the impact of recent educational reforms in England on the nature of the relationship between headteachers and lay school governors. Recent legislation has increased governors' and consumers' power and reduced the power of the "producers" of education. Governors are members of school governing bodies who have volunteered to work with headteachers in school administration. Findings indicate that the governor/headteacher relationship is not a consensual one. Factors inhibiting the development of a partnership include the micropolitical nature of school governance; the emerging organizational cultures of governing bodies; the loose coupling of governing bodies to schools; the differences between heads and governors about power; the complex and ambiguous nature of reform legislation; and cultural factors, such as race, gender, and ethnicity. The question is raised whether community involvement should extend to nonprofessionals taking a key role in educational decision making and policy formation.

So the school boards and their constituents know that consolidation would reduce costs and the people don't want to pay higher taxes... yet there is reluctance to consolidate small districts (those with approx 500 students) because of unique needs (hmmm is this "code" for something?) and because the constituencies don't like the idea of a state mandate. So, let's see... whose interests are they protecting?

Tea party candidates are getting on the ballots for local elections.