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Taylor Mali began the day with a poem that cracked everyone up. He reminded us all with his fantastic use of words what it really meant to be a teacher. Education is the miracle; teachers are the workers, he said (or something to that effect).

The coming education cutbacks have alarmed some regional leaders, including Richard W. Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Board. He noted in the board's quarterly publication Southwest Economy that a recent study ranked Texas "dead last in the percent of the population age 25 and older that graduated from high school, 37th in percent of population enrolled in degree-granting institutions, 35th in academic research and development, and 41st in science and engineering degrees awarded. We can't be happy that we are lagging behind in education," he wrote. 

The Star Tribune declares it a miracle school on 9/24/11 with the headline 'At this school, usual excuses don't apply' http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/130474133.html Claim from the article: In this year's state math tests in grades three through eight, this school outperformed every metro-area school district, including Edina and Wayzata. Its students outperformed all state students in reading proficiency (77 percent to 75 percent), and state white students in math proficiency (82 percent to 65 percent).

The age of accountability should be renamed the age of blame, when teachers wear the scarlet letter for the failings of a nation. We send teachers into pockets of poverty that our leaders can't or won't eradicate, and when those teachers fail to work miracles among devastated children, we stamp 'unacceptable' on their foreheads.

As I predicted, there was no miracle in DC under Michelle Rhee's reign. At least not one you can see on the NAEP scores for fourth or eighth grade students in reading and math.

The national media consensus is that New Orleans has discovered the miracle cure for urban education.  Their conclusion is largely drawn from data provided by the Louisiana Department of Education, which obviously has a vested interest in emphasizing the good and ignoring the bad in the post-Katrina education changes.  New Orleans is important in the national education debate, but not for the reasons we commonly hear; it is important because it is the beachhead for a national movement to remove schools from local democratic control and accountability.  The privatization trade-off is that the public sacrifices control of schools for a privatized system that delivers better education for the same tax dollar.  While the citizens of New Orleans certainly lost control of their schools, it cannot be said that they have received a better education, if that also means an equitable education, nor can it be said that it came at the same cost.

As a recent graduate of a New Orleans public high school, I find it very troubling that the national conversation about post-Katrina education amounts to little more than talking points about charter schools and test scores. The most telling indication of how we're doing in the classroom actually comes from a youth-led research project showing the hard realities students continue to face every day. As New Orleans moves to become the first all-charter district in the country, students here must be heard.