A decade of work in Chicago makes Dewey famous - Classroom 2.02024-03-28T13:30:39Zhttps://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/649749:Topic:43094?groupUrl=johndeweysimportoneducationreform&feed=yes&xn_auth=noWasn't chiding Diane et al, s…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-07:649749:Comment:861242007-12-07T21:15:40.543ZEd Joneshttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/EdJones
Wasn't chiding Diane et al, so much as myself.<br />
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What I was saying was, if you want Dewey-esque change--that is, one person whose name is synonymous for 100 years with changing the face of education--then that person will be the one who moves us from a 19th century steel-worker labor model to a 21st century knowledge-worker model.<br />
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Each of us can (probably should) list a dozen of these coalitions and movements and partnerships. And they're all good!<br />
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What's good about them is they are busting up…
Wasn't chiding Diane et al, so much as myself.<br />
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What I was saying was, if you want Dewey-esque change--that is, one person whose name is synonymous for 100 years with changing the face of education--then that person will be the one who moves us from a 19th century steel-worker labor model to a 21st century knowledge-worker model.<br />
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Each of us can (probably should) list a dozen of these coalitions and movements and partnerships. And they're all good!<br />
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What's good about them is they are busting up the Teacher-Union-District-EdSchool-State-Feds pyramid. They're empowering building administrators and local school boards to say, look, we don't have to submit to a hodgepodge of textbook publishers and pedagogies, we like the results that these schools over here get, and we think we can replicate it.<br />
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The problem is the continued replication. In the end, those networks will draw the funds and the good teachers, the ones who will go beyond the call despite the hardships and the low pay. They will draw larger resources as long as they can somehow add extra value and appear to be more deserving than the lesser school down the road. And the lesser schools down the road (tho they may have been the star 5 years ago) will get the lesser resources.<br />
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We call this the scalability problem.<br />
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Not every school has to be edgily innovative. What we need is for <i>all</i> schools to together be adaptive enough to give 95% of the kids the basics they need, and still move enough well-prepared students on to college.<br />
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We have many examples of quality controlled, innovative success to choose from. Innovation as its done by electrical and aerospace and chemical engineers, health professionals, bio-scientists? financial professionals, accountants, marketing professionals, web development professionals, etc. Quality control as its practiced at Fedex and Amazon and Health Care organizations and many other low-tolerance-for-failure organizations. Some use collective bargaining in their production; none use it in their innovation, training, or leadership.<br />
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Dewey-esque change will be the tipping point, when we don't point to even a score of CES and <a href="http://www.hightechhigh.org/about/">High Tech High</a> networks's but when <i>every</i> school is able to move good people in as needed, move the not-so-good out, train and support on demand, restructure when necessary, and adapt with agility. Both Diane Ravitch and Debora…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-07:649749:Comment:860132007-12-07T17:30:37.121ZSylvia Martinezhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/smartinez
Both Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier have done more than their share of <i>doing</i> over their long years of committment to education and children. I don't think it's fair to just label them as simply talkers.<br />
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But if you really want to see Dewey-esque (is that a word?) education reform in action, it's out there. Check out <a href="http://www.bigpicture.org/">The Big Picture</a>, by Dennis Litky (who just announced he's starting a college, by the way), the…
Both Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier have done more than their share of <i>doing</i> over their long years of committment to education and children. I don't think it's fair to just label them as simply talkers.<br />
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But if you really want to see Dewey-esque (is that a word?) education reform in action, it's out there. Check out <a href="http://www.bigpicture.org/">The Big Picture</a>, by Dennis Litky (who just announced he's starting a college, by the way), the <a href="http://www.essentialschools.org/">Coalition of Essential Schools</a>, and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach">Reggio Emilia movement</a>. There are many more unheralded examples.<br />
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These are all completely different takes on the problem. The Big Picture starts its own schools. CES is an affliation of like-minded schools. Reggio Emilia is a distinct philosophy about how schools should be run, it's not a group or organization.<br />
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It's a big world out there, and even the actions of the president of the US have little to do with the everyday lives of most citizens of the world. I really think that the actions of one teacher, one leader, one group who change the lives of children are more effective than we think. Connie, as I said to Diane th…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-07:649749:Comment:858432007-12-07T15:29:41.707ZEd Joneshttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/EdJones
Connie, as I said to Diane this time last year (she in her <i>nothing is working</i> doldrums and I in my <i>why don't you finance real innovation</i> vexment), we didn't expect NCLB to solve everything. At least not those of us who know enough about human economics.<br />
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NCLB's best hope was to document the problem and improve the conversation. It's done that, of course with many of the expected downsides. (Teaching to the test may be necessary, but its still an evil). Its also prompted many good…
Connie, as I said to Diane this time last year (she in her <i>nothing is working</i> doldrums and I in my <i>why don't you finance real innovation</i> vexment), we didn't expect NCLB to solve everything. At least not those of us who know enough about human economics.<br />
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NCLB's best hope was to document the problem and improve the conversation. It's done that, of course with many of the expected downsides. (Teaching to the test may be necessary, but its still an evil). Its also prompted many good responses, like the Great City Schools.<br />
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What we haven't found, and what all the little data and conversations can't fix, is a voice who will take on the real elephant. If we want teacher pay and work conditions, staffing, organization, innovating and resources to look like those of other 21st century world-class knowledge workers, we need to start moving that way. Two things can happen:<ol>
<li>Teachers can, one school at a time, leave the 19th century steelworker labor model behind. Or</li>
<li>A President can rise who will get Congress to suspend the labor laws for an experimental period of not less than 10 years.</li>
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Diane and Deborah are good people, but we need much less talk and much more movement. > "too little debate"
Amen…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-07:649749:Comment:857872007-12-07T14:21:56.764ZEd Joneshttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/EdJones
> "too little debate"<br />
Amen to that.<br />
<blockquote>“Ordinary citizens still gather to discuss important questions, but they are less informed, less able to support their arguments. —Margaret Thatcher</blockquote>
> "too little debate"<br />
Amen to that.<br />
<blockquote>“Ordinary citizens still gather to discuss important questions, but they are less informed, less able to support their arguments. —Margaret Thatcher</blockquote> It doesn't entirely seem so.…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-06:649749:Comment:854752007-12-06T18:40:54.285ZEd Joneshttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/EdJones
It doesn't entirely seem so. The states have bureaucracies now probably bigger than the Feds did in Dewey's time. And they are less susceptible to quality control sometimes.<br />
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The control should go to the teachers as individuals, negotiating as individuals, but belonging to a world-class knowledge worker professional organizations who give them the intellectual tools to stand their ground.<br />
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But the biggest thing is to give them the power of incrementalism. Every other…
It doesn't entirely seem so. The states have bureaucracies now probably bigger than the Feds did in Dewey's time. And they are less susceptible to quality control sometimes.<br />
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The control should go to the teachers as individuals, negotiating as individuals, but belonging to a world-class knowledge worker professional organizations who give them the intellectual tools to stand their ground.<br />
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But the biggest thing is to give them the power of incrementalism. Every other knowledge-worker-professional negotiates on his own. While it seems to be the less powerful way to bargain, in fact it works out better. Why? Same reason XM radio will give you the radio if you just pay $14.95 a month. Its just a little bit here and there; I can afford it.<br />
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So, when one person walks in and asks for a 4 percent raise, it seems not much. When 300 or 800 or 2000 walk in on one day and ask for a 2.5% raise, tempers flair. It makes no sense mathematically, but it is human nature. As long as you're including D…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-06:649749:Comment:854732007-12-06T18:25:44.221ZConnie Weberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/connieweber
As long as you're including Diane Ravitch, we may want to include the <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/">debate over educational policy between Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier</a> going on over at Education Week. There's a lot of food for thought...
As long as you're including Diane Ravitch, we may want to include the <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/">debate over educational policy between Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier</a> going on over at Education Week. There's a lot of food for thought... So, getting back to Dewey. I…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-06:649749:Comment:853852007-12-06T16:36:14.807ZKen Messersmithhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/kenmessersmith
So, getting back to Dewey. I am not an expert or a philosopher, but my reading is that he believed the school should be controlled by the community and not by the central government. The community should participate in the formulation of the curriculum, the allocation of resources, and students should likewise be involved with the community as they become educated. It seems to me that Ed is saying that our schools have lost the flexibility to adapt to the new needs of the community. Would it be…
So, getting back to Dewey. I am not an expert or a philosopher, but my reading is that he believed the school should be controlled by the community and not by the central government. The community should participate in the formulation of the curriculum, the allocation of resources, and students should likewise be involved with the community as they become educated. It seems to me that Ed is saying that our schools have lost the flexibility to adapt to the new needs of the community. Would it be an improvement if we abolished the federal DOE and put the responsibility back on the states? Indeed. How we get teachers t…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-06:649749:Comment:853642007-12-06T15:33:36.710ZEd Joneshttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/EdJones
Indeed. How we get teachers to make that change; to move to the model that works for so many other knowledge worker professions, we still don't know. I go to conferences where past successes are celebrated and past mistakes recalibrated, where lots of new good ideas are expanded. The mentioned problem is always scalability. How do you scale up what works here and there to work across the bulk of the nation? And how do you accelerate innovation? It always comes back to money and training.<br />
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And…
Indeed. How we get teachers to make that change; to move to the model that works for so many other knowledge worker professions, we still don't know. I go to conferences where past successes are celebrated and past mistakes recalibrated, where lots of new good ideas are expanded. The mentioned problem is always scalability. How do you scale up what works here and there to work across the bulk of the nation? And how do you accelerate innovation? It always comes back to money and training.<br />
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And there they stop. The un-mentioned elephant always sitting in the room is the nineteenth century labor model. The one invented for steelworkers. The one steadfastly adhered to by the NEA, the ed schools, and the Unions.<br />
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None of the innovations of the Internet, Web 2.0, online shopping, etc., none of the incredible medical advances, none of the wonders of aerospace, none of the financial and marketing and development miracles which have happened over the past 20 and more years could ever have happened in a unionized knowledge-worker environment.<br />
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And so, those of us who see the need for teachers to be paid more; to have incentives that make sense and spur them on, to have the wisdom to go back to the ed schools and change <i>them</i>, well... Slowly. Very Slowly. Sadly fo…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-06:649749:Comment:853202007-12-06T13:38:08.362ZEd Joneshttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/EdJones
Slowly. Very Slowly. Sadly for the kids.<br />
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At least if it is all to be done politically. Which is how, unfortunately, the "liberals" and "progressives" want it done. Politically. Same ole. Same ole.<br />
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OK, so Michelle has 5000 central office bureaucrats working for her. When she asks them what they are responsible for, most point to someone else as being responsible. They spend double the national average per child, with little effect. No matter how useless one is, she can't get rid of them. Many…
Slowly. Very Slowly. Sadly for the kids.<br />
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At least if it is all to be done politically. Which is how, unfortunately, the "liberals" and "progressives" want it done. Politically. Same ole. Same ole.<br />
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OK, so Michelle has 5000 central office bureaucrats working for her. When she asks them what they are responsible for, most point to someone else as being responsible. They spend double the national average per child, with little effect. No matter how useless one is, she can't get rid of them. Many consider teachers and parents a bother.<br />
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I'm not sure what part of the "progressive" solution is about fixing this.<br />
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She also has, I think, 50,000 teachers. How do these teachers approach their jobs economically and professionally? Like world class knowledge workers? Do they organize, negotiate, train, and advance like other world class knowledge workers? Like electrical and aerospace and chemical engineers? World class health professionals? Bio-scientists? Financial professionals, accountants, marketing professionals? Web development professionals? Professional trainers?<br />
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Or would you compare their economic model to a different era? There is a remarkable book on…tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-12-05:649749:Comment:849422007-12-05T17:56:51.200ZEd Joneshttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/EdJones
There is a remarkable book on the seeds of the reform process. Readers who think that the District of Columbia needs even more money to run its awful school system; or those who think the laws of economics stop at the school door may not be familiar with the detailed progress of the past two decades, but... The germination of that process is laid our in a very readable and to me exhilarating style in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Freedom-Foundation-Changed-America/dp/1594031177/">A Gift…</a>
There is a remarkable book on the seeds of the reform process. Readers who think that the District of Columbia needs even more money to run its awful school system; or those who think the laws of economics stop at the school door may not be familiar with the detailed progress of the past two decades, but... The germination of that process is laid our in a very readable and to me exhilarating style in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Freedom-Foundation-Changed-America/dp/1594031177/">A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America</a> by John J. Miller. In a nutshell, you will be amazed at how much recent change has been enabled by a tiny handful of staff administering one philanthropist's fortune.<br />
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As to the right now, as far as I can tell, for volume of work and influence, <a href="http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.30,filter.all/scholar.asp">Rick Hess</a> and those around him, including the <a href="http://edexcellence.net/foundation/global/index.cfm">Thomas P. Fordham Foundation</a>, <a href="http://edexcellence.net/foundation/about/individual_detail.cfm?id=8">Checker Finn</a>, and <a href="http://www.dianeravitch.com/">Diane Ravitch</a>.<br />
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And God Bless <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Rhee">Michelle Rhee</a>, founder of Teach for America, and now the new <a href="http://www.k12.dc.us/chancellor.htm">Chancellor of D.C. schools</a>. May she be able to make some difference in these kids lives.