The Forum's blog

Forum Convener Linda Darling-Hammond talks about what the world’s top- performing school systems do – and why the U.S. does not do the same.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When it comes to looking for what works, the United States seems to be looking the other way.

That was the conclusion of a report released last month, which contends that many current school-reform efforts in this country run counter to the best practices in the world’s top-performing school systems, such as Finland, Canada, and Singapore.

If people agree on anything in Washington, they agree that the widely criticized No Child Left Behind needs to be changed.

But a chorus of civil rights, business and education groups is warning that a dramatic overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act could shortchange racial minorities, students with disabilities and other historically overlooked groups of students in the process.

The concerns underscore the tricky balance of making the law more flexible without losing accountability measures designed to shine a spotlight on the performance of students whose needs have been too often ignored.

Members of the Congressional Black, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific American Caucuses sent a letter in late March to lawmakers responsible for rewriting the law reminding them about the federal responsibility to require strong accountability for all schools and students.

By daylight, USA Today had hit the streets. It didn’t take long for the story to be picked up by the blogosphere, on television and radio, and in other media outlets.

Michelle Rhee’s test-driven reforms in Washington, D.C., which supposedly resulted in higher test scores and the firing of hundreds of teachers, were tainted by allegations of widespread cheating, the newspaper reported. Did the culture of testing – bonuses to principals who raised scores, exile to those who didn’t – actually cause the cheating to occur, people began to ask.

There’s an old saying that the first casualty of war is the truth.

Welcome to Wisconsin.

As teachers and other public employees battle to hold off legislation that would gut their collective bargaining rights, the conversation around the country tends to reinforce myths and ignore facts.

In the interest of an honest discussion, here are a few myths we encourage you to rethink:

Sad, Sad School Reform
By Jan Resseger

The operation of a high school resembles the staging of a huge convention every day. A convention for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of adolescents.

Running a high school involves establishing a schedule for students to fit in their required classes. It means staff guiding students to choose courses that will accumulate the credits needed for graduation. It requires staffing classes with the right teachers and making sure room assignments are feasible for students who must pass from class to class in a few minutes. It means providing lunch for hundreds of teenagers.

The Forum for Education and Democracy’s Recommendations for the Reauthorization of ESEA

Inspiration, hunger: these are the qualities that drive good schools. The best we educational planners can do is to create the most likely conditions for them to flourish, and then get out of their way.
– Ted Sizer

by Forum Conveners George Wood and Pedro Noguera

After the President’s State of the Union speech, speculation has begun about what will happen with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), most recently renamed No Child Left Behind.  Reports in the national press cite sources that the Obama administration is ready to address some of the most grievous problems in the current law.  That will be a good start, but we want to encourage the Administration and Congress to do more than fix a bad law – we want them to invest in public schools in ways that prepare every young person to use his or her mind well.