News and Views: October 2009

Friends:

In case you missed it, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently announced his intentions to jumpstart the reauthorization process for federal education policy in 2010.

Duncan’s call to action suggests a breakneck pace of policy debates this fall. But as you well know, we can’t craft the best possible guidance for our public school system until we rethink learning NOW.

Everyone knows that helping children learn how to use their minds well is the ultimate goal of public education. Indeed, there are already scores of schools across the country that are doing this work, and doing it well. However, our overall system of schools won’t be better equipped to help all children learn unless we're all clear about what a powerful learning environment actually looks like.

Before that can happen, we need to start having a different conversation. We need to restore the focus of public education reform to its rightful place – on learning, and on the core conditions that best support it.

To bring about this subtle shift of thinking, a growing coalition of organizations (including the Forum) is sparking a national conversation about schooling – and how best to improve it so that all children can finally receive a high-quality public education in America.

Aside from releasing three provocative, conversation-starting PSAs (watch them here), the campaign’s first step is to invite people to recount powerful learning experiences and identify the attributes that made those experiences so successful.

Already, the campaign has received major media coverage (from CNN to USA Today), collected a diverse set of stories – from citizens to Senators to the Secretary of Education himself – and begun outlining a core set of essential conditions for schools to cultivate.

Throughout the fall, the campaign will also host three Capitol Hill briefings, at which we will present new policy ideas, based on the collective insights of the country, that will help lawmakers institute reforms based more clearly on what young people need in order to thrive – and stay – in school.

In that sense, the Rethink Learning Now campaign has two main objectives: first, establish clarity around the core objectives of effective school reform: powerful learning, highly-effective teaching, and a system committed to ensuring fairness; and second, take that coordinated energy and apply it toward specific proposals that result in a better, more attuned ESEA that empowers educators to create healthy, high-functioning learning environments.

It’s a powerful idea – and it won’t work without your direct involvement. So join the chorus, and share your voice, at rethinklearningnow.com.

We Need A Win-Win Strategy for Education
By Pedro A. Noguera

NOTE: This article originally appeared on cnn.com.

President Obama has made it clear from the earliest days of his presidency that he intended to make education a high priority for his administration.  He will reaffirm that commitment this week when he addresses the nation on the topic.  In one of his first presidential addresses, he made a special appeal to students at risk of dropping out: “… [D]ropping out of high school is no longer an option.  It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country, and this country needs and values the talents of every American.”

The President’s commitment to education is truly remarkable, considering the enormous array of policy challenges confronting the administration.  From healthcare and the economic crisis, to global warming and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the administration is beset by controversies that will not be easily resolved.  The fact that the President and his secretary Arne Duncan, have not allowed education to be ignored or placed on the back burner says a great deal about their recognition of its central importance to our nation. 

However, as the administration navigates its way into the policy debates that are swirling over the future of education it would be wise for it to proceed with caution.
The administration has already staked out positions on a number of issues – charter schools and merit pay for teachers being two of the big ones – which run the risk of generating additional controversy in the polarized debates over how to reform education.  If these issues and the stimulus money being made available under the Race to the Top (RTT) program are not handled carefully, conflict and even paralysis are likely to ensue.  The President may even inadvertently alienate an important core constituency that he will surely need in the years ahead – public school teachers.

The current policy debates over the direction of education are typically presented as battles between the reformers, led by Superintendents like Joel Klien of New York and Michelle Rhee of Washington D.C., and the defenders of the status quo, most often presented as the powerful teacher unions and other elements of the education establishment. While anyone familiar with the current debates knows that the differences between the two sides are real and profound, a protracted battle over the direction of education reform is not a good thing either for the administration or for those who genuinely want to see improvement in public education. 

Instead of choosing sides, it would be wise for the administration to do all it can to find common ground between the opposing camps as it formulates new policy initiatives.  For example, instead of requiring states to adopt some form of merit pay for teachers – a measure to which both the NEA and AFT have already declared their opposition – the administration could encourage states to adopt school-based formulas that reward increases in student achievement.  This is similar, though not identical, to the approach taken in New York City, one that encourages collaboration among teachers and recognizes the importance of evidence that children are learning.

Similarly, rather than touting charter schools as the solution to public education, the administration should treat the best charters as models of innovation that provide educators with the flexibility to implement new strategies. This is a subtle but important distinction that has been lacking in many of the administration’s pronouncements about charter schools.  Unlike the public schools, many charter schools find ways to avoid serving the most disadvantaged students and their teachers often work a longer day and longer school year without a contract.  Moreover, many of the best charters are subsidized by private philanthropists and are able to spend considerably more per pupil than traditional public schools.  These facts should not be used negate the accomplishments of the excellent charter schools that have emerged in many large cities.  In fact, it is far more likely that struggling public schools in these same cities would be more open to learning from the charters’ accomplishments if they were not cast as competitors.

Finally, the President has championed the idea of “promise neighborhoods” as a way to increase the availability of social services to children in high poverty communities.  If this initiative is to result in lasting benefits to children, it will need to be combined with creative approaches to reforming urban public schools that re-formulate how we think about standards and focus attention more intently on how to deliver quality instruction to children.  With dropout rates at over 50% in several of our nation’s cities, the administration must realize that tinkering at the margins with No Child Left Behind will not deliver the change we need. 

The President entered office promising to bring a new kind of politics to the nation, an approach that focused on finding common ground among diverse constituencies to solve the pressing problems of our time.  In areas like healthcare, energy, the economy and foreign policy, this new approach has not yet gained traction.  However, it is not too late for the President to unite the nation around a common effort to improve public education.  For this to happen, he will need to keep above the fray and stay focused on a strategy that sends a clear message to all constituencies that working together to improve public education is in our national interest. 

Forum to Host Capitol Hill policy briefing on October 22
This fall, the Forum will sponsor three Capitol Hill policy briefings – one for each of the Rethink Learning Now campaign’s core pillars – learning, teaching, and fairness.

On October 22, at 9:00am, in the Member Room of the Library of Congress, the first of these briefings will take place – “Effective Teachers, High Achievers: How Strengthening the Teaching Profession Can Improve Student Learning.”

At the event, a panel of experts will be anchored by two of the Forum’s Conveners – Stanford University Professor Linda Darling-Hammond and University of Texas Professor Angela Valenzuela – as well as former Mississippi teacher of the year Renee Moore.

To learn more about the event, or to RSVP, please email forumforeducationrsvp@gmail.com