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Gimmicks That Don't WorkOver the last several years, there have been a number of education "reform" programs or steps that turned out to be more sizzle than steak, so to speak. A less polite word for them might be "gimmicks." This year, there are several gimmicks that have been packaged, almost like political candidates are, complete with polling and political consultants. Some of these promise to not just be gimmicks, but destructive gimmicks at that. VouchersThe debate over education funding can get confusing, but some issues are pretty clear. It's common sense that the best way to improve our children's education is to ensure that our public schools have the funding they need, and that they spend it wisely. That's why 71 percent of Americans say we need to focus on improving the current public education system, instead of testing risky alternatives. But still, the vocal minority for school privatization continues to push for risky plans such as vouchers, which would fund private school attendance at public expense. While vouchers might sound like an attractive idea, there's no proof that they improve achievement. However, there is clear proof that vouchers take money away from our public schools and make it even harder for disadvantaged students to get a quality education. TABOROne of the most prominent gimmicks this year is TABOR ("Taxpayer Bill of Rights"). TABOR is the brainchild of conservative activist Grover Norquist. Read Story In the name of restraining government spending, TABOR strips elected governors and state legislators of the ability to decide how much taxpayers' money should be spent — and on what priorities. One state, Colorado, tried this 14 years ago, and found it had disastrous results, and decided late last fall to suspend TABOR for five years. And, when Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell tried to push a TABOR-like initiative onto the ballot this year, a fierce public outcry from city councils and civic groups forced him to withdraw it amidst a wave of newspaper editorial criticism from across the ideological spectrum. Find out the truth about TABOR. Over-reliance on standardized testingThe intent of the "No Child Left Behind" law is hard to dispute. Who wants to leave even one child behind? However, within its 1,180 pages of regulations are hundreds of expensive regulations that are supposed to be paid for by the federal government — but often aren't. That means that limited classroom resources have to be diverted from the things that bring joy to education to meeting the law's many expensive rules and regulations. Among the most onerous are those that place the regulatory fate of whole schools on one or two high-stakes standardized tests. According to these regulations, nothing matters as much as the standardized test results, not graduation rates, attendence or even students' individual academic progress. All those other measures are subordinate when it comes to whether or not a school will be slapped with a federal failure label, which can have far-reaching consequences on students' chances of getting into the schools of their choice, as well as the local business climate and surrounding property values. In many schools, the absences of just a handful of students on the day that standardized tests are given can earn a school a federal failure label that can hurt the school's reputation. One report from East Carolina University concludes, "This paper shows that performance tests are good measures of perceived school quality. The problems with this paper are that it doesn't include many variables that may help to explain our perceived quality of schools a little better. The school district variables help with location, but they aren't an exact measure of whether someone living in that area is going to attend that particular school. Better students may commute to the schools that have the better facilities even if there is a school in the vicinity of their home. This is definitely one of the problems that this research can't determine. Another problem is the neighborhood characteristics that are missing... So, does perceived quality affect housing values? If perceived quality is based on performance tests then the answer seems to be yes." That reputation is critical to property values. "Of all the local neighborhood amenities that can influence a buyer's decision to purchase a home, proximity to good quality schools is one of the most influential," according to The 2003 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Schools were listed as a deciding factor for 17% of home buyers. Link Or, as the San Mateo County Times puts it: "Good schools boost property values by 10 percent or more." The 65% DeceptionUtah tycoon and CEO of Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne, has bankrolled a deceptive, multi-state political plan to pit teachers against non-teaching public school employees as a way to weaken the organizations that represent these school employees — and boost the fortunes of politicians Byrne favors. Byrne's political consultant basically said as much in a secret strategy memo. The Byrne plan would require school districts spend 65% of their budgets "in the classroom," although that 65% figure can't include the people who keep our kids healthy, productive and safe in school, such as: school nurses, librarians, guidance counselors and school bus mechanics. Byrne has tried to label his plan the "65% Solution," though it deserves to be called the "65% Deception." Read more... |
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